The Domination of the Sith
by doreenthatshot
Summary: The second in the Lure of the Dark Side series. The Empire now rules over the galaxy under the direct control of the Sith. The Jedi Order has been eliminated, but for how long will this last? Betrayal, Discovery, War, and Redemption lie within.
1. Episode VI

**Author's Note: Yo! X-Mas just came early this year y'all! Instead of having you guys wait until the new year, I decided to start the first episode in the Lure of the Dark Side sequel early. Though you'll probably have to wait until the new year for continuous frequent updates as I'm still typing up Episode IX. I know I said I was going to give you guys a trailer for Episode VI first, but I got lazy. I started it, but I didn't feel like finishing it. I hope you don't mind.  
This episode still contains forty-four chapters plus an epilogue, but I intend to get through it much faster than the last (which took almost five months); sometimes giving you two chapters at a time.**

* * *

_**The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 2-The Domination of the Sith**_

Authored by Doreen Hines, with the assistance of the following:

The Star Wars films,

The Star Wars Databank on the official website,

The Revenge of the Sith novel by Matthew Stover,

Star Wars: Dark Lord-The Rise of Darth Vaderby James Luceno,

The Wookiepedia On line Encyclopedia,

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force Book Series,

Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds Encyclopedia,

Answers On line Dictionary/Encyclopedia,

And the Wikipedia On line encyclopedia

Summery: The Domination of the Sith is the second book in the Lure of the Dark Side series. The Empire now rules over the galaxy under the direct control of the Sith. The Jedi Order has been eliminated, but for how long will this last? Betrayal, Discovery, War, and Redemption lie within.

Disclaimer: The Star Wars franchise belongs to George Lucas. Obviously, I'm just playing around in his fascinating world for fun.

Rated PG-13 for Sci-fi action violence, language and some sexual content

* * *

Dramatis Personae 

Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader; Emperor's Executor, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Apprentice (male human)

Antellica Grievous / Darth Lady Veradisia; Empress' Hand, Sith Apprentice (female human)

Arica Grievous / Darth Lady Zenevieva; Emperor's Hand, Sith Apprentice (female human)

Bail Organa; Viceroy and Senator of the Alderaan Sector, Leader of the Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (male human)

Breha Antilles Organa; Queen and Minister of Education of Alderaan, Leader of the Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (female human)

Charlotte Jovovich; Senator and Regional Governor of the Chommel Sector (female Human)

Leila Skywalker; Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire (female human)

Luke Skywalker; Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire (male human)

Mon Mothma; Senator of the Bormea Sector, Leader of the Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (female human)

Obi-Wan Kenobi; Exiled Jedi Master (male human)

Padme Naberrie Palpatine Amidala / Darth Lady Baynetta; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Queen of Naboo, Dark Lady of the Sith (female human)

Palpatine / Darth Sidious; Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lord of the Sith (male human)

Yoda: Exiled Jedi Master (male unknown tridactyl species)

* * *

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 1: Briefing of Victory and the Rebel's Plan

Year 0.6, Imperial Era (IE)

The beginning of the Galactic Empire was the start of a new era, the Imperial Era to be precise. The first six months of the new government were spent with it being quite victorious. Following the eradications of the Gungan and Neimoidian species, the empire's iron fist continued upon fifteen outspoken star systems and Senators that were against it's rule, and made examples out of by the following:

Former Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, aka Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Executor of the Emperor, and Sith apprentice Darth Vader;

Former Supreme Commander and Head State of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems, Arica Grievous, aka the Emperor's Hand and Sith apprentice Darth Lady Zenevieva;

And former Jedi Knight, Antellica Grievous, aka the Empress' Hand and Sith apprentice Darth Lady Veradisia

The worlds that had once been monopolized by the now dead Separatists Order, sans the Neimoidia system – Geonosis, Muunilinst, Skako, Metalorn, Castell, and many others – had been captured and their inhabitants made into the empire's slaves. The Mid Rim planet of Kashyyyk was also captured and enslaved due to its native tribe of Wookies' resistance against the government, causing uproar in the Mid and Inner Rims of the galaxy. They wanted revenge for the empire's ruthless slaughter of their world during Order Sixty-six, the last phase of the Clone Wars. Alas, the might of the empire met them head on in battle and their world was captured almost instantly under the direction of Lord Vader.

Empress Naberrie Palpatine Amidala, the estranged and soon to be ex-wife of Darth Vader and daughter of the empire's ruler, Palpatine, had easily dropped the pregnancy pounds after giving birth to she and Vader's twin children – Luke and Leila Skywalker – and gotten back into shape in a months time. She and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, as executives of the emperor's battle station project – codenamed Hammertong, though its actual name was _Death Star –_ continued to oversee the production of it in the Outer Rim system of Mustafar. However, she wasn't able to tend to it as much as she would've liked at first, due to the busyness of her applications as Empress of the Galactic Empire and Queen of her mid rim homeworld, Naboo. Because of this, the Hands of the Emperor and Empress and Lord Vader would oversee it at the times she couldn't.

The royal twins, Luke and Leila, meanwhile, under the care of their father, grew wondrously and began to speak more and more as the days went by. To them, their three closet relations – their father and the Grievous twins – were known as Dada, Telly, and Ree.

Things were marvelous for everyone in the empire's inner circle of Sith. Except Antellica Grievous that is, though no one knew it. Antellica knew her twin, Arica, suspected something even if she never said anything. But suspecting was one thing; actually knowing was another.

Previous to her leave from Coruscant for her first mission as Empress' Hand – to eliminate an outspoken opposer of the Empire – Antellica had discovered, to much horror, that she was four months pregnant with a son. She'd been studying her reflection in a full length door-sized mirror in her Holiday Lakes Hotel quarters when she'd realized that she was developing somewhat of a belly. She was still sick on occasion, and hadn't had her menstrual cycle for about four months, but she never thought to think anything of this. Her menstrual cycle was irregular in the sense that it never came every three weeks. It came whenever it wanted to with usually no more than four to nine periods a year. Antellica had gone almost three months, during the Clone Wars, without her cycle, so this was yet another reason why the thought of her being pregnant never crossed her mind.

However, upon searching within herself with the Force just to make sure – she'd briefly placed herself under the illusion that the reason her stomach was expanding was because she was eating too much – she found that she was indeed pregnant. Beyond horrified, she was also very scared. She wanted to tell Arica, but was too afraid she'd tell Anakin, who'd in turn probably tell the emperor, who'd tell his daughter. That of course would also raise the question as to who the father was. The answer to that question would not only make the emperor and empress livid, but she would get in trouble – possibly be killed – for lying to them about how Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi supposedly escaped, when in fact it was she who'd actually set him free. This led her mind to wonder how Obi-Wan would react to this. Antellica naturally assumed she'd never see him again, but at the same time knew that he must somehow know about this. Maybe he purposely impregnated her, but then that couldn't be true. It was Antellica who'd requested they be intimate. Not that Obi-Wan hadn't wanted to, but she wondered that perhaps if she hadn't asked him to give her something to remember him by if they would've done it anyway.

Her thoughts did drift back to Obi-Wan on occasion. She presumed she was still in love with him. And after discovering her pregnancy, despite her better judgment, found that her mind kept thinking back to their last encounter.

Because she was showing somewhat, Antellica ceased wearing tight fitting tops and pants that showed off her slender figure, and began to go with looser fitting clothes. As to not arouse suspicion, she nonchalantly commented to Arica and Anakin that she grew tired of wearing tight fitting clothes as they were the thing of sixteen year olds. (She and Arica had recently celebrated their seventeenth birthday.) Whenever she was around anyone however, Force-sensitive or not, Antellica kept her pregnancy cloaked with the Force. She knew she couldn't do this forever, but decided she would continue to do so until she couldn't any longer.

* * *

Meanwhile on the Core World Chandrila, exiled Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi had adapted to _the simple life _of the planet quite easily. Since first coming to the world with the planet's Senatorial representative, Mon Mothma, six months ago he'd been staying at the Hanna Royal Palace as an associate assistant to their young queen, Nagida. Since this job mainly required that he stay inside the palace and answer calls, set up interviews with the press and public, do paper work, and other such things that assistants to royalty do, it was easy for him to stay hidden from the empire so close to its capital. Yet at the same time, stay active within the Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic and informed of what the government they were secretly plotting against was up to. 

As the empire continued to do its treachery abroad, Senator Mothma continued to secretly rally supporters for the alliance as much as possible. They currently had about three hundred systems with them in this, but that was a far cry from the numbers they once possessed. At the end of the Clone Wars, the two thousand Senators that had signed a petition against Palpatine were all in with the alliance to a certain extent. However since then, with the elimination of fifteen outspoken Senators against the government, the enslavement of the Wookies, and capture of Kashyyyk, more and more Senators, out of fear, were dropping out of the alliance and giving their full fledged allegiance to the empire. Yet despite the depressing odds against them, Obi-Wan urged Mon and the others not to give up hope and keep pressing on.

In Obi-Wan's time on Chandrila, he became good friends with both Mon and the young queen, and learned much about them. Mon had been serving the Bormea Sector as Senator for the past eight years now, since the age of twenty-one, winning much praise as the youngest Senator ever elected in the history of the New Galactic Republic. Before that, she'd acted as an assistant to the Governor of Chandrila's capital city, Hanna, interestingly enough, her mother Tanis Mothma. Even before that however, as young adolescent, she'd dreamed of being either a novelist or school teacher. These dreams soon vanished though when she saw a live report of refugees being held hostage against their will to mine gold in the planet's underground caverns beneath the rocky mountains. Chandrila's representative at the time – Mon's predecessor – and the King and Queen – young Nagida's deceased parents – had negotiated with these gold hungry criminals, who'd taken over the gold mine through a Boss Kingpin, to let the innocent people go. This conflict almost led to an all out planetary war, but finally came to a halt at the arrival of a Jedi team coming to Chandrila's aide by catching the Boss Kingpin in question and bringing justice upon him through death, thus putting an end to the conflict. This almost war inspired Mon to be a politician.

As for the teenage queen Nagida, her parents had been assassinated during the conflict, leaving behind a two-year-old daughter for the King's mother to raise. Because of Nagida's young age at the time of her parents death, she didn't remember them very much, which she found to be sad. Her grandmother, the former queen, Lady Donatella, assumed the throne soon after their death, serving only as custodian for Nagida until she reached the legal age of the eighteen. And though her grandmother had taken back her seat on the throne as a temporary queen, Nagida knew she was never happy doing it. The years were incredibly hard to her, and it's not as though she'd been anywhere near young at her son and daughter-in-law's murder. And she continued to grow older as the years went on. It eventually became to much for her.

At Mon's election as Senator, however, the young woman gladly helped the queen with whatever she needed, and after a year of this, Lady Donatella dubbed Mon the planet's associate ruler to go with her representative role. As such, Mon was invited to move into the palace, which she did, and continued to help her lady with Chandrila's rule and the upbringing of Nagida. Lady Donatella eventually died of old age the previous year. And in spite of Nagida now being nineteen and the planet's official ruler, Mon was invited to continue her stay at the palace despite the fact that her assistance was no longer needed. This is how it was easy for Mon to get Obi-Wan a job in Nagida's court. Ever since the Jedi team had stopped the almost war on the planet, the Jedi were known as friends and heroes on Chandrila. A place they would always be welcome.

Though Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan and Jedi Master Yoda didn't have much to do with the alliance, that didn't mean they were left in the dark about its goings. Obi-Wan made it a point to keep them informed of everything, hoping it would urge them to let go of their acceptance of defeat. However, nothing Obi-Wan or the others said got them to change their minds and join the alliance fully.

Through a secret source on Kessel, the budding alliance was able to purchase a moderate amount of military vessels which were housed on Senator Giddean Daru's Core world, Kuat. For a while, they weren't really sure about where to base the alliance, but finally decided on the outer rim world of Cardooine. It was located in the center of the region, and besides a small group of immigrated humans that resided on the world to manufacture the wood of Fijisi trees for the luxurious paneling and artwork of vast castles and other high-class buildings, the planet was relatively uninhabited. The Empire had no other use for it, so the alliance was easily able to meet and set headquarters there without anyone noticing.

The day Vader and Baynetta's twins, Luke and Leila, were born both Obi-Wan and Yoda felt it through the Force. They were quite powerful. Not more so than the Emperor or Anakin (Obi-Wan refused to call his former apprentice by his Sith title), but if trained up well and put together against the two, the twins could be a large threat to not only the Sith, but the empire as well. As Obi-Wan thought about this, his mind began to form a plan. If only there was a way to get the twins out of the Siths' clutches. They could be trained up as Jedi and bring a new hope back to the galaxy as a whole. When Obi-Wan shared this plan with Mon, naturally, she was hesitant. Kidnapping the Empire's Prince and Princess would be considered even higher treason then their alliance against the government. The consequences, if caught, were endless, though torture and death were the two things that stood out the most. Shockingly, when Obi-Wan told Yoda of this plan, the small Jedi agreed with him, saying he'd done much meditation and deep thinking on the matter himself and thought this to be a wonderful opportunity. Although it was bound to cause and bring attention to themselves, it would be better for the galaxy in the long run.

Convincing the alliance of this however was a different story. Out of its entirety, only thirty percent agreed, fifty percent disagreed, and the remaining twenty percent weren't sure. Not everyone was convinced this was the only way to bring peace and justice back to the galaxy. After much debate and arguing however, mainly over who would help the Jedi in leading the mission, a slightly hesitant Bail Organa agreed to help the Jedi out of respect and belief in them that they could pull this off. Spies within the empire could determine a time to set the kidnapping trap. It was eventually decided that when Lord Vader went off to the Outer Rim to oversee some undisclosed pet project of the Emperor's – all the supreme ruler would say on this secret project was that it was a "surprise" – they'd make their move and hope for the best.

Exactly two months after the twins were born, this risky plan was set into motion.


	2. The Kidnapping in the Night

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 2: The Kidnapping in the Night

It'd been two months since Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader was named Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy and Executor of the Emperor. Many victories were made for the newly named Galactic Empire and six-month-old government in that time, most of which he himself could take credit for. He'd earned as reputation no longer the "Hero With No Fear", but the "merciless executor who performed his lord's will by whatever means necessary." He was feared by many, and respected by all. But as of the present he was on the bridge of his Super Star Destroyer and Command ship, _Executor_, overseeing the production of the _Death Star_ in orbit of the volcanic outer rim world, Mustafar. He'd been here approximately a week, and would continue for another month until Tarkin took over again – he was on a brief vacation – than the emperor himself, and later the empress. The blood of the young Sith boiled at the mere mention or thought of his soon to be ex-wife. She had hurt him so badly, and didn't think anything of it. On the contrary, she found it comical. The two of them had reached an unspoken agreement to keep out of one another's way or risk fighting one another to the death. Naturally, they didn't see much of each other that often anyway. Vader was always traveling across the galaxy; Her Royal Highness, meanwhile, remained on Coruscant or Naboo.

Deciding to take his mind off "Her wickedness", it than drifted to his two best friends, Antellica and Arica Grievous. Currently, they were both on separate missions in the Mid and Outer Rims. But both were in the regions for the same cause: During a meeting in the Imperial Senate several days previous, a Mid Rim Senator expressed his belief of empire rebels being on a world in his own sector because of recent suspicious activity going on within it. This caused another Senator, but from the outer rim, to sneeringly reply, "What makes you think those suspicious are rebels? Are you one of them? The rebels could've based themselves on my represented planet for all you know." He'd than clapped a hand over his mouth, obviously realizing too late that he shouldn't have of let that slip. The emperor assigned both girls to each Senator's represented sector to investigate.

Anakin smiled at the thought of the two. They'd definitely grown and matured a lot since he first met them almost four years ago, back when they were just thirteen. Arica was beautiful with her dyed black hair, blue eyes, and medium skin tone. She a wonderful person to be around and a great friend. Yet as much as he wanted to deny it, his feelings for her were more than just a friendly attraction. Perhaps when she's older, is what he'd always muse to himself when these thoughts popped up.

Antellica, on the other hand, was purely Anakin's friend, nothing more than that. And as her friend, he couldn't help but notice how odd she'd been acting of late, as if she was hiding something. He'd discussed this briefly with Arica, and she agreed, but both didn't want to push the issue and decided to go along with something Arica herself said. "When she's ready, I'm sure she'll tell us what's bothering her. But until then, we should just leave her be. And even if she never tells us, than we should still leave her alone and simply offer our comfort and care from time to time."

Anakin wholeheartedly agreed with this and recently asked Antellica if she was all right the last time he'd seen her, right before she left for her mission. She said she was fine, just had a little stomach ache. When he offered to help her, by using the Force to perhaps cure her aliment, she quickly said that wasn't necessary but thanks anyway. She'd than given him a quick hug and ran off. Anakin didn't know what Antellica's problem was, but as Arica said, didn't what to push it. However, if it got any worse, he would push it, only because he cared and was concerned.

Signing, the twenty-two year old glanced down at his comm watch and received a slight shock. _2100! Was it that late already?!_

The last time he'd checked the time, it was only 1000. But than, that had been a while ago. It'd been a busy day making sure the engineers got everything just right on the space station's construction. The single most mistake could end up leading to a major downfall.

Turning away from the viewport he'd been intently gazing out of to the galaxy's stars, he headed back to his private quarters aboard the ship. It was pretty nice and reminded Anakin of a small apartment; his home away from home. It consisted of sitting chambers, a bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and another bedroom that was used as a nursery for the twins. Being as Anakin insisted upon taking his children with him everywhere he went – his excuse to the emperor being he didn't "want to miss out on them growing up" – with the small exception of dangerous missions of course, he had his protocol droid, C-3PO, and astromech, R2-D2, care for them when he was busy. This was what they were currently doing as he entered his quarters. In the dining room, 3PO was putting Leila in her high chair – Luke was already in his – while R2 placed two cans of baby food on the chamber's table with his many mechanical arms.

"Dada!" his two-month-old twins squealed, pointing at Anakin with their little fingers. If there was one thing that always brought a smile to his face, it was the sight of his children.

"My little darling angels!" he greeted. "Did you miss me?"

Both twins proceeded to babble nonsense, while shrieking "Dada, Dada!" every other babble.

"They most certainly did," 3PO answered, though no one had asked him. "That's all they've been talking about all day long since you left this morning sir. Dada this, and dada that."

Anakin, for he was not Vader when with his children and the Grievous twins, laughed and embraced each of his children by lifting them out of their highchairs.

"That will be all for today, 3PO and R2," he said placing Luke back in his chair. "You may power down now. I'll take it from here."

"Oh yes of course Master Anakin," 3PO said automatically.

"3PO," Anakin said with a slight trace of menace.

"Oh yes, I mean of course Master Vader."

"Thank you 3PO."

The droids both than shuffled off with 3PO muttering to R2, "I personally don't understand how a person can simply change their name to something else. I, for one, think Anakin is a much better name than Vader..."

Anakin shook his head, amused by 3PO's mutterings, before turning his attention back to the twins. "Well my little ones, let's see what R2 picked out for you to eat today."

It turned out to be creamed potatoes, and bantha pieces.

_Yuck! _Anakin thought to himself as he fed it to the twins. It definitely wasn't something he'd want to eat. But the twins seemed to enjoy it, so that's all that mattered. Afterwards, he gave them each their bottle of formula and burped them. Than placing them on the floor, he faced them with a smile. "So, what do you two want to do?"

Leila immediately crawled over to the Holovision set and pointed saying, "Holova!" This was her way of saying she wanted to watch HV. She'd been doing it for the past week or so now, but Anakin still found it to be adorably cute. Luke, meanwhile, had retrieved some toys and began to loudly play with them. Leila soon joined him and Anakin turned the HV onto a children's station.

For the next half an hour, the family threesome played and watched "Holova." Luke soon grew tired of this though, and crawled over to where Anakin kept the twins' collection of children books. He stopped in front of the floor bookshelf and with his little hands grabbed a small book from the bottom shelf. Holding it above his head he looked up at his father and said, "Gega!"

Anakin laughed. "You want me to read you a book, Luke?"

"Gega!" the baby said again. Anakin went over and picked him and the book up.

"Gagu!" Leila shrieked up at her father, holding her small arms up in jealousy at her brother being held and not her. Since Anakin's other hand was holding Luke's book, he merely used the Force to turn off the "Holova" and lift Leila off the floor to have her float next to them. Luke pointed at his twin babbling in confusion, while Leila did the same, but in her case, even more as she floated beside them.

Upon entrance in the nursery, Anakin attempted at putting Luke down in his crib, but the baby's attention was on his sister still as he continued to point and say, "Le le, le le!", which was his way of saying his twin's name; Leila's way of saying his was "Lu-lu." Anakin looked on and chuckled as Leila continued to float around the room babbling nonsense. He let go of Luke mid-air above his crib and floated both twins around the room a few minutes before than settling them down into Luke's crib. Technically, it wasn't really Luke's crib; it was both of theirs. Anakin had merely dubbed it Luke's because he had already taken the liberty to buy two cribs so when the twins got a little older they'd each have one of their own. The other crib, Leila's, was already decorated with girl stuff, while Luke's was decorated with boy things.

Once the twins were safely in the crib, Anakin pulled its rail down and sat in a rocking chair next to them, placing the book Luke had picked out – "The Big Bad Bantha" – on the crib bedding in front of the twins. As he began to read it didn't surprise him that the twins began to yawn tiredly, and by the time he was done he was pleased to see that they had both fallen asleep. Anakin closed the book and simply watched his little angels, thinking about what laid ahead in the future for the pair. He didn't much like the idea of handing Luke over to the emperor once the twins celebrated their first birthday in six months time. What he didn't understand was why he couldn't train both of them _himself_ in the ways of the Force. They were his children after all. But than the emperor was their grandfather, so he had every right to want to train one of them. It wasn't really this that ticked him. It was Padme. He didn't want her anywhere near his son. Because as the emperor would have Luke from his first birthday to whenever he deemed him a ready Sith , ten to fifteen years at least, that meant he'd probably see a lot of the empress in this duration, and Anakin didn't want her to have anything to do with his son. Because Luke and Leila were, as Padme once said, _his_ children, not hers. She lost that right the day she broke his heart.

Anakin shook his head angrily. _Stop thinking about that witch, she's evil._

_But she's also the mother of your children, rather you or she want to admit to it or not,_ said the other part of his mind. The part of him that hadn't yet gotten over the break up. These emotions would pop up every once in a while, but he would always usually curse them away.

Anakin got up and exited the twins' room with one last glance at them. "Sleep well my little angels."

After eating a dinner of meat and vegetables, he went to his room and fell asleep reading a list of reports from the emperor.

Unbeknown to Anakin, that night would be the last time he ever saw his children again for a long time. For at the very moment he fell asleep, Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda snuck aboard the _Executor_ to kidnap them. It was after 2400 Crouscant time – despite the fact of being in all sorts of time zones across the galaxy, as the fleet traveled they continually used Crouscanti time. Because it was this late, very few crew officers were still up. About a dozen in the bridge to keep the ship a float, and several others going over progress reports on the _Death Star_, but besides that most were asleep. This enabled the Jedi outlaws to sneak around the ship undetected. Once they got to Vader's quarters, the two crept inside and headed straight for the nursery. Luke and Leila were still sleeping peacefully inside. Obi-Wan gazed sadly down at the twins, gently picked them up, and carried them both out of the room. Yoda than made for them to leave, but Obi-Wan stopped him.

"Wait a moment master." He placed the twins down onto the sitting chamber's main sofa. "There's something I must do first."

Yoda gravely nodded and Obi-Wan went into the room that he knew contained his former, fallen Padawan. Inside the young man was sleeping peacefully, with a smile on his face and a few papers lying in front of him. He'd obviously fallen asleep reading them. Briefly glancing at them showed Obi-Wan they were reports from the emperor about ideas for a new model of fleet ships, nothing that would really interest him. He stared at him a moment, going over all the great, and even not so great times they'd shared together in their Master/Apprentice relationship. And then their brothers-in-arms relationship during the Clone Wars once Anakin was knighted. They may not have always seen eye to eye, but they loved each other. Or so Obi-Wan thought.

_How could such a potentially talented, good-hearted person go so terribly bad?_

So many times had Obi-Wan thought over this, and time again and again he'd come up with the same answer: Palpatine and Padme. They'd brain washed him, filled his mind with lies and deceit. Anakin had always loved Padme, and the Sith used that to their advantage to get him to turn. And now look where it'd gotten him. He and the empress were in the process of getting a divorce, and Obi-Wan was about to take his children from him as a way to turn them against him. Obi-Wan had half a mind to wake Anakin up then and there and try to talk some sense into him. He'd listen to him. He'd have to. By now he must see the lies and treachery of the emperor and empress.

But there was that other part of him that told him it was too late for Anakin. He was lost. He wasn't coming back, no matter how much he wanted it. He wasn't coming back.

With a sigh he took an envelope from his pocket and placed it down on the nightstand next to the young Sith's bed. It contained a note he'd written to Anakin. Obi-Wan felt that even if he was going to take his children from him, Anakin still had a right to know who'd done it. Kissing his ex-friend's brow softly, he then left the room, and the quarters holding each of twins in an arm.

_Goodbye old friend._

* * *

As soon as the doors to his quarters closed behind the fugitive Jedi, Anakin, unbeknown to him, abruptly awoke with a start. There was a disturbance in the Force. Something wasn't right. Glancing in front of him, he saw that he must've fallen asleep reading the reports the emperor had given him to file. He gathered them up and was about to place them on the nightstand next to his bed when he noticed an envelope lying on it. 

_That's odd,_ he thought as he turned the nightstand's lamp on and picked up the envelope. _I didn't put this here._

Opening the envelope, he pulled out the folded sheet inside and opened it. He briefly glanced at bottom, seeing whom it from, and then did a double take, obviously thinking he'd read it wrong. He hadn't. He blinked in disbelief.

_Impossible! He couldn't be here! Now!_ And although he refused to believe it, he felt the familiar presence of not one, but two Jedi aboard his ship. Jumping out of bed, he hurriedly read the letter:

_Dear Anakin,_

_I am so sorry to do this to you, but it's for the best of everyone. Master Yoda and myself have taken your children, Luke and Leila, and intend on training them both in the path of the Jedi. Please do not come looking for us, as I doubt very much you will find us. I really have failed you my old Padawan, my old friend, my brother, and I'm sorry._

_Your old master,_

_Obi-Wan Kenobi_

"No. No they can't. They won't!" Vader's eyes continued to flash with rage as he gave a roar of rage and made to rip up the note.

_No,_ he thought, suddenly stopping himself. _This is evidence._

Instead he tossed the note on the nightstand, threw on his bathrobe, and set off the security alarm on the entire ship, alerting the crew and probably the Jedi.

"Attention all crew personnel!" he announced over the Star Destroyer's intercom. "Return to your stations immediately! That is an order! There are two loose Jedi aboard! I repeat, two loose Jedi! If you see them, stun only. I will deal with them myself! This is not a drill!"

Running out of his quarters, Lord Vader rushed into the bridge. Various officers and stormtroopers were scrambling around all over the place, hurrying to get back to their stations. If it weren't for the seriousness of the situation, Vader may have found it rather humorous that a few officers were still in their nightclothes like him.

"Lord Vader!" an officer called out. Turning, Vader saw it was Kav Collins, Commanding Officer on board the _Executor_ under him. "A small star cruiser is in orbit outside the Star Destroyer. Its markings match that of an Alderaanian ship. Our tractor beams will be ready to pull it in in a moment."

Vader nodded at Collins and turned to look out the bridge window. The ship was about to make the jump to light speed. He whipped around angrily to find all the officers simply staring out the window.

"You idiots!" he roared. "Don't just stand there! Commence the tractor beam this instant!"

Commander Collins looked sadly at Vader, with a small trace of fear. "I'm sorry my lord but..." He pointed behind Vader outside the bridge window. Vader turned forward again and his heart sank. The ship was already gone.

_No. His little angels. His children. They were gone._

Collapsing onto the floor, he gave out a yell of anguish. The officers in the bridge were at a loose of what to say or think. They'd never seen Lord Vader, the ruthless murderer of innocents, act this way. Bitter tears of hatred were now falling from the Sith's eyes as he felt the hand of Commander Collins come in contact with his right shoulder.

"I'm so sorry my lord," he said softly. "I can understand why you're upset. According to the surveillance cameras, I saw that the Jedi escaped with your children. I have two little ones of my own, so I can under-"

"SILENCE!" Vader roared angrily. Rising from the floor, he knocked Commander Collins onto it and proceeded to glare down at him. As the Sith's hand clawed into a fist, the commander began to choke and cough, trying without success to unleash the air pipe in his throat.

"I do not want your sympathy," Vader hissed, "nor do I need it. Die now Collins for your failure to act sooner. And pray to the gods that they have mercy on your soul, for I don't."

An instant later, the commander was indeed dead. Gesturing towards two bridge hands, Vader motioned for them to take Collins away. Afterwards, he stalked towards one of the senior lieutenants and spoke.

"Congratulations on your promotion as Commander. Take your post." His voice was void of emotion.

"Y-y-yes, sir." The newly promoted Commander Kinman Doriana said, his young face going deathly pink. Vader took no notice though.

"Do you understand your orders?"

"Y-y-y—"

"Do you have any objections?"

"N-n-n—"

"Very well, then." Vader's voice was still flat and emotionless. "Carry on."

"Yes sir," Commander Doriana said hastening off to begin his duties.

"As for the rest of you," Vader suddenly rose his voice in a roar again. "Make for the fastest speed to Coruscant now!"

He than stalked back to his quarters muttering angrily. "When the Emperor finds out about this, those Jedi are going to wish they'd never been born."

* * *

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Yoda had successfully escaped Vader's Star Destroyer, _Executor,_ on Bail Organa's ship, _Tantive IV_, with the royal twins in tow Since this kidnapping was bound to cause uproar in the empire and galaxy as a whole, Obi-Wan resigned from his duty as Queen Nagida's associate assistant. The twins were to be split up so the Sith would have a harder time sensing their presences. He would take the boy Luke to Tatooine to live with his family there while he kept a close eye on him as an "eccentric old uncle". Yoda, on the other hand, would take the girl Leila to Dagabah to stay with him for three months until letting Senator Organa and his wife, Breha, adopt the girl like they wanted to. It'd be too dangerous for the Senator to have the girl at the present. The heat was still up. 


	3. Suspicion Arises

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 3: Suspicion Arises

Instead of calling ahead to inform the emperor of the rather cruel turn of events concerning his grandchildren, Vader simply left Mustafar without explanation to anyone. The _Executor_ arrived back at Coruscant in a record breaking six hours, which was nearly impossible for traveling from a system so far in the Outer Rim. But Vader made it possible through his anger. He'd spent the entire journey seething in rage, plotting possible deaths for the Jedi, and killing anyone whom dared cross his path. Taking a shuttle down onto the capital planet, only than did Vader send word ahead that he was arriving. It was now a little after 0600, but Vader didn't care about the earliness of the hour. This was important.

When the young Sith arrived at the emperor's office in the former New Republic Executive Building, now the Imperial Executive Building (IEB), a short while later he was disgusted to find not only the emperor as he'd asked, but Padme – he refused to address her as empress – as well. As he approached, he sensed an air of irritation around them both. The pair was obviously ticked about the earliness of the hour. He shot a glare over in Padme's direction, who hissed in reply, and knelt before his master.

Before he could speak however, the empress spoke in an angered tone. "This better be good Vader," she spat out. "I should be sleeping at this hour."

"Than by all means go to bed and sleep," Vader snapped, looking up at her in pure hatred and snarling, "I didn't ask for your presence here."

But before the empress could spit out another vicious retort, the emperor began to cackle. Both Sith turned to their master in mild surprise, wondering what was so funny.

"I sensed a great disturbance in the Force a few hours ago," he said smoothly. "Could what you have to say, Lord Vader, be about that?"

"Yes my master." Vader bowed once more. "At 2400, while aboard the _Executor_ sound asleep, along with most of my crew, Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda snuck aboard and kidnapped Luke and Leila."

"WHAT?!?!"

This was exclaimed by both Imperial rulers, though in different ways. The emperor hissed it in rage, while his daughter said it in genuine surprise.

"Yes my master. Here is the note Kenobi left me." He handed it to his master and the emperor accepted it. While reading it, his eyes flashed in even more rage. Padme leaned over his shoulder to read it also. She was angry as well, but for a different reason as Vader soon found out. While her father continued to seethe, Padme balled her hands into fists and banged one of them on the desk. "Jedi scum!" She turned to her father. "You see! This is what I was telling you. As long as these Jedi are allowed to exist, they will continue to bring treachery among our empire. Not that I care about the brats-"

"Luke and Leila are not brats," Vader hissed out. "They're your children just as much as they are mine. Rather you want to admit to it or not."

"-but these Jedi," Padme continued as if she hadn't even heard Vader, "need to be eliminated now!" She banged her fist down again for emphasis. "Not eventually. Now, I tell you! Now!"

"Silence!" the emperor hissed at her and than turned back to Vader. "I take it the Jedi escaped then?"

Vader hung his head in shame. "Sadly yes. They escaped on board an Alderaanian star cruiser. My crew, being the pathetic idiots they are, did not activate the tractor beam in time."

"Organa," Padme hissed.

The emperor smirked. "Very likely. After all, he is one of the possible leaders of this alliance against the empire. Of course, we have no way of proving this. The word of the empress, sadly, will not do anything in the courts. What we need is evidence."

With that he pressed a button on his desk, obviously signaling someone. Soon enough, a moment later, a tired looking Human male aid came running into the room. After bowing briefly to Vader and the empress, he turned to the emperor. "You called your majesty."

"Yes," he drawled. "Contact both Antellica and Arica Grievous at once with the instruction to return to the capital immediately."

The aid bowed. "It will be done your majesty." And with another bow to Vader and the empress, he left the room.

"You are dismissed Lord Vader," the emperor said immediately afterwards. "Return back here at 1700 sharp this evening."

"Yes my master." Vader again bowed and took his leave.

* * *

Since Anakin never really had a home on Coruscant to call his own – the Jedi Temple was never his home, even if he did once stay there, as the Jedi had never accepted him; they rejected and betrayed him. Padme's mansion was never really his home either as he never stayed there often – to fill up his time until the Grievous sisters arrived back, he bought a suite at the Holiday Towers Hotel in Galactic City's Entertainment District, not too far from its sister establishment, the Holiday Lakes Hotel and Resort. Because of the Separatist's attack on Crouscant six months ago, at the end of the Clone Wars, a lot of the hotel had to be renovated and rebuilt to take care of the damage. By now though, all destruction had been fixed. After occupying the suite, he simply sat within it, silent and all alone with no one but himself. He was filled with anguish once more that again something he loved and grew close to was taken from him. 

_Maybe that's why I won't let myself fall in love with Arica_, he mused._ I'm be too afraid to lose her._

Until Antellica arrived at 1200, Anakin spent the spare time he was given in his suite doing not much of anything, simply staring into space in the sitting room. He could've used this time to sleep of course, but had convinced himself that he wasn't tired. He was too full of grief to sleep. How he knew when Antellica was returning was by stretching out with the Force and sensing her signature approaching the planet. She was obviously aboard her ship with someone else for Anakin sensed another presence with Antellica.

_Perhaps it's a possible rebel._

Arica's signature wasn't approaching as rapidly. It was still a good distance off. He figured she was still in hyperspace. So since he didn't have anything else better to do, Anakin went to go meet Antellica as she landed. He strolled down the road to the Holiday Lakes Hotel, as he knew she had a suite there. And since Padme had kicked her former handmaiden from her Naboo home, and Antellica proceeded to blow it up in revenge, she certainly wasn't going to let her back into her Coruscant home. She had nowhere else to go but here.

Her ship, _Flying Angel,_ touched down onto one of the private landing strips that belonged to only anyone who occupied a suite at the hotel. The ramp lowered and Antellica strolled down it, oblivious to Anakin's presence not far away. He was confused. Anakin was sure he'd sensed two presences, but there was Antellica walking by herself.

"Antellica!" he called.

Antellica stopped in surprise when she heard her name called and quickly cloaked her pregnancy. She didn't really have to, being as she was wearing a loose fitting orange flowered dress that showed not a hint of her secret. But she cloaked it anyway to be safe. The person who called her turned out to be Anakin. She gave a sigh of relief. "Anakin, hi. What are you doing here?"

He rolled his eyes. "What do you think I'm doing here?" he asked with a smile. "To meet you of course, silly girl."

He gave a laugh but then stopped. Something wasn't right. It seemed more then ever that Antellica was hiding something. "Uh, are you alright Antellica?"

"I'm great," she replied with a smile. "Why do you ask?"

Anakin looked at her a moment and than glanced back to the ship. The other presence he'd sensed a moment ago had suddenly disappeared, as if it'd cloaked itself.

_I wonder. _He started to make for the ship, but Antellica followed. "Anakin, what are you doing?"

"I sensed something."

"Sensed something? What are you talking about?"

"Was there anyone else aboard your ship with you as you arrived?" he asked. "And you had them stay on board?"

"No."

He stopped to look at her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I don't sense anyone aboard the ship."

"Neither do I. But are you sure that someone couldn't have snuck on board and simply cloaked their presence?"

"You're talking nonsense Anakin." Antellica desperately wanted to get off these shaking waters. "If you must assure yourself, go on board and have a look see. But as for me, I'm going to report to the emperor on my mission."

"Was it successful?" Anakin turned his back on the ship and began to walk with her.

"No, sadly it was a waste. The rebels aren't on any desolate planets in the outer rim that I'm aware of. That Senator was probably just barking nonsense."

Anakin chuckled lightly. "Hopefully Arica will have had better fortune. You don't mind me coming with you, do you?" And without waiting for a response, he chuckled. "Of course you don't."

"Um...well after I report to the emperor I have some other things to do so, uh-no."

Anakin's entire face fell. "Oh. Okay. I guess I'll see ya than."

Antellica gave him a nod and walked off. That had been too close. It's not that she didn't want to spend time with him. It's just that she knew he suspected something was up. And the continued close proximity between the two might actually have him discover the truth. Before she got too far away though, he called after her.

"You know Antellica, if you didn't want to be bothered with, all you had to do was say so. You didn't have to lie."

Anakin saw Antellica stop briefly before continuing on. He sighed sadly and went back to his apartment. He was slightly hurt that Antellica would lie and say she had things to do as an excuse for not wanting to be around him. There was something wrong with her. She was hiding something. He just knew it. But as before, he did not want to push the issue.

* * *

Antellica arrived at the Imperial Executive Building not long after she left Anakin at Holiday Lakes via public shuttle. She proceeded up to the Emperor's office, and after entering was pleased to see only him there, for she had no wish or desire to cross paths with a certain empress. She bowed low before her master, who nodded in greeting, and plunged head first into her report. She basically told him the same things she'd told Anakin, but added a few things. 

"After I was done on Murkhana, I checked ten other desolate planets in the outer rim and found nothing. I was just on my way to checking Dagabah also when I received your message to return to Coruscant."

The emperor sniffed. "Believe me child, the rebels will not be on Dagabah. It's a swamp-infested planet of waste. No." He nodded to himself and studied her a few moments. _There was something she wasn't saying. The child was most definitely hiding something._

He continued to study her expressionless, yet slightly puzzled face before speaking again. "Is something wrong, child?"

Antellica blinked in confusion. "Wrong? No emperor, nothing is wrong. Why would anything be wrong?"

"Well I don't know." He rose from his chair and approached her. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"Begging your pardon emperor, but I have no idea as to what you're talking about."

He rose an eyebrow – _A lie –_ but choose not to press the issue just yet.

"Very well Lady Veradisia. Report back here at 1700 sharp this evening. You will find out the reason you've been summoned back than."

"Good day than master," she said with a bow and left.

* * *

About an hour after returning to his suite, Anakin sensed the presence of Arica rapidly Coruscant so decided to meet her and perhaps talk to her about Antellica. 

_Hopefully, I'll get a warmer welcome from her._

Being as Arica had no residence on Coruscant, Anakin wasn't entirely sure where she'd land or go at first. His intuition however told him the Imperial Executive Building, for after she arrived she'd have to report to the emperor as well, so he went there and waited on the domed building's multi-level landing dock. He only had to wait a few minutes as he soon saw Arica's newly acquired ship, _Jeweled Dolphin –_ she still obtained _Crystaliner_, but didn't use it much anymore as _Dolphin_ was much larger – fastly approaching.

It landed several meters away from him and Arica stepped out, catching sight of Anakin almost instantly. Her entire face lit up. "Anakin!" she cried, running down the ramp with open arms towards him. Anakin smiled back and raced to meet her halfway, pulling her into his arms at their meeting and lifting her off the ground to twirl in his embrace. Placing her back down, they simply held one another a long moment and broke apart. Arica looked up and gazed into the beautiful blue eyes she loved so much about him. A strain of dirty blonde hair had fallen down in front of one of them so she lifted her hand and brushed it out of the way. The two smiled at one another and she threw herself back into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. Anakin sighed in content as he continued to hold Arica and began stroking her hair. Arica finally pulled herself from Anakin's arms to beam up at him, but than looked around.

"Where's Luke and Leila?" And without waiting for a response, she continued. "Which reminds me, I bought some things for them."

She darted back to _Jeweled Dolphin_ without even looking to see if Anakin was following. He watched her go mournfully as she skipped back to her ship. Arica loved Luke and Leila like they were her own children. She was bound to be as upset, if not more, about their kidnapping as he was. A few moments later, she returned, skipping back off the ship with two bags of recent purchases.

"I made a pit stop on Corellia to fill up on fuel and decided to buy the twins a few things."

She put the bags down happily in front of Anakin and began to dig through them, taking things out and showing them to him. Anakin smiled sadly at the things she'd bought for the twins as she explained what they were. He was sure they would've loved them.

"These stuffed animals are toy wookies. They have blonde hair, as you can see, and they're twins too! Just like Luke and Leila! Well okay, so maybe they're not twins; just two of the same toy but they don't have to know that. I also got some cute little dresses for Leila once she gets older, as I doubt she'll fit into them now, but maybe. And I got Luke these cute little starship toys. They came in a collection, as you can see. There's a Star Destroyer, gunship, and two star fighters. They even give you two toy men to put inside the star fighters. I was a tad ticked they didn't give you any women to put into them too, but you know how toy companies are when it comes to these type of things. They're sexist. But anyway, the stuff is pretty cute, huh?" She laughed briefly but stopped at the look of sadness and sense of loose coming from Anakin. "What's wrong?"

She put the starship toy collection box back in the bag and walked the few paces to Anakin, who was presently looking sadly down at the ground. She lifted his face with her hand to see slight tears falling from his eyes. "Anakin! Anakin, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Was it something I said?"

Anakin simply gazed mournfully at her a moment, but than took her right hand into his flesh left hand. "Come with me," he said softly.

"What?"

Anakin sighed and looked into her confused face. He repeated himself. "Come with me Arica. There's something you need to know."

"Why can't you tell me here?" she wanted to know. "Anakin, I have to pay for this spot. It's not free. Besides I need to report to the emperor."

Just at that moment, one of the docking hand droids came rolling over. "Miss, I expect to be paid for the spot you're occupying."

However, before Arica could answer, Anakin waved his hand suggestively in front of the droid. It stood motionless a moment, but its voice soon took on a cheerier tone. "On second thought, it's on the house." It rolled away as noiselessly as it rolled over.

Arica laughed dryly, but soon stopped when she saw Anakin still remaining silent and somber, his eyes aimed sadly at the ground.

"Anakin, what's wrong?" she once again asked desperately. "Please tell me what's wrong."

He lifted his gaze from the ground and looked back up at her with pleading eyes. "Please Arica, just come with me. This is really important. I'd feel much more comfortable talking about this at home, not out here. Can't you report to the emperor later?"

Arica sighed in defeat. Something was obviously wrong. The emperor wouldn't be too pleased about this but...Anakin needed her. She could see it in his pleading, and slightly tearing eyes.

"All right, Anakin. Let's go."

Anakin smiled gratefully and took her hand into his own once more.

They walked to Holiday Towers in silence and entered Anakin's suite. It was a pretty nice and elegant place, but Arica wasn't really paying attention to its interior. Anakin sat down on the sofa in the living room and patted the place next to him. She sat there and hooked her arm around his neck.

"Anakin, what's wrong?" she asked for what seemed the thousandth time. She than suddenly looked around. "And where's Luke and Leila? Where are they Anakin?"

Anakin looked at her a moment but was soon falling into her arms and crying into her shoulder. Arica was confused by his tears and sad mood, and didn't understand why she didn't sense the young glowing Force signatures of Luke and Leila in the suite. She patted his head in comfort a few minutes, but he soon broke away from her and poured his heart out, telling her everything of the events of the night before. By the time he was finished, Arica was livid.

"How dare they?!" she boomed, rising from the chair and throwing her fists around at imaginary enemies. "How dare they!"

She turned back to Anakin, who was still sobbing, and ran over to hold him again. "Oh Anakin."

"Why?!" he cried in agony. "Why is it that everything I grow close to is always stolen away from me?!"

"Oh Anakin," Arica said soothingly. "Don't give up hope. We'll find them, and when we do we'll slaughter those Jedi beasts and anyone else who had any part in the kidnapping."

This seemed to calm him down a bit, for he stopped crying and seemed to get a handle on his emotions. "You're right Arica. We will find them. And I will personally cause Kenobi and that frog the same pain and anguish they've caused me."

He said this in a bitter voice, causing Arica to pat him encouragingly on the head. "That's the spirit. Just remember Anakin, we will find them. No matter how long it takes, we'll find them. The Jedi can't keep them hidden forever."

Anakin nodded and smiled at her. "Thank you Arica."

"No problem, but I really think you should get some rest."

"I'm not tired," he said defiantly.

"Than why are there bags under your eyes?" Arica asked with an amused raised eyebrow. Anakin simply looked at her a moment before sighing in defeat and putting his head down. He than smirked up at her and placed a kiss on her brow. Arica giggled but was than using the Force to pick him up off the sofa and float him towards what she assumed to be his bedroom. Anakin laughed as she did this. He could've stopped her of course, but choose not to. Besides, he was actually enjoying his float in the air. Arica placed him down softly onto the bed and than suddenly jumped up next to him, attacking him with tickles. A tickle/pillow fight broke out. After a few minutes of this however, the two reluctant lovers fell onto the bed in exhaustion and fell asleep – fully clothed – in each other's arms.

* * *

The empress spent her day, after being woken by Lord Vader's surprise news, at both the Imperial Senate Building and IEB with her father. He was addressing the kidnapping of Luke and Leila to the Senate, raving even more about the Jedi's treachery and how they were "vile beasts that must be hunted down and destroyed." Afterwards, she had scheduled meetings with certain Senators who were still unsure about the new Galactic Empire and its regional governors assigned to each planet. Padme would've given anything to simply blast them each into oblivion instead for their ignorance and doubt, but of course was forced to be nice and simply assure them that the Empire was created to help, not hurt or take from them. 

At 1645, after showing the door to the Humbarine Sector's Senator Bana Breemu, who insisted upon not joining the alliance against the empire, but still not being so sure about the empire either – "You're talking out of two sides of your mouth Bana," the empress heatedly said. "And I don't have time for this. Now take you stupid tooke and leave." For she'd brought her tiny pet tooke, (a small, cute, hopping rodent native to the swamps of Naboo), Fluff-fluff she called it, with her to the meeting – she left her office and went up to the topmost level of the building where the emperor's own office was located. He was currently receiving a report from Clone Commander Cody about the building of the Imperial Palace, as the clone commander was in charge of its construction.

"The building is going quite wonderfully my lord," he was saying as Padme entered the room. "I estimate we should be done in six months time."

"Good," the Emperor cooed. "Though I would prefer it to be done sooner..." He trailed off a moment. "Very well Cody, you are dismissed."

Commander Cody saluted. "Sir." He than gave a bow to Padme and exited the room.

Padme gave a nod to her father and seated herself down next to him at his desk. In the Imperial Palace, they'd have a throne room where he and she would sit side by side, but in the meantime they would have to make due with sitting at the Emperor's desk.

While waiting for the others to arrive, she informed her father of her various meetings with different Senators that day. Though most of them were reasonable and vague, she was easily able to figure out which ones were actually sincere about their curiosity and which ones were plotting treason. They would be eliminated of course but the Emperor said they'd be interrogated for information first, tortured next, and terminated later.

Antellica was the first to arrive at 5 minutes till 1700. She entered the room with a bow and seated herself in the long chair before the desk. Padme studied the girl with a sniff. Indeed she was hiding something. Though as to what she knew not. The emperor had told her earlier via telepathy that something was up with the girl, and ordered that when she came to the meeting that evening to study her evasively. Padme didn't think it had anything to do with the kidnapping, for Antellica didn't know about it yet. A quick sweep of her mind showed her that. The Empress' Hand had no idea as to why she was here. Before Padme could do any further investigation though, Anakin and Arica walked in, bowed in unison towards the emperor and sat down next to Antellica, each giving her a hug before doing so on either side of her.

Padme looked briefly at the time and scowled. It read 1700 on the dot. Too bad, she would've loved to have yelled at them had they'd been late, if only by a minute.

"Ah Lady Zenevieva," the emperor said instantly gazing at her. "Did you not arrive on Coruscant four hours previous to the current time?"

She seemed unfazed by his irritation. "Yes master."

"Than why did you not come here to give your report earlier?"

"I was comforting Lord Vader."

"_Comforting Lord Vader,"_ Padme repeated in a mocking tone. "How sweet."

Arica hissed at her softly while Anakin glared her daggers and mouthed a profanity. Antellica, however, looked genuinely confused.

"Now as you're finished _comforting Lord Vader_," the emperor said. "Report!"

"The mission wasn't an absolute waste. I did find the remains of some type of base there but when I started to interrogate the Senator, he said he'd never tell where they were now. He'd take their secrets to the grave. And before I could do anything else to make him talk, he whipped out a blaster and shot himself to death. Too bad. I would've loved to have done it myself, after getting some type of information out of him of course."

The emperor nodded. "Very good Lady Zenevieva, but do not worry about the rebels. They can not stay hidden forever, and what with the recent turn of events, we may find them and their Jedi allies sooner then expected."

"I suppose you're talking about the search for Luke and Leila?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied while Padme noticed Antellica looking even more confused than ever. He obviously noticed this as well for he turned to her. "I take it you don't know that Luke and Leila were kidnapped by Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda last night, Lady Veradisia?"

She blinked in shocked surprise. "No. Lord Vader didn't tell me when I saw him earlier."

"You didn't really give me much of a chance, did you?" Despite his better judgment, his tone was angry. "I was going to you for comfort, and you just pushed me away."

"Anakin-" she started, but he cut her off.

"My name is Darth Vader," he snarled. "Lord Vader to you."

Antellica looked on the verge of tears. "Lord Vader, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Padme smirked at the whole exchange while the emperor lightly cackled.

"So tell me Lady Veradisia," he asked, "what do you think of the Jedi kidnapping Luke and Leila?"

"I think it's horrible," she said. "They're such sweet little babies."

Padme coughed while Arica looked at her sister in disbelief. "That's it?! That's all you think and have to say?! I was furious when I found out. And you're just sitting there like it's no big deal."

"I didn't say that Arica. What do you want me to do? Get up and start shouting with rage, perhaps? That's unnecessary and uncalled for. The only thing we need to be concerned about is how we're going to get them back from the Jedi, and why they took them to begin with?"

The emperor cackled again before Arica could respond. "Well said Lady Veradisia. Well said, though we can successfully answer the second question. The Jedi took them to train in their ways. I guess as a way to get back at us, or mainly Vader, for ridding the galaxy of their scum."

Padme snorted while Antellica merely nodded. She wasn't angry about the twins being kidnapped, just surprised and confused that Obi-Wan and Yoda would do such a thing. Jedi do not know revenge. That's something Obi-Wan had told her long ago.

_Why Obi-Wan? Why would you do such a thing?_

Padme raised her eyebrows briefly at Antellica's thoughts but said nothing.

"You were good friends with Kenobi, Lady Veradisia, were you not?" the emperor abruptly asked.

Antellica appeared confused to the emperor. "Yes, I suppose I was. But then so was Vader and Padme-"

"Empress to you girl," Padme spat. Arica flipped her off, but Antellica simply continued as though there had been no interruption.

"-for that matter. That's fact, not fiction."

The emperor slowly nodded his head, still gazing at her unblinkingly, as if daring her to look away. She did not however. She fiercely held his gaze, her eyes set to a challenge.

"Well than Lady Veradisia," he said after a moment. "I am assigning you to hunt Kenobi down."

"With all due respect my master," Vader said before Antellica could reply. "But I think it would be better if I looked for him."

Padme coughed in disgust.

"Do you now?" The emperor smirked. "Well Lord Vader, it is up to me to make the decision. And I say Lady Veradisia tracks him down. Not you."

He let this information sink in a moment before continuing. Vader bowed his head, nodding in defeat.

"You, Veradisia will continue your search of the Outer Rim." He than turned to Vader. "You, on the other hand, will search the entire Mid Rim for that green troll Yoda."

Both Vader and Veradisia bowed their heads to the Sith Master, and said in unison, "As you wish my lord."

"That than leaves you Lady Zenevieva. I have a special mission for you. You will go to Alderaan and confront Senator Organa. Interrogate him. Make him tell you where they are. I know he had something to do with the kidnapping, as I also know he has something to do with the rebel alliance. He is one of the leaders. Of course I have no proof of this, but that is where you come in Zenevieva. You will find proof."

"But what of the other Core worlds besides Alderaan?" she asked. "Shouldn't they be searched as well?"

"No. The Jedi would not be stupid enough to hide the twins in the Core," the emperor replied. "No, they are some where in the Mid or Outer Rims. Of that I know."

"And after I find proof of Bail's treason, I get to kill him?" Arica eagerly asked.

The emperor smirked at her excitement to eliminate the Senator. "Not just yet. I'd prefer him to be discredited first before he's later killed. We'll present the information you find to the Senate and he'll stand trial. After he is sentenced to prison, than you may kill him. But just not now."

"Very well master," she said with a nod.

"If I may ask my master," Vader said. "But what of the Unknown Regions of space beyond the Outer Rim? Should they not be searched too?"

He shook his head. "The rebels won't be hiding there. These are people within the Senate and Empire. There's not much out in the Unknown Regions of space. All who venture out there never return. That's why it's called the Unknown Regions. No one really does know what's out there."

Vader briefly nodded.

"Any more questions?" he asked.

Everyone shook their head in reply.

"Very well. Meeting adjourned. I except each of you gone by tomorrow morning."

All three rose from the long chair and bowed. "Yes master," they said unison and exited the room.

* * *

Antellica was the first to leave that night. She left not a half-hour after the meeting. She wasn't sure where to look for Obi-Wan and didn't even know if he was in the Outer Rim. She just hoped to find him within the remaining three months of her pregnancy. How would he react to the news? She didn't know, but knew she had to tell him. He had a right to know. Besides, why would she hide it from him? She loved him. As much as she tried to push Obi-Wan out of her mind, he always popped back up. Memories of their night together still fresh in her mind. 

She was so lost in these thoughts as she was about to board her ship that she didn't hear or sense Anakin sneak up behind her until he hugged her from behind, catching her off guard.

"Didn't think you were gonna leave with out saying goodbye, did you?" he asked into her mane of blond hair. He knew he'd caught her off guard. He sensed she'd been in deep thought about something and almost had half a mind to tap into them as he snuck up behind her but quickly banished these thoughts. He was Antellica's friend, and friends don't spy on each other. As he hugged her though, wrapping his arms around her front, he felt a slight bulge to her stomach. Antellica quickly broke away from him and cloaked her pregnancy, hoping against hope that Anakin hadn't figured it out. Anakin looked at Antellica in pure confusion and reached out his metallic hand, making for her now seemingly flat belly. She quickly jumped back as if burned.

"How dare you?" she hissed. "You think you can just go around touching women?"

"I'm sorry Antellica," he quickly said. "I didn't mean it that way. Not the way you're thinking, I just-"

"Oh shut up Lord Vader," she snapped cutting across him.

Anakin was slightly taken aback. "You know, you don't have to call me that. The only reason I said that was because of the Emperor and Padme."

Antellica sniffed. "Whatever." She then made to board _Flying Angel._

"Aren't you at least going to say goodbye?" Anakin asked from behind her.

She stopped at the middle of the boarding ramp and turned to look at him, her face void of emotion. Anakin slowly approached her as he spoke. "Antellica, I don't know what your problem is but you're changing. And you're hiding something. I know you are."

"You have no proof of that," she was quick to counter.

"Antellica, you haven't been yourself lately. You distant yourself from people. You refuse to draw an annoying amount of attention to yourself. You were never like that before. What happened to make you change all of a sudden? Antellica listen to me." He gripped her shoulders as he continued for it looked as she was going to turn away. "I'm your friend, and I just want to help you."

"I don't need any of your help."

"So you admit that something's wrong?" he asked triumphantly.

Antellica sighed deeply, looking to the ground and than gazing out at the city world of Coruscant; looking at it for what she assumed to be the last time in her life. She turned back to Anakin, looking into the eyes of a friend that she knew truly wanted to help her. She looked away again. She couldn't tell him. She wouldn't risk it.

"No," she finally said. "No one can help me...besides myself."

Anakin defiantly shook his head. "I don't accept that. Antellica please-" He made to hold her again, but she jumped back in defiance.

"Get away from me!" she cried. "Just go away!" And before Anakin could stop her, she ran up the boarding ramp, closed it behind her so Anakin couldn't follow, and took off into the sky.

Anakin sighed sadly as he watched _Flying Angel_ go. Arica suddenly ran up next to him, looking sadly up after it as well.

_I didn't even get to say goodbye,_ she thought sadly but than decided to do so telepathically.

_"Antellica?"_

No response. She tried again.

_"Antellica?"_

Still no response.

_"Antellica?"_

By now she was starting to panic.

_"Antellica?! Why aren't you answering me?!"_

She still got no response, but abruptly felt a wall in her mind, blocking hers from her twin's. Arica didn't understand. Why would Antellica block her mind from her?

"Arica?"

She turned to find Anakin looking at her inquisitively, yet concerned.

"Anakin." Her eyes started to tear slightly and she moved herself into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. Anakin held her a few moments, stroking her hair gently. When she broke apart from him, he softly kissed her cheek and wiped away the few tears that had fallen from her eyes. She smiled and moved into his arms again. He kissed the side of her brow and simply held her. After another moment, they officially broke apart.

"Did you get to say goodbye to her?" Arica asked.

"Yes. In a manner of speaking, I suppose." He told her of the conversation he had with Antellica, and this only added to Arica's previous worry.

"Arica, there's something wrong with her," Anakin said desperately. "She needs help, but she refuses to accept any."

Arica nodded. "I know. I tried talking to her telepathically just now but...she blocked her mind from me." She sighed. "Do you think we should say something to the emperor about this?"

Anakin shrugged. "I don't know. But I guess it wouldn't hurt."

Taking Arica's flesh left hand into his metallic right one, he smiled at her. She smiled mischievously back at him and placed a peek on his cheek. They walked hand-in-hand from the Holiday Lakes Hotel to the IEB. It was around 1830 when they arrived. Brushing by the Royal Guard standing alert outside the office they went inside. They found the emperor browsing through some paperwork, obviously busy. To much gladness, Padme was no where to be seen. She'd left for Naboo about an hour after their meeting to resume her duties as Queen. Anakin and Arica had no way of knowing this however. They were just glad she wasn't there to interrupt. The emperor looked up from his papers and gave them a mockery of a smile.

"Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva. I'm surprised to see you two again so soon."

"Master." Vader bowed. "We're sorry to interrupt, but we have something we wish to address to you."

The Emperor nodded and gestured towards the long seat they'd sat in not long before. They compiled and sat down. "What is it that upsets you both?"

Anakin looked to Arica and nodded, implying that she should go first. She took a deep breath and did so. She began to explain how around two months ago, Antellica began acting quite odd for her standards: Being quite, and refusing to draw attention to herself at the length of annoyance as she usually always did.

"She also started being very secretive," Anakin added. "As if she's hiding something. And I know she is. She just as much said so herself." He than spoke of the events of before Antellica left and Arica explained how she tried contacting her telepathically, yet she wouldn't respond and put a block on her mind.

"We just want to help her," Anakin concluded. "That's all. I have no intention of getting into her personal business. We're just concerned because I know something's bothering her."

"As do I," Arica added. "We brought this before you in hopes of help. Surely you've noticed something's amiss with her as well."

The Emperor nodded. "Oh yes, I've had my suspicions. And I did try to offer my help to her before, but as you yourselves said, she pushed it away."

He allowed a moment of silence to pass, in which time Anakin and Arica mournfully nodded their heads, before continuing. "I do however think it has something to do with her mission, and perhaps a certain Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Both Anakin and Arica blinked in shocked confusion. "Kenobi?" Anakin asked in confusion and a hint of anger. Obviously his hatred for his ex-teacher had grown since he'd abducted his children. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Do you not find it suspicious that Antellica is the one who found out that Kenobi _supposedly_ escaped first? She says she sensed something wasn't right and went to see if Kenobi escaped or not. Why is that the first thought that would _supposedly_ come to her mind? And better yet, why did the rest of us not sense anything, or me for that matter?"

"What are you trying to say?" Arica growled, becoming very irritated with what her master was implying.

He simply smiled evilly as if to say, 'You know what I'm saying. Don't play dumb.'

"Are you trying to say, are you trying to imply that Antellica had something to do with Kenobi's escape?" Anakin scoffed. "I don't believe that. With all due respect master, but I think you're head needs examining."

"As do I," Arica added but the emperor simply chuckled. "You're losing your touch. Antellica wouldn't help Kenobi escape. Why would she? She hates him. The mere thought-"

"Well I don't know," he cut across her. "Why would she?"

"I refuse to believe what I'm hearing," Arica cried in exasperation.

"If you supposedly feel this way _master_," Anakin spat out the word in mockery as the emperor continued to smirk, "Why did you send her out to look for him?"

"Indeed, why did I?" he repeated. "We shall see if Veradisia brings Kenobi back or not. We shall see."

"Yes master," Anakin hissed angrily. "We shall see. And she will bring him back. I have faith that she will."

"And I will not have you trashing my sister when she is not here to defend herself," Arica added in a snarl.

The empire's supreme ruler merely continued to cackle at them as they got up and stalked out of his office. "How dare he accuse Antellica of such treason," Arica roared in the hallway that led to the elevator.

"Some help he was," Anakin muttered angrily.

* * *

The two decided to meet each other at the downtown Central Transport Center before they left for their separate missions. A half-hour later they did so. As soon as Arica exited her ship, she ran to Anakin and hugged him tightly. Anakin sighed into her hair. 

"Be safe Arica," he whispered.

She broke away from him and stroked a lock of hair out of his face. "I will Anakin. I promise." She then smirked and playfully punched his chest. "Don't worry about me. Heck, I survived the Clone Wars. I'm quite capable of dealing with a few politicians."

Anakin smirked slightly. "I know." His voice was soft.

They gazed at each other a few moments before Arica leaned forward slightly and whispered. "I'm not a little girl anymore Anakin. Remember that."

Anakin shook his head and smirked. "Oh no no no Arica. You'll always be a little girl in my eyes."

Arica laughed lightly and Anakin did the same, but soon stopped as he gazed deep into her eyes. He wanted to kiss her so badly, and made to before than stopping himself just as their lips were about to touch. He abruptly broke away from her and sighed, directing his gaze to the ground. Arica was disappointed, but tried not to show it as Anakin looked back up at her and smiled softly. He gently brushed his lips against her brow and smirked. "See ya chicka."

He than strolled off towards the _Executor_ and Arica boarded her ship. They exited Coruscant together a few minutes later, their ships side by side along with a large amount of the Imperial fleet. Before either of them entered hyperspace they both, unbeknown to the other at first, gazed outside their ship's frontal viewports to look at one another. Their eyes locked and they both smiled. Anakin sighed as he was about to order Commander Doriana to push forward the hyperspace lever, but then stopped and looked over at Arica, who was in the process of doing the same thing. He had no idea as to when they'd see each other again, and what the situation would be when they did so. He wanted to tell her something before they officially parted for who knows how long.

_I love you Arica,_ he sent to her through the Force.

Arica's eyes widened and she took her hand off the hyperspace lever as she heard Anakin's voice inside her head tell her the three simple words she'd so longed to hear him say. She smiled and looked back over to him, but her smile instantly vanished. He was already gone.

_"Oh Anakin, I love you too. So, so much."_

Anakin sighed as he heard these words and ventured back to his quarters to meditate.


	4. First Fight of the Rebellion

Author's Note: As this is the second update for today, the next probably won't be up till Thursday or Friday. There's some awesome action in this as the title itself says. I hope you enjoy it, and make sure to leave a review.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 4: First Fight of the Rebellion

Considered the "Shining Star" of the Core worlds, wild grasslands and old mountain ranges dominated Alderaan's land surface. Large oceans and scattered in land seas provided the planet with ideal conditions for a large variety of flora and fauna to develop. As such, Alderaan was homeworld to some of the galaxy's most famous animals, such as the nerf and the thranta. Alderaanian cities were often built with great care taken to protect nature. One such city, Crevasse City, was built on the walls of a canyon, nearly invisible from above. Others were built on stilts along the shoreline or under polar ice. The capital Aldera, known for its university, was built on the small island in the center of a caldera.

In the Castle Lands, the remains of Killik mounds stood as a silent testament to the indigenous species that had disappeared for unknown reasons. Philosophers, poets, and artists often visited the Candle Lands for inspiration and meditation.

Alderaan was also home to more than eight thousand subspecies of grass and an even larger amount of wildflowers. Its flora also included a massive variety of species, herbs, and grains. The planet had no major oceans, but it had a single polar ice cap. The rest of Alderaan's surface water was composed of thousands of lakes and connecting waterways.

The Alderaanian culture valued education, the performing and fine arts, and peaceful resolutions to conflicts. They placed high value in their participation in the former New Republic and also the Galactic Empire. The Alderaanians constantly sought a harmonious existence with their surroundings, evident in their integration of their society into the natural terrain of Alderaan. Alderaanians were known for love of philosophy.

The average Alderaanian was very educated and cultured. Poets and artists thrived on the world. The beauty moved the pens of poets, while the vast greenlands served as a canvas for grass painting. Alderaan was also famous for its cuisine. The large variety of spices and herbs allowed chefs to experiment and create some of the finest dishes in the galaxy. Steamed Alderaanian spiced wine was a favored beverage among many. And some of the planet's major exports included wine, art and, luxury goods.

Although a democratic society, Alderaan was headed by a hereditary constitutional monarchy with the Royal House of Alderaan presiding over the High Court and legislature High Council of Alderaan. Its monarchs have variously borne the titles "Prince", "Viceroy", and "First Chairman". Traditionally, the heir of the Alderaan throne also serves in the High Council of Alderaan and a term as Senator of Alderaan. A vizier also helped them rule.

Several decades before the Clone Wars, a political conflict between the high houses of Alderaan arose. This conflict, known as the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention, was the result of the inability of the great families – among them the House of Organa and the House of Antilles – to choose the next Viceroy of Alderaan. Three separate votes wielded no winner, and so the Alderaanians asked the Jedi for meditation to resolve the contention. The Jedi considered the intricacies of the situation, and decided that House Organa bore the rightful claim to the throne – Bail Organa. His wife, the Queen Breha Antilles-Organa, served as both Alderaan's ruler and Minister of Education.

During the peaceful times of the New Republic, the government deliberately halted itself from so much as questioning spacecraft leaving or arriving on the planet. However since the Clone Wars this changed. So it did not surprise Arica that upon her arrival outside the planet, an hour after leaving Coruscant, _Jeweled Dolphin's_ communicator buzzed with an incoming message from the world. The Emperor's Hand clicked the comm on to accept it, and a man's voice came over the comm.

"Unknown freighter, this is the Aldera Transport Control Center. Please identify yourself."

Arica spoke clearly into the microphone as to be understood. "Control, this is Arica Grievous, though you may better know me as General Grievous from the Clone Wars. The same General whom once invaded your world with Separatists forces. You _will_ allow me to land on your planet and you _will_ alert Viceroy Organa of my arrival. I expect him to be waiting for me when I land."

And before the voice of control could respond, she turned off the comm and proceeded into the planet. At first, she wasn't sure where she was going to land, but than decided to be defiant and dock on one of the private landing bays at the Aldera Royal Palace.

Though the capital was mostly famous for its university, one of the main attractions of it was the Aldera Royal Palace. A large white-spired structure accessible via several gates leading into the Palace grounds, the multistoried building contained all manner of ramparts, turrets, bedrooms, and ballrooms. It also featured a Grand Reception Hall, Grand Ballroom, the Queen's throne room, a bridge-spanned reflecting pool, and a study which overlooked a lake and was surrounded by gardens. It was protected by Royal Guards that largely served only the House of Organa; the reason Arica wasn't surprised at seeing the armored and slacked hatted security force flanking Bail Organa along with a large posse of what she took to be handmaidens, court members, aids, and nobles as he walked towards her landing ship.

At Arica's exit and slow-paced walk down the boarding ramp, it was to see that Organa and his troop were spread out surrounding her ship. She took one look at this and folded her arms across her chest with a strange smile on her face while taking to lean against the side of _Jeweled Dolphin_.

"Honestly Senator, is this really necessary?"

He ignored the question. "What is the meaning of this Arica Grievous?" His voice was booming and demanded reverence.

"My, what a welcome sentence," she commented dryly. His anger only confirmed the assumption Arica knew she would be greeted with upon returning to his world. The last time she'd been here, as General, she'd held Alderaanian citizens and four other lesser known members of the House of Organa – Bail's three sisters, Celly, Rouge, and Tia, and mother, Mazicia – at gunpoint until Republic forces arrived and drove her off world. Arica noticed that the four Organa women were among the dozen or so nobles present. "Hello to you too, Senator." She gave a nod to the others. "Court."

"Don't play with me General," Organa bit out, loosing his patience somewhat. "What could bring you, a murderer, to our peaceful world once more?"

"You wound me with your insults Viceroy." Arica spoke in mock sadness, clutching a hand to her heart while the other was on her hip. "We are, after all, on the same side, are we not?"

Organa's nod was slightly hesitant.

"Why the rude welcome then?"

Organa said nothing at first, but after a moment gave a slight bow and spoke. "Forgive me General. But you must understand, these are dark times."

Arica rose an eyebrow. "Really? And why is that? The war is over. Peace has been restored to the galaxy."

Organa and several members of his court looked a bit uncomfortable for a moment. "Yes, but-" He cut himself off with a sigh. "Of course General. These are peaceful times." A brief pause followed. "I simply wasn't aware that countless systems being slaughtered just because they don't agree with the government on something was done during 'peaceful times.'"

"An example had to be made out of the systems who dared to oppose the Empire," Arica said calmly.

"Yes, but all the same." Organa stopped his argument with a frustrated sigh. "What is your reason for being here, General?"

Arica gave him a sly smile. "The Emperor sent me."

Organa looked confused. "For what purpose? If this has something to do with Alderaan's regional governor-"

"Oh no no Senator. This has nothing to do with that."

Organa appeared even more confused now. "What then?"

Arica smirked. "I think you know the answer to that question Organa."

This brought an risen eyebrow to the Viceroy's face. "Do I? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

Arica merely gave him a dry smile and walked forward by Organa's league of guards who were still surrounding her ship. She felt them follow her as she moved. "Denial, denial," she said in a sing song tone of voice. "Such a fascinating thing, don't you find Senator?"

She didn't get a reply at first, but Arica wasn't really expecting one.

"What are you doing here General Grievous?"

Arica turned. It was Organa's wife, the Queen Breha, who'd spoken. The Emperor's Hand gave a vague, unreadable smile to the Queen and studied her. She was very beautiful, looked to be in her mid-thirties perhaps, and had flowing, brown locks that were currently in a bun at the top of her head. She was wearing a silk navy blue gown, and for some reason she reminded her of an older version of the empress. Arica had not met the Queen during her siege to the planet in the war's second year, as she'd been off world with her husband for a period of time.

"Technically, I'm not a General anymore, your highness. The war is after all over. You may call me...Arica."

Breha nodded curtly. "Very well...Arica. What is your reason for being here?"

Arica allowed a brief pause to go by before answering. She began to walk again. "I'm sure you've heard about the kidnapping of the Imperial Prince and Princess, yes?"

"Yes," the Queen said briefly.

"We were very sorry to hear about it," Organa added after a slight pause.

"I'm sure," Arica said with a knowing smirk. Another round of silence went by. She resumed. "Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are responsible for the kidnapping. That fool Kenobi had the nerve to leave behind a note to Vader saying," she adopted a mocking tone, "'I'm sorry Anakin, but this is for the best. I really have failed you my brother.'"

She coughed at the end for a finish and turned to face Organa and his wife again. "The reason I'm here? After the kidnapping, an Alderaanian cruiser was spotted leaving orbit around Vader's Star Destroyer, _Executor._ The Jedi escaped aboard it. Though I know the Jedi are no longer on planet, I do know that the person, or persons, responsible for helping them escape are still here...somewhere. My job? To find them."

"You can't search the entire planet of Alderaan," Organa protested exasperatedly.

"Oh I have no intention to Senator," she said slyly. "Only if I have to. Why don't we just make this easier for the both of us and you just confess right now."

Organa blinked. "Confess? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying Arica."

"Senator, Viceroy, Prince." She warily shook her head. "The Emperor knows of your and Mon Mothma's little rebel alliance."

"Rebel alliance?! How dare you accuse me of such treason! I am a member of the Imperial Senate and a crowned Prince Consort of Alderaan. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Really?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Why so offensive then? If you weren't one of the leaders, all that needed to be said was that I must be mistaken, but in a civilized manner."

Arica continued her stride around the landing bay's length with the guards still following at a distance. "You won't mind me having a look see around the planet then," she said more as a statement than a question.

Without turning, she sensed hesitation radiating off Organa and his court. She smirked as she continued, turning to face them again. "You do have nothing to hide, of course. So I can look around freely."

Organa continued to hesitate, exchanging glances with his wife and nobles.

"In peace," Arica added. "Without being followed by a troop of guards."

"Only under the condition that you hand over all your weapons and hurt no one."

Arica merely shrugged and threw her two lightsabers on the ground before him.

"Anything else?" And before even waiting for a response she continued, clapping her hands together. "I shall have my look see then."

She walked off, making to exit the palace grounds when she heard Organa mutter softly to his wife in the native Alderaanian tongue.

'It's a good thing Master Kenobi and Yoda left when they did.'

Arica abruptly stopped and turned, smirking triumphantly at them. 'Yes Senator,' she said in the native tongue, shocking them all. Usually only natives of the planet knew the tongue, but Arica had done her research. 'It is good they left when they did, isn't it?'

She held their looks of horror and winked before strolling off.

* * *

The next seven days were spent with Arica searching the planet. She knew she didn't have to. Those responsible for Kenobi and Yoda's escape where Organa and his crew. She searched the planet to it's entirely though nonetheless, hoping to find some type of proof on the matter, or just...something. Sadly, she found nothing. The Rebel base obviously wasn't on Alderaan, that was for sure. 

On the morning of the eighth day she'd been there, she arrived back at the Aldera Royal Palace around a late lunch hour, 1330. After requesting an audience with the Prince and Queen, she was led into an elegant dining hall where she found the pair eating. Organa looked up sharply as she was led in.

"So Arica," his tone was near venom, "did you find what you were looking for?"

Arica smirked. "No sadly, because what I'm looking for is right in front of me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Organa said testily.

"Oh I'm sure." She laughed, but than turning serious. "Enough nonsense Senator. I know you helped the Jedi escape. It was your ship, _Tantive IV,_ they escaped on. And I know, just as much as the emperor and empress, that you are one of the main leaders of the Rebel Alliance. So you can drop this act you're playing because I can see the lies in your face."

"Arica Grievous!" Organa boomed rising from his chair. "This is treason! You have no proof of these accusations."

"Really?" she countered. "If I remember correctly, you were trying to get the empress to join your little rebellion before you found out who she really was. Your delegation of Two Thousand Senators and you have been plotting real treason for the past half year now. You are an enemy of the Empire! And if it weren't for the emperor's orders, I would slaughter you and your planet right here, right now!"

"Treason!" The Queen screamed, also rising from her chair. "Guards! Arrest her!"

About a dozen or guards came running forward, blasters raised. Arica smirked at the royal couple and whipped out her third lightsaber, the one she didn't hand over. She turned to face the guards who tried to bind her and slaughtered the group of six within seconds. Afterwards, she whipped back around to face the two royals; her laser blade ached towards the floor and her eyes blazing Sith yellow.

"You dare to challenge or arrest the Emperor's Hand?" she hissed in a deadly whisper. "No Breha, it is not I who is under arrest, but you."

Extending her hand, she sent a full body bind at the Queen. Breha fell to the floor unable to move.

"Monster!" Organa shouted. He whipped out a blaster and began to shoot at her. She merely smirked and once again rose her hand, abstracting the blaster from his hands. His eyes widened in shock at this and she caught the blaster perfectly in her left hand. She deactivated her lightsaber with the Force and aimed the blaster at him.

"You will come with me back to Coruscant Organa, and we shall talk to the emperor about all this."

"I'm not coming back with you anywhere," he spat.

"Don't make me kill you," she growled. "One shot. That's all it'll take. Just one shoot."

"Is this how liberty and democracy dies?!" Organa asked in rage. "With the slaughtering of countless innocents!"

"I'm going to give you up to ten Organa, and you're going to tell me where the Jedi are hiding."

"I will tell you nothing," he defiantly stated.

"One...two...three..." Arica counted.

"You'll just have to kill me because I'll never tell you anything!" Organa yelled. "Not about the Jedi, not about the alliance, not about anything!"

Just as Arica was about to yell "ten!", the doors to the dining hall flew open and in ran various rebel leaders and members. Mon Mothma was leading them. All around the room, guns were being aimed at Arica.

"Arica Grievous," Mon said calmly, "you are under arrest for treason and the slaughtering of innocents."

"Under whose authority?!" Arica screamed. "The rebel alliance?! Ha!" She began firing at the rebels. Out of the thirty, Arica was only able to shoot down ten before she was stunned and fell to the floor into unconsciousness.

* * *

After Arica was knocked out, the rebels bound the teen and took her to their temporary rebel base on the Mid Rim world of Arbra. It wouldn't be safe to take her to Cardooine in the event they were found. The rebels weren't entirely sure what they were going to do with her just yet, so merely put her inside a detention cell while they made their decision.

* * *

Arica awoke several hours later with a sore head and bound hands. _Just great. Even if I wanted to give my head comfort I can't._

Than an idea hit her. She concentrated with the Force, gazing at the binds that held her wrists. They clicked off a moment later. Smiling with satisfaction, she rubbed her sore wrists and head and took in her surroundings. She looked to be in a detention cell of sorts.

That's odd. There aren't any detention cells on Alderaan; not even a jail. I should know, after all I searched the entire planet top to bottom. No, I must be someplace else.

Stretching out with the Force, she sensed that indeed she was not on Alderaan any longer, but a planet called Arbra. She'd never heard of it before, but the Force told her it was in the Mid Rim territories of space. Picking herself off the floor, she approached the door of the cell. It was locked of course with a guard at the other side of it. Arica concentrated and reached into the mind of the guard with a simple suggestion.

"_Unlock the door."_

Outside the door, the guard shook himself and looked around. He could've sworn he'd heard someone tell him to unlock the door, yet he saw no one. Shrugging it off as his imagination, he went back to leaning against the door and closing his eyes. He was so tired. He did not want to stand here any longer, guarding some teenage murderer, but he had to.

"_No you don't,"_ said the mysterious voice again.

He hopped to attention and looked around, but still he saw no one.

"_You don't have to guard this door anymore,"_ said the voice. _"Let me do it for you, but first, unlock the door."_

"Where are you?" the guard asked nervously, looking this way and that. "Who are you?"

"_I am in front of you in shadows, behind you in the cell, and yet...I'm in your mind talking to you as well."_

The guard shook himself again, knowing he was going mad. Who was this mysterious voice?

"_Arica Grievous,"_ it whispered.

Suddenly all air in his windpipe vanished. He dropped the blaster he was holding, which fell to the floor with a clatter, and began to desperately claw at the deadly grip that was on his throat.

"_You will unlock this door and you will let me out," _Arica hissed in his mind. _"Or I will continue to choke you to death, but not give you the sweet release of it."_

"All right, all right," he thought franticly. "I'll do anything you say, just let me go."

Arica complied and the guard hurried to unlock the door. The door opened and Arica pushed the guard out of her way as she exited. She briefly looked around the shadowed hallway they were in before she glanced over at the cowering guard in disgust. She had half a mind to choke him to death for real this time, but thought against it at a sudden idea. She waved a hand in his face. "You will hand over your blaster, and you _will_ show me where the rebel leaders are presently meeting."

His eyes clouded over and roboticly he handed over the blaster as he repeated what she'd just said. _"I will hand over my blaster, and I will show you where the rebel leaders are presently meeting."_

Turning to the left, he motioned forward. Arica began to follow, but than grabbed and whipped him around.

"And remember buddy," she hissed in a deadly whisper, "we must not be seen. No tricks or I will give you something worse then death. Something even more worse than being choked to death."

He fearfully nodded his head and she let go of him. Once again, he motioned forward and she followed. As she did so, she searched within her mind for a way to contact the Emperor.

"_Master."_

* * *

On Coruscant, the Emperor was currently going through some reports on possible rebel sightings when he abruptly heard a female voice in his mind. 

"_Master."_

It was that of his Hand, Darth Lady Zenevieva.

"_Lady Zenevieva?" _he asked in mild surprise. _"What is it?"_

Without further adieu, Arica plunged headlong into the events of the past few days and her current position.

"_Now you say you're on Arbra, correct?"_ he asked once she finished.

"_Yes master."_

"_Wonderful Lady Zenevieva. You have done well. Lord Vader is currently in that area with his troops searching for Yoda. I will send word to him to go there immediately. He should be there within the hour. In the meantime Hand, lay low. See if you can get some information as to the possible locations of the Jedi and twins."_

"_Yes master."_

* * *

The connection then broke. Arica continued to follow the guard who suddenly motioned for her to hide behind some boxes while a person went by. The emperor meanwhile contacted Lord Vader to make best possible speed for Arbra immediately. 

The thought of Arica being held captive by the rebels made Vader's blood boil in rage.

_They will not take her from me,_ he thought angrily as he left his quarters and went to bark at the crew to change course and make for Arbra.

_Don't worry Arica, we're coming for you._

* * *

After the person had gone by, Arica and the guard got up from behind the boxes and continued on. 

_Don't worry Arica, we're coming for you._

Arica smiled. It was Anakin's voice.

"_Don't take too long Anakin, or there won't be any rebels left for you and your troops to kill."_

She heard Anakin mentally laugh. _"I won't. And Arica?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I love you."_

"_I know you do Anakin. I love you too."_

Arica heard Anakin happily sigh before the connection broke.

Arica and the guard were no longer in the shadowed corridor. They'd come to the end of it and were now at the entrance of a hanger full of people. Arica quickly cloaked their presences – _Why hadn't I thought of this before? –_ and darted forward, grabbing the guards' hand to drag him along. She sensed the familiar presences of Bail and Breha Organa somewhere straight ahead and ran towards it. As they ran through the busy hanger undetected, Arica took note of the small fleet of ships the rebels had inside. Some of them looked like warships, others didn't.

It's as if they're planning to go to war with the Empire.

When they got to the end of the hanger there were a few doors that led to different rooms – medical lab, cafeteria – but Arica opted to go down the side corridor that was on their left. The hall was brightly lit with fluorescent ceiling lights and white walls, and a door was laid at the end of it. Arica briefly stopped at the door and, grabbing the guard, softly opened it.

Inside was slight darkness that looked to be in another corridor. Lighting was ahead, though at the end of it. Not bright light, but dimmed light. She closed the door behind the guard just as softly as she opened it and led him forward, never once letting go of his hand. The sound of muffled voices could be heard now and when Arica got to the end of the corridor she saw why: The corridor led to an overhanging metal bridge that overlooked a conference room beneath. Gesturing to the guard to stay where he was, at the side of the corridor entrance, Arica bent down and crawled forward closer to the gate railing to look down into the room below. Sensing something, she quickly whipped around to see the guard looking around franticly for a way of escape.

"_And don't even think about escaping," _she hissed in his mind.

He stopped looking around and glanced over at her fearfully. Just to be safe, Arica sent a full body bind over at the guard, having him fall to the floor gracefully and softly as to not make any noise. She turned her attention back to the conference room below and observed.

There looked to be about twenty-five people beneath her; some Arica recognized, others she didn't. All were discussing the one same topic though: her.

"She's killed countless innocents," Organa was roaring. "She needs to be given the same medicine she gives everyone else. She needs to be destroyed!" With the last statement, he banged his clenched fist down on the conference room table.

"Yes, I agree she's made quite a menace of herself for one so young, but she's just a girl," a Senator whom Arica recognized by face not name countered. "Can't be more than seventeen."

"Do you think that matters?!" Organa roared in exasperation. "She needs to be destroyed!"

"Let us contact Master Kenobi, Bail," Breha said to her husband. "Maybe he can give us some insight on this matter. Or Yoda too, he might be helpful."

Organa seemed to hesitate. "I don't know. Both of them are in hiding, or as Master Yoda says 'exile'. I'm not sure we should bother them."

"Than why did both masters give us comm lines to them?" Mon Mothma asked. "They said if ever we needed them to simply call."

Organa sighed and nodded in defeat before going over to the holographic comm system in the center of the table. He hesitated yet again, but typed in a few codes. The small life-size image of Yoda appeared almost instantly.

"Ah Senator Organa," the green Jedi greeted. "Just making dinner I was, but pause for a brief moment I can. Allow me first to give Leila her bottle."

Arica inhaled sharply at this revelation. _So...Leila is the one with you, which means Luke is with Kenobi..._

"How is Leila?" Breha was asking and Arica quickly returned to the conversation below.

"Well she is. Very well."

A few moments were spent in brief silence, in which time Yoda was giving Leila her bottle. It was quite comical actually, seeing the Jedi Master Yoda giving a tiny infant a bottle of formula. After Arica heard the familiar sound of Leila giggling, Yoda chuckled and floated her over to what appeared to be a tiny bed. A bit too tiny, Arica thought. It looked like a bed Yoda would sleep on, not a small child.

"So, Senator, tell me: troubles you what does?"

Organa filled the Jedi frog in on the happenings of the past few days. There was a brief silence that followed his finish.

"Hmm." Yoda said thoughtfully.

"We just don't know what to do with her," Breha expressed.

"I say we should kill her," Organa boomed.

"Hmm, do you?" Yoda said with a raised eyebrow. "Why feel this do you?"

"Master Yoda, she is a murderer!" Organa cried in exasperation. "She goes around killing innocents for the sport of it. I told you how she mercilessly slaughtered our security forces, and then shot down ten of our rebel members before we were able to stun her. Because of her, some of our other members don't even want to be apart of our organization anymore. They feel it's too dangerous."

"Hmm," the small Jedi said again obviously in thought as he gazed around the room, looking about at the faces of the other alliance members. Or at least that's what Arica thought he was doing. It turned out she was wrong, as she quickly found out when the Jedi spoke again.

"Hello, Arica Grievous," he said plainly, and in horror she saw that he was looking right up at her with a slight smile. "A long time it has been, hmm?"

_Busted!_ She seethed with rage as the rebels below were now looking all around themselves in panic. Others like Organa, Breha, and Mon had followed the Jedi's gaze up to her. With her cover blown there was no longer any point in hiding. Rising from her crouched position, she ran over to the body-bound guard and released him. Yanking him off the floor, she jumped down into the room below, landing at the end of the round circular table they were sitting at. Most of the rebels jumped back in freight, while others simply looked astounded. Organa, however, was the only one who glared.

"Arica Grievous!" Breha was sputtering. "How did you- How could you have- How did you escape?"

Arica sneered. "Your little guard here," she pushed him forward, "let me out."

She ignored the pathetic looks of fear from the rebels and stalked towards the holoform of Yoda, who was still smiling.

"Where are you hiding her Yoda?" she spat out. "And where is Luke and Kenobi, because I just know the two of them are together?"

Yoda continued to smile. "Correct you are young one. Together they are. But if so strong in the Force you and your Emperor are, why figure out where they are can you not?"

It was the way the tiny frog said it in arrogance that made Arica's eyes flash yellow. "How dare you insult the emperor," she growled. "And how dare you insult me."

Yoda's only response was a dry laugh.

Organa raised the blaster he'd been clutching in his hands and pointed it at Arica. He glanced over at Yoda before speaking. "This is for all the pain you've caused so many people and families."

Arica gave a high pitched laugh. "You may try Organa. But I assure you, no lowly politician can accomplish in killing a gifted and powerful person like myself."

"Really?" He fired the blaster at her, but Arica was ready. Just as the bolt of fire left the blaster, she used the Force to move the guard and throw him in front of her as a shield. The bolt Organa shot hit the guard clear in the chest. Instantly, he fell to the floor dead. Organa dropped his blaster in horror at what he'd just done while the others gaped.

Arica smirked. "You see Organa, I'm not the only murderer of innocents here."

In mock sadness, she crouched down next to the dead guard and clutched at her heart. "Oh Senator," she cried in a sad mocking tone of voice, "what did this poor man ever do to make you want to kill him?"

Organa, who had been mournfully looking down at the guard, was enraged by her words and made to grab her.

At that precise moment however the sound of doors bursting open and gunfire sounded. Imperial stormtroopers were now pouring into the room from above and through the conference room doors with Lord Vader leading them. Arica smirked in triumph at Organa, who had gone deathly pale. Looking over at the holoprojector, Arica intended to spit out a jeer at Yoda, but he was already gone. Growling, Arica used the Force to uproot the projector from the table and slam it into a nearby Senator.

"Arica!"

She turned to see Anakin throwing her three lightsabers to her. She had no idea as to how he'd gotten them back, but caught them all the same. Igniting two of them, she whipped back around to face Organa, only to be enraged by the fact that he'd obviously made a run for it when her back was turned. Looking towards the entrance, she saw that he was now running out of the room with Breha and Mon. All the other leaders had been slaughtered by troopers or Vader's crimson blade. Arica ran after the three traitors, motioning to some of the troopers to follow her. When they left the room it was to find about fifty so rebels firing at them. She easily deflected some of the bolts back at them as the clones charged forward and fought back.

Many rebel and Imperial troops were killed in the attack, and in the confusion of battle the three main rebel leaders – Organa, Breha, and Mon – escaped aboard Organa's _Tantive IV _along with a few others. Anakin, Arica, and the remaining clones however quickly took a shuttle back to the _Executor, _and tracked their ship as it made its getaway. They were headed for the capital.

_Excellent,_ Arica thought as Anakin barked for his crew to make best speed for Coruscant. _It'll be easier to capture them in the heart of the empire._

Anakin had finished his barking and was now walking towards her. Although he still had his cloak hood up, Arica saw that he was smiling at her. Arica smiled back and, forgetting about how stupid it may look, ran to him. He caught her in his arms and kissed her right there in the middle of the bridge, with all the crew watching in disbelief. Sensing their stares, Anakin broke apart from his beloved and glared daggers. "What are you staring at?" he spat.

"Get back to your stations and stay there!" Arica barked, though none of them had moved. They quickly returned to their work after taking another terrified glance at their Supreme Commander, who still looked livid, yet amused at Arica's comment. He smirked over at her and she winked back. Offering her his flesh left hand, she took it with a smile and he led began to lead her to his quarters.

Actually, Arica knew her way around his Star Destroyer a bit. She'd been on it once before when the emperor rewarded his Executor with it two months ago. Anakin had invited she and her sister to join him on it for a tour before the three parted on their first missions as Hands and Executors.

The _Executor_ was the first of the _Executor-class_ Star Dreadnought line. It was 19,000 meters long, almost twelve times the length of an _Imperial-class_ Star Destroyer. It sported more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons, wings of TIE fighters, at least 200 other combat and support ships, 5 prefabricated garrison bases, and enough stormtroopers and walkers to conquer an entire world. In its entirety, it was a marvelous weapon of destruction; one to be admired. And there was so much packed into it besides weaponry that one could easily get lost within its depths.

Arica was returned to the present by Anakin giving her a slight shake and saying, "Arica? Arica, did you hear what I said?"

She turned to look at him and wasn't surprised that his face wore something close to concern, but also confusion. "I'm sorry Anakin. I was lost in thought, remembering when I was on here before. What did you say?"

He smiled lightly. "I'd forgotten you'd been on here before."

Arica smirked playfully. "That's what you asked me?"

He laughed. "No silly girl."

He gave her a playful punch with his mechanical prosthetic and she playfully punched him back. They continued this in the hallway that led to Anakin's quarters. As they laughed and played with each other, Anakin swept Arica into his arms and kissed her again. This however didn't last long though, for an officer was now walking the hall carrying a box. He coughed loudly to get their attention. The two broke apart and glared.

"Yes?" Anakin growled.

"I wonder if you and your..." he stopped to appraise Arica a moment and she saw recognition register on his face. "Well, if you and General Grievous here would please move out of the way. As you can see, I'm lugging this large box, and you're blocking the hallway."

With growls, the two moved. The officer continued on with a nod to them. Being the mean and cruel person Arica was, she followed the officer with her eyes as he continued down the hall and sent a Force wave at his feet. He tripped and fell to the floor, dropping the box in the process.

Arica smirked. "Aww, poor baby," she cooed. The young Sith than pair strolled off with an angry officer in their wake.

Once they arrived outside the quarters, Arica moved aside to allow Anakin activate the door to let them in. He did so and she followed him inside as he turned the sitting chamber's overhead light on with the Force.

"As to what I said earlier, I'd suggested that you'd probably want to freshen up in the shower after your whole ordeal with the rebels. They didn't hurt you did they?" he was quick to add.

"No Anakin, they didn't hurt me, and yes I do like the shower suggestion but uh...I don't have a fresh pair of clothes with me. They're all aboard my ship, which is still on Alderaan."

"I'll tell you what: While you're in the shower, I'll have 3PO and R2 wash and dry your clothes."

"Sounds great. Just one problem. I doubt they'll be dry by the time I come out."

"That's okay. You can wear some of my clothes while waiting."

"All right."

Anakin led her forward through the living room and into his bedroom. Inside, they found 3PO and R2 dusting. 3PO looked up at their entrance.

"Oh Master Vader sir, good evening. And is that Miss Arica with you? Hello Miss."

Arica fought back at a sneer at the two droids. Her dislike of their kind remained, but for Anakin's sake she smiled, even if it was sick and forced. "Hello 3PO. R2."

R2 beeped a greeting and she gave him a pat on the doom, but otherwise ignored the droid pair as she joined Anakin at his closet of clothing. Although most of the clothing inside was either black, white, or gray, Anakin did possess other colors of clothing, but not much.

"I don't have anything in here that'll win you any style awards," he quipped causing Arica to laugh, "but I'm sure you'll find something that may interest you."

Arica looked in the closest and went through Anakin's many outfits. She opted for a pair of black night pants and the matching black bathrobe that was hanging on the closet door. After giving Anakin a peek on the cheek, she went into the bathroom and stripped. Balling her clothing – a dressy, loose fitting sleeveless black top and black pants – into her hand she held it out the door for Anakin to grab. After he did so and she thanked him once again, she got into the shower.

Anakin meanwhile decided to wash and dry her clothes himself. Since the droids were done dusting, he told them to make he and Arica dinner, which they did gladly.

When Arica emerged from the shower a half-hour later, it was to find Anakin in the sitting chambers watching a podrace on the sports channel, and the droids bustling about the kitchen. Anakin, who seemed oblivious to her entrance, was twisting his body around on the sofa and shouting at the HV.

"Come on man, go left! No, no, no! Go right now! No, your other right! Sith spawn!"

It was then that Anakin seemed to realize he had an audience. He glanced over at Arica and smirked at her appearance in his clothes: very baggy. He beckoned to her with one of his fingers and she joined him on the couch, returning the deep kiss he gave her. They broke apart after a few moments and went back to the game. Arica, who'd never seen a podrace and only read about them in sports magazines, found it to be quite fascinating. And humorously funny as Anakin had gone back to yelling at the screen.

"No, no man, go left! Then make a twist to the side so that other one can get by you."

What made it even more amusing was that he'd gone back to twisting his body around also. Arica smirked and mimicked his body twisting, causing Anakin to slowly turn to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you really think yelling at the screen and twisting your body around is going to change the course of the game?" she asked.

Anakin continued to stare, boring his eyes into hers. "Are you mocking me, Arica?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes," she responded with a wide smile. "Actually, I am."

Anakin's expression quickly changed to a smirk and he attacked her in tickles. Arica began squealing with delight and tickling back. As this continued, they both fell off the sofa and onto the floor. Anakin pinned her down and started tickling her neck, but Arica soon unpinned herself from him and attacked him all over. They began rolling around all over the floor, the podrace totally forgotten to them. Their tickle fight soon turned to passionate hot kisses however when Anakin scooped Arica into his arms and part of her – his – bathroom slipped off her shoulders, exposing her bare chest.

She blushed and quickly covered it, but than found Anakin's lips on hers as he began kissing her in heat. The kisses became more and more lust filled as their hands began to roam over each other's bodies. Anakin hungrily kissed her neck, his hands underneath the bathrobe fondling her. He was about to push the bathrobe off her shoulders and reacquaint himself with her body when 3PO's voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Master Vader, pardon me for saying but your meal is ready."

Anakin sighed irritably and nodded as he and Arica quickly broke apart. "Thank you 3PO, but do you think you could bring it in here? I really don't want to miss the rest of this game."

"Oh, not at all sir," the droid said and shuffled off.

"Lazy," Arica scolded playfully, giving Anakin a swat before getting up and joining the droids in the kitchen. Before she could get there however, her large night pants fell to the floor as she was walking in them. She gave a sound of surprise and quickly pulled them back up. Turning, she saw Anakin smirking at her. Flipping him the finger, she continued on her way.

Although 3PO protested, Arica insisted upon pouring the drinks and carrying the plates of nerf pasta delight. She was never one on the whole droid maid service philosophy. If she could do something herself, no droid was going to do it for her.

The next hour was spent watching the remainder of the game and eating. Anakin was furious that the person he was rooting for – some Human male named Cosco – lost the race by coming in fifth place.

"This game was rigged!" He was roaring as a dug named Sebulba came in first place and was presently blowing kisses to the crowd as they held him up on their shoulders.

Arica knew Sebulba was an old time rival of Anakin's when he himself was a podracer as a boy on Tatooine, so understood his disgust. "It's okay honey," she cooed getting up and stroking his hair. Anakin had been cursing in Huttese, but stopped at her touch.

"Just clam down, okay. There's something I need to tell you."

Anakin looked at her in a mixture of concerned confusion, but Arica turned away before he could say anything. The droids were now finishing up in the kitchen.

"3PO, R2," she called out to them and they entered the sitting room. She forced herself to smile and speak in a nice tone. "You two have worked so hard today. Why don't you go power down for a while. You deserve a break."

"Well thank you Miss Arica," 3PO said. "We'll do that. That is if Master Vader doesn't mind."

"No, I don't mind," Anakin said, giving the droid a rare true smile. "Arica's right. You two have worked hard today. Go on. Take the rest of the day off."

"Thank you master," 3PO said. "Come along R2."

R2 beeped in thanks as well and they were off to their room in the back.

Anakin turned to Arica with a smile, but she didn't return it. She turned the HV off with a flick of her finger and sat down in the center of the sitting room floor with her back to Anakin. Frowning, he went over and joined her, sitting in a cross-legged position opposite her. She looked up expressionlessly.

"You wanted to tell me what happened while the rebels had you captive."

It was a statement, not a question. Arica nodded. "Anakin, there's something you need to know about the twins."

He gave a nod. "Okay."

"They've been separated. Yoda has Leila, and Luke is with Kenobi."

She then proceeded to tell Anakin the events of everything that happened on Alderaan, and while captive. Anakin nodded when she finished and took her hands into his.

"Let's meditate together. Maybe between the two of us we can discover something. Because just the thought of those filthy Jedi's hands on my children makes me want to kill something."

Arica smiled slightly and they meditated together for an hour, though they found nothing. Arica was disappointed by this. The Jedi had obviously done a good job in cloaking their presences because they could not find them.

* * *

The_ Executor_ was now rapidly approaching Coruscant. This was the reason the two cut their meditation so short. After Arica changed back into her dry clothes, the remainder of the journey there, a half-hour, was spent with the two in the ship's bridge. 

"I do miss commanding the crew I had during the Clone Wars," she commented to Anakin as they gazed out a side viewport. "Even if they all were Neimoidians and droids."

Anakin laughed dryly and she continued. "I got to do a lot of commanding of crews during the war. There was just this sense of power I got ordering people around."

Anakin nodded. "You speak of those times as if you miss them."

Arica looked at him a moment and took to gazing out the viewport once more, observing the millions of stars just waiting to be explored. She eventually sighed.

"I won't lie to you Anakin. I do miss them, a little. I don't know."

She shrugged. Anakin wrapped his arms around her front and laid his head down on her right shoulder, sighing into her flower scented hair.


	5. Treason and the Trial

Author's Note: Hey guys! Only four more days until Christmas. Think of today's two updates as early presents! And thanks so much for your kind reviews. Keep 'em up!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 5: Treason and the Trial

At the navy's arrival outside Coruscant, Commander Doriana informed Anakin and Arica that the rebels had beaten them here and could now be anywhere on the planet. This was answered with the order of the fleet to spread itself out in Coruscant's orbit, to be on the lookout if any random ships tried at escaping, and to question their pilots as to what their destination and purpose was for leaving the capital.

The Sith duo, meanwhile, boarded a TIE fighter flanked shuttle for their arrival onto the planet and touched down at the IEB. Both were greatly surprised to see Bail Organa's star cruiser, _Tantive IV, _docked not far away on the landing bay. Taking one look at the ship, the Force assured them no one was on board. They had to be inside the building somewhere. The pair ran the blood red carpeted hall and stairs that led to the Annex Dome's entrance. Inside, they continued to run until they reached the emperor's office. Not surprisingly, when they burst into the room the three rebels in question were inside along with several aides. They were obviously having a meeting of sorts, as everyone was seated around the emperor's desk...until Anakin and Arica burst in that is. Organa jumped from his chair as soon as they entered and turned back to the emperor roaring, "From the information I've just given you Emperor, I demand that Arica Grievous be put on trial for slaughtering innocents on my peaceful world."

Both young Sith smirked, but the emperor gave no notice of his two loyal servants. "Fine Senator, fine," he said, his tone that of the utmost calm. "If it makes you feel any better than yes, Arica Grievous will be put on trial for her actions."

Arica gasped in shock and even Organa looked slightly surprised. Anakin, however, was beyond floored. "But master, surely-" he started but was soon silenced by the emperor's raised hand. He winked at the shock and betrayal edged on Arica's face before turning back to Organa. "Very well. The trial will take place tomorrow at 1500 sharp in the Senate Arena," he spoke smoothly. "Now get out of my office."

Organa gave a bow and he and his posse began to make their exit. Before doing so however, he stopped to give Arica a look of utmost satisfaction. Anakin hissed at him, but the Senator merely gave a nod of acknowledgment as he headed out. Anakin used the Force to have the door slam shut behind him and rounded on the Emperor.

"What is the meaning of this _master_?" he spat the word out in venom. "Arica did nothing wrong. She has no reason to be put on trial! How dare you do such perfidy?!"

"Silence!" the emperor roared and the apprentice was knocked off his feet, falling to the floor by the rage of his master.

"Sit down, both of you," he hissed in a deadly whisper. Arica did so, but Anakin defiantly stood after picking himself up off the floor and glared at his master. The Dark Lord was enraged by his defiance. "I said SIT DOWN!" At the last two words, he extended his hands and struck his pupil to the floor with Force lightning. While Arica remained expressionless as Anakin groaned and withered on the floor in agony, the emperor, on the other hand, began to smirk as the young man started begging for his master to cease.

"Master! Master, please! Stop it! Stop it! I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Please!"

The emperor continued the lightning a few more moments to emphasize his point of being the master here, but finally did desist and sweep back towards his seat. Before he could bark out, "Report Zenevieva!" she did so, obviously fore-reading this command. When she finished, he sat for a moment in silence, thinking over all the information.

"This trial, if done properly, can work to our advantage. It can help bring the rebels to the light of the general public and degrade Senator Organa."

Both Sith apprentices nodded.

"You, Zenevieva, are to be here at 1430 tomorrow. I will have my royal guard escort you. Where shall I send them to find you?"

The emperor asked this with a curl of smile, knowing full well what the answer would be. Though as he foresaw, it was not Zenevieva who answered. But Vader before she got a chance to.

"At my residence in the Entertainment District's Holiday Towers Hotel," he said smoothly. Zenevieva looked to Vader questionably, but he merely winked and sent to her telepathically,_"You're coming to live with me."_

She blinked and the emperor cackled lightly. "You may go now," he said in slight amusement.

The two rose, bowed, and took their leave.

He knew all too well of Vader and Zenevieva's attraction for one another. It'd always been there, ever since they'd met, though than it was a bit more friendlier.

_Excellent,_ the emperor thought, as he saw his apprentice take his Hand's hand into his own as they exited the room. _Once Luke and Leila are found, I'll have they and the future offspring of Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva to train as Sith. Those Jedi will be hunted down and killed, and any other future protegees who are interested in the Jedi Arts._

* * *

The next day, as expected, the emperor's Royal Guard came to Anakin's suite at Holiday Towers to collect Arica, and Anakin went with them. The two lovers, who finally choose to give into their feelings for one another, had spent the rest of the previous day after leaving their master's office together in Anakin's suite, simply spending time together. Nothing physical happened between the two for the simple reason that neither wanted to do anything again so quickly. They wanted to prove to one another that their love went beyond sex. When the guards came to collect her though, she was surprised and furious to discover that she had to be handcuffed for the trial. When Anakin spat out the question, "Why?" the head guards' emotionless reply was, "The emperor's orders." 

They arrived at the Senate Building via a personal shuttle from the emperor and Arica was led inside while the media clicked away with their holocams. She wished they wouldn't though. Getting her picture taken at some type of Imperial event or function would've been fine as she wouldn't be handcuffed in those photos. This whole trial, Arica still thought, was a bad idea and didn't like it. Though she shared with Anakin several hours ago how she was going to present her case to make herself look good while degrading Organa, she still wasn't sure how she felt about it. She looked over at Anakin and he gave her a reassuring smile. She couldn't help but smile back.

As they made their way to the entrance of the Senate Arena, the Sith couple were disgusted to see Padme standing next to her father, smirking in their direction while he conversed with the head judge. Both seethed with rage and Anakin spat, "Why couldn't you stay on Naboo where you belong? Go back to Naboo, Baynetta! There's no reason for _you_ to be here."

"As Empress of the Galactic Empire it is my job to be here," she answered, her tone dripping with disdain. "More than you I'd say." She eyed him a moment. "Why are you here anything? Oh let me guess, to offer love and support to your," she coughed, "girlfriend here."

Arica hissed and Anakin made to strike her, but the emperor intervened by stepping between the two. Anakin quickly lowered his raised hand and nodded in respect to his master.

The emperor merely gave a light smirk and turned his gaze to Zenevieva's piercing glare.

"The reason for these binders I'm wearing are...?"

He glanced down at her handcuffed hands and cackled. "Ah yes. Sadly, for you anyway, all victims on trial are to wear handcuffs during the trial whether they want to or not. You my dear, Emperor's Hand though you may be, are no different."

Arica continued to seethe as the two guards who'd escorted her were joined by three others and she was led into a pod by herself. Anakin made to follow, but the emperor stopped him.

"I'm sorry Lord Vader, but victims on trial are not allowed to have anyone else, save the guards, with them in their pod. If you wish to serve as a witness though, you may have your own pod."

"I'd like that."

"Very well. Judge Alexandra will show you to the witness area." He gestured towards a red haired Human female of thirty-five who was presently rushing towards them. She'd obviously heard what the emperor said for she motioned for Anakin to follow her. "Come, Lord Vader. I will show you where to go."

He nodded his thanks and followed her a good distance down the hall where he picked a pod and thanked Judge Alexandra before activating and floating it into the arena. From there, he observed his surroundings.

The arena was fit to burst with Senators, Representatives, reporters from all the major media outlets, legislatures, college students majoring in politics, and various other people whom he assumed to be citizens simply here to watch.

Searching the arena for Arica he found her towards the center, not far from the Emperor's podium. He sent a wave of comfort to her in the Force, causing her to look over across at him and their eyes to lock.

"_You'll be fine," _he sent to her. _"I have faith in you."_

Arica smiled gratefully at him. _"Thank you, Anakin."_

Glancing at the Emperor's podium, he saw Padme glaring daggers at him. And though his eyes flashed, he made it a point to ignore her. He would not give into her cry for attention. She didn't keep her gaze on him much longer, soon turning away to speak to Naboo Moff Jovovich, who was in the pod with her and her father along with the head judge.

_How could I have been so blind? _Anakin thought angrily, turning his gaze back to his soon-to-be ex. As much as it pained him to think about it, he had to admit Padme was indeed right when she'd once said that love had blinded him. _That won't ever happen again._

He glanced back over to Arica to find her gazing at him with concern, and suddenly all his anger vanished. No. Love would never blind him again because he would not allow it to.

"_Is something wrong?"_ she asked telepathically.

"_No chicka, I'm fine," _he quickly assured with a sigh. Arica didn't look convinced, but choose to drop the subject.

Looking to the Emperor's podium, Arica ignored the empress' hand motions in her direction as she spoke with Moff Jovovich and glanced across her over at the judges. There were five of them: four males and a female, Judge Alexandra. All were human. This was only natural being as the Emperor intended on passing a No-Alien Act, stating that no non-humans could work or be allowed to live under Imperial rule. Arica was very much looking forward to this law passing because countless systems and planets would be slaughtered as a result to it. All out war would probably be another result, but Arica could less. As she knew the Emperor could as well. All that mattered was that the scum of the galaxy be eliminated by whatever means necessary. Among that scum included the rebels.

In the pod directly across from her was Senator Organa, Queen Breha, and Mon Mothma, accompanied by the few others she recognized as the rebels who'd escaped with them on Arbra. When Organa caught her staring, a look of anger crossed his face. Swallowing, he gave her a curt nod that wasn't returned. She merely averted her gaze onto something else.

The next few minutes were spent with the arena in the buzz of conversation as even more people arrived. Suddenly the sound of a microphone screeching silenced the crowd. Everyone looked in the direction of the noise. The head judge was holding a microphone in the air above his head and gazing warily at the crowd. He slowly lowered his arms and cleared his throat.

"Now that we've all calmed down, let us begin the trial. The reason we are here is because of the supposed murder of countless innocents on the Core world of Alderaan by ex-General and current Emperor's Hand Arica Grievous."

Murmurs went through the crowd at this but the Judge, Julius was his name, continued.

"These accusations were done by Alderaan's Viceroy and Senator, Bail Organa, who claims to have been there when all this happened. So by all means Senator, please begin your case."

Bail rose from his seat and spoke. "Thank you your honor. It all started a little over a week ago when Arica Grievous came to Alderaan accusing me of such treason as being a leader of the rumored 'Rebellion against the Empire' and helping Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda escape after they kidnapped the Imperial Prince and Princess-"

"You cease to forget-" Arica started but was soon silenced by Judge Julius.

"Arica Grievous, it is not yet time for you to speak. Please remain silent until it is time for you to do so."

Arica mouthed a profanity at him, but he didn't notice. The emperor did however and winked at her as Judge Julius said, "Please continue Senator."

"After the accusations were made, she then asked permission to search the planet in its entirely. I guess she thought she'd find the Jedi, I'm not sure. She came back a week to the day later saying she'd found nothing and once again started treason accusations. When we attempted to arrest her-"

"Now wait just a second," the emperor cut across him, throwing a glare over in Judge Julius' direction for he was about to protest at the interruption. "You said you attempted to arrest her."

Bail nodded.

"Why? What did she do to have any reason at being arrested?"

"She was claiming treason!" Bail roared.

"Even so," one of the male judges said, speaking up for the first time, "That's no reason to arrest someone. If what she was saying about you wasn't true, all you had to do was say so. That's all. Not go to the lengths of arrest."

Everyone in the arena nodded, murmuring their agreement.

"Yes, but-" Bail started. He than sighed in defeat and continued. "After we tried to arrest her, she slaughtered the guards with a lightsaber she had concealed inside her robes. And that's the other thing! I told her when she arrived that before she could venture out into the planet she had to hand over _all_ of her weapons first. She didn't go through with our wishes. She only handed over two of her lightsabers, not all three."

"I forgot I had the other one with me," Arica lamely protested. Anakin smirked across the room, as did the Emperor and Padme.

"Nonsense!" Bail boomed. "Afterwards, she attempted to arrest us and put my wife, the Queen," Breha rose, "in a full body bind with her Sith Force powers."

"Oh please," someone hooted in the crowd amongst the murmuring that resumed.

"Sith Force powers?" Judge Julius repeated. "What are you saying?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious what he's saying Julius," the Emperor mocked before Bail had a chance to respond. "He knows he doesn't have enough _real_ evidence to place Arica behind bars so he's just making up nonsense as he goes."

"I am not," Bail heatedly protested. "She than used the Force to pull my blaster out of my hands and-"

"Wait a second," Judge Alexandra said rising from her chair as the murmur of the crowd began to increase. "What was a blaster doing in your hands to begin with?"

"After she put my wife in the full body bind (a few in the crowd coughed loudly) I picked up my blaster and-"

"He attempted to kill me!" Arica screamed. "Me, an innocent seventeen year old girl."

"An innocent seventeen year old girl," Breha repeated in outrage. "What about all those Jedi and innocents you killed during the Clone Wars? Are you forgetting who it is we're talking about?!"

"The Jedi are traitors!" the Emperor roared. "They always have been, I just didn't see it until they attempted to assassinate me. We were all blind! The Jedi blinded us all! But not Arica. She saw them as traitors and so slaughtered them."

"But she was a Separatist!" someone from the crowd yelled.

"Yes, she was," the Emperor confirmed. "But she is no longer. We are all on the same side now. Or, at least I'd like to hope we are," he added eying Bail whom continued to hold his head high.

"So after you grabbed your blaster, what did you do than?" Judge Julius asked.

"I intended on stunning her, but she pulled the gun out of my hands with the Force."

Many more in the crowd coughed, and a few even let out jeers; Arica among them. She yelled out, "A load of bull! You have no proof of these claims Organa."

"Oh yes I do." Triumphantly he reached into his pocket and pulled out a videotape. He held it above his head in victory. "All of what I've just said is on this surveillance tape."

_Curses! I knew this trial was a bad idea._

Though for some reason unknown to everyone in the room, Anakin snorted and the Emperor allowed a smirk. Arica looked to both of them, her eyes going between the two in confusion. But they both simply responded with a wink. Judge Julius made to leave the Emperor's podium and collect the tape by getting in an idle pod not far from it, but Anakin stopped him.

"No, no Judge Julius. Allow me."

He raised his left flesh hand in Bail's direction and grabbed the tape with the Force, floating it over to Judge Julius, who caught it in his outstretched hands. Unbeknown to all, save the Emperor, Anakin deleted the tape of its files while floating it.

"Thank you Lord Vader," Judge Julius said clutching the tape.

"My pleasure," he replied, flashing a smile and waving at the different people in the crowd who were looking at him in awe.

_I don't believe this,_ Arica thought as a player and video screen were set up atop the Emperor's podium. _My whole life is about to come crashing down upon me and all Anakin's doing is entertaining the crowd while the emperor smirks._

The lights in the arena dimmed and the tape was played. Arica closed her eyes fearing the worst, but nothing happened. She opened them again in confusion. The tape was indeed playing, but nothing was on it.

"It's a blank tape," Judge Julius stated looking over at Bail in confusion and a hint of irritation. "Why?"

Bail looked to be at a lost for words. "I-I don't know."

"Really?" Anakin addressed the crowd at large. "I say Organa went to your local video shop, purchased a blank tape, and claimed that information was on it."

"I did not," Bail protested as the lights were turned back on and the crowd continued to murmur. "That was the surveillance video. I know it was. I watched it twice to make sure before I brought it here."

"Sure you did," the empress sneered.

"Hmm..." Judge Julius frowned as he took the tape out of the player and looked over to Anakin expectantly. The young Sith once again reached out and floated the video back to Organa. As he caught it, the Alderaanian gave him a strange, almost suspicious look. Breha was eying him the same way, but he merely shrugged and flashed them his signature smile/smirk.

"So what supposedly-" Judge Julius started, but was cut off by Breha.

"You!" she roared pointing an accusing finger at Anakin. She snatched the tape out of her husband's hands. "You did something to this tape while you were floating it over to Judge Julius. I just know it."

The murmur in the crowd increased even more, but the prey of the accusation merely gave a small laugh and smirked. "You have no proof of that Breha."

"I know you did something Vader," the Queen hissed, clearly outraged by his amused take on what she was saying.

"Yes I did do something," he said. "I floated the tape over to Judge Julius and then floated it back to your husband."

"No. Besides that," Breha pressed. "Information doesn't just disappear from videotapes."

"Correct," he replied. "Information doesn't just vanish from videotapes. But then how can it if it wasn't there to begin with?"

The murmur in the crowd grew a bit more and Arica noticed people nodding in agreement to Anakin had said. Breha however seemed oblivious to it all. She was still shaking an accusing finger at the Sith apprentice while her other hand clutched the tape. "You somehow erased this tape while floating it."

Anakin, to the surprise of all in the arena, doubled in more laughter at this. Breha continued though, ignoring his laughter in a loud ringing voice. "You knew if you didn't do something, what Arica did would be exposed for all to see. And she'd be put behind bars, hopefully for life."

At this point, practically the whole crowd had joined Anakin in laughing, Arica among them.

"I will repeat what has already been said Breha," he said. "You have no proof of these claims. This is just stuff you're barking about now. Just like a dog."

The crowd grew silent at this pronouncement.

"A dog grows angry or it can't get its way so it barks."

A few in the crowd instantly hooted with laughter once more, while the rest simply sat in stunned disbelief at the boldness of Anakin's insult. Others though, like he, wore smirks. Breha looked at a loose for words, but furious all the same.

"You-you-" she finally sputtered. "You-"

"Enough of this," Judge Alexandra yelled. "Accusing people of things you have no proof of is disgusting and dirty. ("Take a bath Breha!" someone jeered in the crowd.) Lord Vader did nothing wrong and until you can prove otherwise, I suggest you hold your tongue."

If Arica's hands weren't cuffed she would've applauded Judge Alexandra who concluded, "Let us return to the trial."

"Yes, Judge Alexandra," Judge Julius said in agreement. "Let us get back to it. So, what _supposedly_ happened after Miss Grievous _supposedly_ pulled the blaster out of your hands Senator with the," he gave a brief cough, "Force?"

Bail didn't seem to care that he was being openly mocked as he continued. "She than threatened to kill me if I didn't tell her where the twins and rebels were. I refused and so she counted to ten. But what she didn't know was that I had contacted some fellow allies of mine-"

"Rebels!" Arica shouted, but Bail was quick to continue, talking over her before she could say anything else. "So by the time she got to ten, they all burst into the room surrounding her. I naturally assumed she would surrender at being outnumbered but she didn't. She shot down ten before we were able to stun her."

"And then what?" Judge Julius asked.

Bail seemed to hesitate a minute. "And then...we came here."

"Sith spawn!" Arica yelled. "They than took me to their rebel base on the Mid rim world of Arbra where they put me in a detention cell. With the aide of a guard, I escaped and contacted the Emperor who in turn contacted Lord Vader to come and rescue me. When I found Bail, he was in a conference room with a large group of others, discussing what they should do with me. Bail wanted me killed, but not everyone felt the same so they contacted Jedi Master Yoda for advice. It turns out that the green freak has Lord Vader and Empress Amidala's daughter Leila, while Kenobi has Luke who knows where. Before the frog could croak out any advice though, he spotted me. Since there was no reason to hide any longer, I jumped into the room from where I was above. When Breha asked how I'd escaped, I told her the truth: the guard assisted me. Enraged, Bail shot him."

Bail started to protest, but Judge Julius was quick to stop him. "Senator Organa, now is not your time to speak. Continue Miss Grievous."

"After he shot the guard, he made a grab at me but fortunately Vader and his troops arrived at that precise moment. I was rescued, but a lot of rebels began to fight Vader's troops so a battle broke out. In the confusion, these three," she nodded over at Bail, Breha, and Mon, "escaped along with a few others, some of which are in the pod with them at the present. Myself and Lord Vader left Arbra and came here to the capital where we found the three of them, along with their posse, in the Emperor's office demanding that I be put on trial."

Judge Julius nodded and turned towards Anakin. "Lord Vader, do you testify in the name of the Empire that Miss Grievous' words are true."

"Absolutely," he smoothly said without a hint of hesitation.

"Emperor, what about you?" the judge asked.

"Yes, these three, as Arica said, came barging into my office, didn't even knock I might add, talking all this made up nonsense about Arica."

Judge Julius nodded and turned back to Arica. "Now what about the first part, Miss Grievous. When you arrived on Alderaan, what _really_ happened?"

"I arrived and was met by Organa and his court. I told him the reason I'd come was to search the planet for the people who aided the Jedi in their escape since the vessel they fled on was an Alderaanian star cruiser. He was very hesitate at first. Naturally, I became suspicious so asked if perhaps he knew anything about the kidnapping or kidnappers. He got very offensive. Said I was accusing him of treason, when in truth I wasn't. I was simply asking a question. Once he finally agreed that I could search the planet, only under the condition that I hand over all my weapons, I handed them over and was on my way. On my fourth day searching however, I found my third lightsaber in a hidden pocket of my robe. I'd forgotten all about it. But being as I was in the high mountains near Crevasse City at the time, I wasn't going to climb all the way back down, take a transport all the way back to the palace, hand over my lightsaber, go all the way back, tiredly climb the mountain all over again...that's simply something I wasn't about to do. On my eighth morning there, I returned to the palace, my search complete. I didn't find anything. Once I gave the Viceroy and Queen my report of this, they were real nasty about it. While apologizing for any trouble I may of caused, Bail and Breha started yelling at me, saying such things as, 'How dare you claim we're rebels when you have no proof on the matter.' They kept going on about how they weren't this, and they weren't that and I continued to apologize for my suspicions. Breha then tried having me arrested by some guards ganging up on me with blasters raised. I ignited my lightsaber and yes I did kill them, but only because if I hadn't they would've killed me first. Bail then threatened me with blaster after calling me a monster. More guards and such then came in, lead by Mon Mothma. She tried to arrest me as well. The Rebels opened fire and I deflected what I could, but there were too many of them. Breha then darted forward, punched me to the floor, snatched my lightsaber out of my hand, and used a gun to stun me. I woke up a while later in a detention cell and the rest you know."

All during Arica's concocted tale, Bail and Breha were yelling out such things as, "Nonsense!", "Not true!", "You're a liar!" over and over. Breha was now yelling at Judge Julius, "You can't be buying this! She's a nasty lying brat! Everything that came out of her mouth is a lie!"

"Silence!" Judge Julius boomed. "We will thus recess for an hour, in which time we shall make our decision over who wins this trial."

Using the Force, Arica returned her pod to its docking station and exited without even a second glance to the five royal guards. Once in the hall outside, where multiples of people were filing out of the arena, she again used the Force to become free of her binds. Looking up because she sensed someone intently watching her, she saw the rebel trio several meters across from her, eying the handcuffs she'd just removed. As she only had a smirk to spare, Arica was soon heading down the hall towards the staircase that led levels below.

"Arica, wait up!"

Arica turned and laughed at a humorous sight. Anakin was pushing people out of his path towards her while they yelled out protests. But he merely snarled at them. "Move it civilians!"

When he finally got within a few feet of her, she crossed the distance between them and softly kissed him, cupping his face in her hands. He pulled her into his arms and they then continued their way down the hall, arm in arm. Anakin made for the elevator, but Arica pulled out of his arms and headed for the stairs. He was confused by this, but followed. When the door to the stairwell closed behind them, he spoke.

"Why the stairs?"

"Elevators are too crowded," she said. "Besides, I don't like them that much."

By now, he'd caught up to her and slipped an arm around her waist. "Why not?"

"For one, elevators are run off electricity. If there's suddenly a power outage or a breaker gets tripped, they stop running. Electrical things aren't always reliable. Besides, I like walking. The way I see it is this: lazy people take elevators, non-lazy people don't."

Anakin chuckled softly and lightly kissed her forehead. They continued the rest of the way to the cafeteria in contented silence. Upon reaching the bottommost level, besides the secret prison block that was still some levels beneath, Arica opened the door and strode down the hall past the elevator doors that were now opening. At the end of the gray carpeted hall, she pushed open the two white double doors that led inside. It turned out that she wasn't the only person interested in eating. Mostly everyone, save the judges, who'd been up in the arena was down here either in line or at tables. Arica nodded, smiled, and waved to all those who did the gesture to her first.

"Arica! Arica Grievous! A few words with the press please."

The Emperor's Hand turned to see a short and stout reporter in a lime green dress holding out a microphone towards her. A few others soon came running over to join her, and Arica couldn't help but smile at the attention. "Sure, I'll talk to you."

"Arica dear," the pale woman of about forty soothed, "you must have felt so hurt and angry about that cruel Senator Organa making up all those evil lies about you."

"You know I did, and I still do." Arica smiled into the camera that was being beamed into her face. "I'll never understand why people feel they must lie to get their way."

"Don't we all," one of the male reporters next to 'Lime Green' said. He then smiled hopefully over at Anakin. "Lord Vader, a few words please."

Anakin smirked. "Gladly." He was then walked away surrounded by reporters, cameramen, and flashing light bulbs.

Arica also chatted with the press a few minutes, making sure to trash Organa every chance she received and act the part of a innocent seventeen year old. Once finished, she deliberately cut her way to the front of the food line – "Sorry civilians, but I'm more important than you." – and bought a nerf steak salad and a Liquid Galaxies beverage to go with it. Finding a seat was easy as she sat at one of the round tables near the room's center and started to eat. Anakin soon joined her with a sauce topped nerf steak sandwich in one hand and a bag of Spicy Fried Potato Crisps and a bottle of water in the other.

"Hey!" he said in greeting. Since Arica's mouth was full, she simply nodded. "I forgot to applaud your presentation in the arena," he added. "Most clever. Yet so convincing."

Since her mouth was still full, she merely smirked and sent to him telepathically, _"Yeah, and the judges are so stupid, they'll easily believe anything you say without question. Especially if you've got the emperor to back you up."_

Speaking of the emperor, he later came over to their table to applaud Arica as well, saying she presented her case "most professionally." Jovovich also came over to say hello and would've stayed to talk longer had Padme not dragged her away with a glare at the two of them. Not long after that, Arica attempted to contact Antellica yet again via their mental bond, but as before she got no response. She sighed sadly.

"Still blocking her mind from you?" Anakin asked. Arica glanced up at him. She was slightly irritated that he'd read her thoughts, but quickly brushed this aside knowing he was only concerned.

"Yeah," she replied sadly and sighed. "Maybe I deserve this punishment you know. This is probably how she felt during the Clone Wars."

"Yes, you do deserve the punishment of jail," Breha snarled, coming up to their table with her husband and Mothma no where in sight.

"Queen Breha." The Emperor suddenly appeared out of what seemed no where, flanked by an entourage of the empress, Moff Jovovich, and a slew of Royal Guards. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave and let Arica eat in peace."

Breha gave one last look at Arica, who smirked, before leaving the table in a huff.

The rest of the hour recess was uneventful to say the least. After Arica finished eating, she went back up to the arena with Anakin who defiantly joined her in the victim's pod saying, "Technically speaking, the trial's over. They're simply going to announce their verdict. There's no reason why I can't be with you."

The re-trial started right on time, but people were still filing in as Judge Julius began to speak from the Emperor's podium.

"After much discussion, we've decided that since neither of you have any actual proof or evidence to back your accusations besides the word of mouth, I can not arrest either of you."

"She is a murderer!" Bail roared, while Breha screamed, "She needs to be put behind bars for life!"

"That is enough!" the Emperor roared, rising to his feet beside Judge Julius. "Arica Grievous is innocent. She has done nothing wrong. She was merely defending herself against your forces who, I might remind you, were attempting to kill her."

"But what of her claims that Bail Organa is a rebel?" an eager reporter called out.

The Emperor smirked. "I'm sure if Bail Organa was a rebel he'd say so. There is, after all, no reason to lie or pretend to be something you're not. Isn't that right Senator?"

"Of course," Organa said briskly.

"But isn't it treason for someone to claim someone a rebel?" a Senator called out.

"I had my suspicions," the Emperor said. "And still do. Arica was under my orders when she went to Alderaan. Remember that. She was simply doing her job. These rebels need to be hunted down and stopped before another war starts."

Judge Julius nodded. "I agree." He then turned back to the two pods that contained Organa and Arica. "Senator Bail Organa and Arica Grievous, you are free to go. Though I will make this one final comment Senator: making false and negative accusations against people can also be considered treason."

Bail appeared to be confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean Judge Julius."

"Making up false accusations about people just to make yourself look good is-"

"You think I made all this up?!" Bail asked in outrage.

"Than answer me this Senator, who's story sounds more likely as to have actually happened? Yours, or Miss Grievous'?"

"I'd say Miss Grievous' does," a reporter called out. Practically everyone else in the arena nodded and voiced their agreement, while others remained skeptical. Bail and Breha looked angry beyond words.

"This trial is now adjourned," Judge Julius called out.

After chatting with the press again about the victory of her trial, Arica journeyed to the IEB and the emperor's office along with Anakin and the empire's supreme rulers. There she would be briefed on her next assignment. Her master informed her that she'd be joining her sister in her hunt for Kenobi and Luke.

"But how will I find her or know where she is?" she asked. "She still blocks her mind from me."

"Have you tried contacting her again since you first informed me of this?"

"Yes actually. Earlier today, during the trial recess."

"And you received no response of any kind?" he asked almost as a statement.

Arica nodded sadly. "No. No response."

The emperor exchanged a glance with his daughter before turning back to her. "You'll recall the conversation we had about her before you left for Alderaan."

"Quite clearly," Arica said coldly. "And I still think you're wrong."

"As do I," Anakin agreed, his voice just as cold.

The emperor merely shrugged. "You may choose to believe whatever you wish, of course. You ask how you will find her or know where she is...I think that's quite obvious. There is a bond that was formed between the two of you at birth, like all twins. Bonds like that do not just disappear. Even when you were fighting in the Clone Wars and blocked your own mind from your sister, the bond was still there. Merely lying doormat, waiting to be used again. Now that the two of you have access to the Force that only strengthens the bond. Force sensitive twins are always closer than non-Force sensitive twins, and as such the Force will guide you to her. Think you understand, child?"

Arica nodded. "Yes master. I do understand. And I must admit, I'd never thought about it that way before."

He nodded and turned to Anakin. "As for you Lord Vader, you will return to the Mid Rim and continue your hunt for Yoda and your daughter."

"I hear and obey master," Vader said with a bow. He then took his leave with Arica close behind him.

When the doors closed behind the two, the emperor turned to his daughter. "I have shared my suspicions with you empress."

Padme nodded. She didn't need to be told what he was talking about. She already knew.

"I'm depending on you to investigate into the real events of what happened the night Kenobi escaped."


	6. Between Sisters

Author's Note: Here's your second update guys. It's not as long as some of the other chapters, but very important.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 6: Between Sisters

Since _Jeweled Dolphin_ was still on Alderaan, Arica left Coruscant to retrieve it with Anakin aboard the _Executor._ He figured since he'd be passing the planet on his way to the Mid Rim, he could drop her off on-world to pick it up. In the Alderaan's orbit, the same male voice Arica had talked to at her own arrival spoke to the _Executor's_ communicator crew.

"_Imperial star destroyer, Executor: this is the Alderaanian transport control. Please state your reason and purpose for being here."_

Arica glanced over at Anakin to see him smirking as he proceeded over to the communications booth of the bridge and spoke into the comm.

"Alderaanian control, this is Darth Vader. But not to worry, I'm not here to slaughter your planet. Yet anyway. Alderaan's time will come nevertheless. I'm merely dropping Arica Grievous off on the planet so she can collect her ship, _Jeweled Dolphin._ It is still at the Aldera Royal Palace, is it not?"

"_No actually, it was moved here to the Control Center."_

"Very well. You will send us the coordinates to the Control Center. When we have them, myself and Miss Grievous will fly escort in my shuttle onto the planet and-"

"_That's not really necessary-"_ the man started, but the navy's Supreme Commander continued as if he hadn't even spoken.

"-collect Miss Grievous' ship. Am I understood?"

"_Yes. Yes Lord Vader. You are understood."_

"And you will not inform Senator Organa of our arrival or departure. He is not to know we were ever here." His smirk turned somewhat devious. "So you can take your hand off that alert button. There really is no reason to alert the royals of this."

There was a moment of stunned silence over the comm before the man spoke again. _"Yes. Of course Lord Vader."_

The coordinates to the Control Center were sent to the navi computer as ordered. Taking them, the Sith couple boarded Anakin's Imperial shuttle with four stormtroopers while two TIEs flew them down. They landed at the Alderaanian transport center in the capital Aldera momentarily. As Anakin and Arica exited the ship flanked by the four troopers, they saw a man of about thirty-two briskly walking towards them. Although he had not yet spoken, Arica knew this was the same man they'd spoken to over the comm.

"Lord Vader, Arica Grievous, welcome," he greeted, only confirming this. "Your ship, _Jeweled Dolphin, _is on the third floor landing platform."

He led them away from the Imperial shuttle and past the main transport center towards a three-level landing bay. Boarding the elevator that would take them where they needed to go, Arica asked why the ship had been moved.

"The Royal Palace landing platform is for the royals private use only. With the small exception of guests for events, feasts, or regular visits."  
Arica nodded and the elevator doors opened, delivering them onto the top level.

"Thank you Ravbri, your services are no loner needed," she said and headed towards her ship. _If they so much as put one scratch on it, someone's head would roll._

Arica did not see the look of surprise on Ravbri's face when she said his name, though he never told it. Anakin smirked at the surprised man, giving him a sarcastic nod, and joined Arica in inspecting the outside of her ship.

After seeing that the outside was all right, Arica went inside and looked around. Anakin followed, but not after telling the four troopers to remain outside and guard the ship. Anakin waited in the cockpit five minutes before Arica finally returned.

"They didn't sabotage anything, so that's good. If they'd so much as simply moved something, I'd have had their heads for it."

Arica glanced over at Anakin to find him smirking at her. "And what pray tell could you find to be so amusing?" she asked as she stepped towards him, hands on hips. They were now face-to-face, eyes boring into each other's. Arica bent forward and kissed Anakin lightly on the lips a few times before than falling into his arms.

"I am going to miss you," she whispered.

"And I you," Anakin added, his face nuzzled in her hair while his arms were wrapped tightly around her.

They broke apart and kissed again, but more passionate this time. Before it could go too far though, they both stopped themselves...only to start back up again.

"I want you Arica," Anakin whispered while softly biting her neck. "Oh I want you so badly."

"And you will have me Anakin." Arica gently pulled away from him. "Just not now."

Anakin smiled and nodded, sweeping her back into his arms again and kissing her.

"I love you Arica. Don't ever forget that," Anakin said once they broke apart.

"I won't. I love you so much Anakin. Know that I will never, ever hurt you."

Anakin fiercely gazed into her eyes a moment. "I know you won't Arica."

They kissed again and made to break apart, but neither wanted to let go.

"I don't wanna leave you," Arica whispered into his neck.

"I know you don't chicka. But we have to do this. It's our duty. And only chance to see Luke and Leila again."

Arica nodded and broke away from Anakin slightly. She took his face into her right hand and bored her eyes into his. "Just know that we will find them Anakin. We will."

Anakin nodded. "I know we will."

Anakin kissed Arica one last time, gave a small wave and smirk, and exited her ship. Arica than sat down in the pilot's seat, started up the ship's engines and left the planet, making ready for light speed. She pushed forward the hyperdrive lever a moment later and was headed for the Outer Rim and her sister.

* * *

_It was hopeless,_ Arica thought sadly while gazing out the viewport of _Jeweled Dolphin's_ cockpit. She'd been looking for Antellica for the past two months all over the outer rim and to no avail. No matter how many times she stretched out with the Force looking for her sister's familiar signature, or tried to contact her telepathically, she got nothingness. It was heart breaking really. To reach out to the one she felt she could always count on and be close to, and get nothingness in return. But as she'd thought before, perhaps she deserved this punishment. Perhaps Antellica was deliberately ignoring her as a way to get back at her for ignoring her the three years of the Clone Wars. Arica again sighed sadly, truly missing her sister and decided to hopelessly contact her one last time. 

"_Antellica."_

As always, she got no response. It was now that Arica began to get irritated with her sister. Because of her, she wasted two whole months in the outer rim seamlessly looking for her and asking where she was to get nothing. No response. She was growing quite tired of Antellica's nonsense and wanted answers now.

"_Antellica, I know you can hear me, and as such, you will answer."_

Arica could've sworn she faintly heard Antellica think, _"Will I?"_ in a jeer, but wasn't sure if it was merely her mind playing tricks on her. She decided to try another approach. One that would most definitely get her attention.

"_Antellica, I need to know something."_ She paused briefly before continuing. _"The night Kenobi escaped on Coruscant...did you, or did you not help him do so?"_

"_What?! What are you talking about?!" _came Antellica's shocked and confused reply.

"_Finally she answers," _Arica thought. _"I should have thought to mention that earlier. Maybe I would've gotten a reply sooner."_

For a while Antellica said nothing, but after realizing her twin expected a response, she spoke again mentally. _"Really Arica, what nonsense is this you're chattering about?"_

"_As ridiculous as it sounds, the Emperor thinks you aided Kenobi in his escape."_

Antellica became somewhat worried, but quickly pushed these feelings aside and took on one of defiance. _"He has no proof of that,"_ she spat in thought.

"_I know, I know. That's what Anakin and I told him. But I need to know something though. Where are you?"_

"_Why?"_

"_Because the Emperor wants me to join you on your hunt for Kenobi."_

Antellica instantly panicked. _"But what about Organa and Alderaan?"_

Arica proceeded to tell her about the events that took place in that matter. Upon finishing, she awaited the reply of her sister, but it never came.

"_Antellica? Antellica! Are you still there?"_

Antellica, meanwhile, was quite disturbed about the amount of trouble her sister got herself into and choose not to reply to her. After all, what was she supposed to say? She didn't like ignoring and blocking out her twin, but it had to be done. Not just for the safety of herself, but that of her unborn child as well.

Besides looking for Obi-Wan during this time, Antellica had also taken to studying the Sith Holocrons she was borrowing from the emperor with more interest and prospect. What interested her the most was the cloaking of signatures into the Force. In actuality, Force signatures were attached to the midi-chlorians of the person and only disappeared when that person died. However, Antellica just knew there had to be a way to cloak her Force signature or make it disappear to make it out to them – the Emperor, Anakin, and Arica (who cares about Padme) – that she was dead. She hated the idea of doing that to her two best friends, but if it meant they'd stop looking for her than so be it. She still wasn't sure how Obi-Wan was going to react to her being pregnant, but desperately hoped to find him sometime before she gave birth. She wanted no more of her life working in the empire as the Empress' Hand. She wanted to raise her son with Obi-Wan and live happily, even if in hiding. Her only hope was that he accepted her.

Another month spent searching the outer rim, and still Antellica hadn't found Obi-Wan. She'd searched so many planets in the region that she soon lost track of the number. There were three, however, that recently came to mind as possible hiding spots for an exiled Jedi: the Hutt-ruled planet of Tatooine; the Sith homeworld of Korriban; and the planet that laid at the very edge of the outer rim, beyond that leading into the Unknown Regions of space, Zonama Sekot. Despite this, she had far beyond lost hope. She was presently nine-months pregnant and had grown quite tired of all this searching through desolate and scum infested planets while keeping her presence in the Force hidden. She could have her baby any day now and that's all she needed; to be in a cantina looking around and suddenly go into labor. Signing tiredly, Antellica choose to go to Tatooine. No matter how desperate Obi-Wan and Yoda were to hide, they would never go so far as to hide on Korriban. Zonoma Sekot she wasn't sure about, but figured if they weren't on Tatooine perhaps they were there.

Landing _Flying Angel_ on the outskirts of a Tatooine spaceport called Mos Espa, she left the ship with her presence cloaked. It looked to be early morning as she made her way into the town and began her search. Before the day was out, she searched not only Mos Espa, but the other six inhabited cities on the planet. The only parts of Tatooine she hadn't searched were the miles and miles of desolate, flat land that laid between the cities and the Jundland Wastes, a dry, hot, and rocky region, along with the outskirts of it, which laid just beyond the last city she'd searched: Mos Eisley.

From the research Antellica had done on the planet, she discovered that the Jundland Wastes were where the nomadic Tusken Raiders aka Sand People lived. At least what was left of them anyway. Anakin had done a fine job slaughtering their village roughly four years previous to avenge his dead mother, who died at their hands, so there weren't as many as before. Unless of course they had done a hell of a lot of breeding in-between that time.

While searching the Jundland Wastes outskirts at an approximate twenty-mile radius, Antellica came across a small moisture farm. This didn't surprise her though. She'd come across many moisture farms while searching the planet. It was fit to burst with them. It was near dark now, but she could still make out a twenty-something looking Human female walking around outside the igloo shaped home in the center of the farm. Antellica took a closer look and gasped at what she saw: the woman was walking a small baby by holding its arms in the air with her hands. Antellica knew instantly who this baby was. It was Luke! Three or four months though it may have been since she last saw him, she recognized him immediately, even at a distance. For one, she always thought of Luke as the baby version of Anakin, and two, the Force swirled strongly around the tiny baby. After baby Luke walked a few more steps with the support of the woman, a man – the woman's husband perhaps? – came out of the igloo shaped home.

"Beru, you should be inside now. It's getting dark."

"I know, I know," she replied. "We were just practicing walking, that's all."

The man, Owen was his name, observed Beru and Luke walking around a bit more before he crouched on the ground and opened his arms.

"Come on. Come on Luke," he urged. "Come on."

Beru slowly, but surely, let go of Luke's arms as he made towards Owen. Halfway there, she was no longer supporting him, though he was still standing, tilting from side to side. Obviously realizing he wasn't being supported any longer, Luke softly fell to the ground and crawled the rest of the way. Owen chuckled lightly and took baby Luke into his arms. The three than went inside the house.

Frowning slightly, Antellica stretched out with the Force and found only those three signatures inside. She found this strange, but it was no matter. Obi-Wan was close by, she knew it. He'd want to keep watch on Luke, even if they didn't live under the same roof. Despite herself, Antellica couldn't help but feel a wave of excitement at the prospect of seeing him again. Turning her back on the Lars' homestead, she faced the distant mountains of the Jundland Wastes, stretching out again with the Force.

She felt various presences coming from within it, but knew they were those of the sand people. Giving one last look at the Lars' home, she left and headed for the Jundland Wastes. Obi-Wan had to be in there. Somewhere. Even if she didn't sense him. But why the former Jedi would wish to live among savages was beyond Antellica.

It was officially dark out when Antellica made it to the surface of the Jundland Wastes mountains. All was quiet. A bit too quiet, she thought. As she journeyed on though, looking around from side to side, senses all in tack, she saw and felt nothing. Very strange. One moment Antellica was wondering where the Tuskens were, and the next she was suddenly under attack. Antellica cursed herself for not keeping her presence cloaked as she observed her surroundings. The Tuskens were all around her, at least twenty of them, and they each had weapons raised. She sent Force pushes to keep them at bay as she made a grab her lightsaber, but this only seemed to anger them. They came back at her howling loudly, and before Antellica could send any more Force pushes, she was struck to the ground by a club and knocked into unconscious.


	7. Anger, Hurt, and Change

Author's Note: Today's update will be the last before Christmas, so enjoy. I'll probably resume the day after Christmas, or Wednesday. I haven't decided yet.  
Remember, questions are welcome just as much as reviews if you're not sure about something. Flames are also welcome, though it seems obvious that if you don't like something, don't read it. I won't lose sleep over a hater not reading my story.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 7: Anger, Hurt and Change

Former Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi had been strolling through the Jundland Wastes at the time Antellica was knocked unconscious. The reason he was out so late and not in bed was because he'd sensed that something was amiss. At asking the immortal Force form of his old mentor Qui-Gon Jinn for guidance, the Force ghost Jedi simply told him that he'd come across an old friend. Obi-Wan's first thought was Anakin, but Qui-Gon quickly banished that prospect.

"_No, my old Padawan. Tatooine harbors too many bad memories for him. He would never return to this desolate world even if he was forced. This friend is someone else. Someone whom...I doubt you'd ever expect to see again."_

"Another Jedi?" he asked hopefully. "Someone else who escaped the purge?"

Qui-Gon wore a sad smile. _"No, Obi-Wan. As I've said before, you and Yoda are the only survivors of the Jedi Purge. You know that. There's no point in being hopeful."_

Obi-Wan sighed sadly at the thought, as he always did. "Will they be evil then?" he asked.

The deceased Jedi master allowed a roguish smile. _"Evil is a point of view, my friend. What one sees as evil, another may see as good, and visa versa."_

"Am I in danger than?" he wanted to know. "Is Luke in danger?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. _"No, I wouldn't say that."_

"Then, what would you say?"

Qui-Gon merely gave him a wink and disappeared into the Force, returning to the Netherworld of it – the resting place of all Force-sensitive, and non, souls after the death of their physical bodies.

So here Obi-Wan was now, strolling along the Jundland Wastes, not knowing what or who to expect. If there was some type of danger, he'd be ready though. He had his lightsaber with him as always, under his burgundy brown cloak. Exiled though he may be, a Jedi Knight he no longer considered himself to be, he still took his 'Weapon of a Jedi Knight' with him everywhere he went out of habit.

In the months since he had arrived on Tatooine his hair and beard had grown quickly, and his face and hands had turned nut brown. In his soft boots and long robe, its cowl raised over his head, no one would have taken him for a former Jedi, let alone a master who sat on the High Council.

Clearing his mind of all thoughts, he brought his attention back to the present. He was presently just outside the edge of the Tusken Village. Having no intention to get involved with the goings of the Sand People, he was considering going back to his home when something caught his eye. Though it was a little after midnight, the Tuskens were still up with their fires blazing brightly. Several of them were now carrying what appeared to be a young Human female on some type of board. At the sight of her, he felt the presence of a familiar Force signature.

_No, it can't be!_

The Sand People laid the girl down and went into their huts, where they stayed for a few moments. When they came back out it was with what appeared to be large staffs and clubs. Knowing that they intended on torturing the girl with the weapons, Obi-Wan drew in a deep breath and let out a loud animal like howl. As expected, the Tuskens stopped what they were doing and looked around in fear. The Sand People had a tendency to be easily startled by loud noises and always ran away in fear, returning in greater numbers sometime later. But being as this was their village, all the Tuskens that survived Anakin's massacre were here right now. They had no more numbers to bring back once they ran off. It didn't seem to matter to them though. Dropping their weapons, the Sand People ran off from their village and into the dark night in fear.

Obi-Wan waited a moment before stepping out of his hiding spot behind a boulder and going over to the young woman. She was laid on her side presently so he had to roll her over to see her face. When he did, his breath caught in his chest. It was just whom he'd thought; though he had refused to believe it. It was Antellica Grievous, Sith Lady Darth Veradisia. She was unconscious, but besides that fine.

_What was she, the Empress' Hand, doing here of all places?_ Obi-Wan wondered.

"_Looking for you no doubt,"_ the back of his mind told him.

Yes. The emperor sent her here looking for him...and probably Luke as well. But what should he do with her? Surely, he couldn't leave her here to die. The Jedi part of him told him to do either that or kill her himself. She was a Sith after all. But she was also a poor seventeen-year old girl, the other part of him argued. The part of him that wasn't a Jedi; the part of him that had willingly let himself stay in love with her, despite everything she's done, when he knew he shouldn't.

Glancing back down at her, it was then that he noticed a difference in her appearance. She pretty much remained as he knew her – the same long blonde hair, the same almost caramel colored skin – but it was her stomach that got Obi-Wan's attention. He gasped. She was with child. For the first time in a long time, he began to feel himself growing angry.

_She tells me she loves me yet moves on with someone else and lays with them, carrying their child._

Besides the anger, Obi-Wan was also hurt. Shoving these two un-Jedi like emotions aside, he collected the black cloak that he assumed was Antellica's and was lying not far from her form and gently picked her up into his arms, carrying her back to his house.

The former Jedi's place of residence on the planet was at the southwestern edge of the Dune Sea, at standard coordinates Alpha-1733-Mu-9033 of the first quadrant in the Tatooine Navigation System. Made out a synstone, it was a large room that was divided into a bathroom, living room, and raised kitchen. A cellar contained a power generator and water, and could be entered via a trapdoor. Many of its comfort that were not present in the original dwelling, probably constructed by a transient that had looked to become a moisture farmer or trade with the Jawas but eventually abandoned it, were added by Obi-Wan in his stay.

He discovered the abandoned dwelling when he began his exile on the desert planet five months ago. After riding his eopie in a widening circle around the Lars Homestead, he found a small hut close enough to the Lars farm so he could watch over the Skywalker heir Luke, but far enough away so he could be considered a hermit and nobody would take much note of him. He kept books containing information about the Jedi there, as well as the supplies and equipment needed to create new lightsabers.

Once at the hut, Obi-Wan laid Antellica down onto a sitting room cot and gazed down upon her. Although she was pregnant, she still looked to have the sharp skill of a deadly assassin.

_She's no match for me though,_ Obi-Wan found himself thinking. _Not in her condition anyway. But all the same, I should be ready to get Luke off-planet if I must._

At first, Obi-Wan intended on contacting Qui-Gon or Yoda about Antellica and ask for guidance, but soon thought against it. The two of them probably already knew. He could handle this situation himself.

A few hours went by and still Antellica did not wake. Obi-Wan watched over her all the same, and even wept with hurt over her obvious betrayal of him. It was a little after 0400 when she finally began to wake. Obi-Wan had been in his small shack's kitchen at the time, but quickly ran to her side when he sensed her waking.

When Antellica finally opened her eyes, it was to find a long-haired, bearded man standing over her, his face expressionless. Though something about him looked strangely familiar. She blinked up at the man before recognition finally came to her.

"Obi-Wan?" she asked cautiously, almost not believing.

The man nodded and sat down beside her on the cot she was lying on. She sat up ever so slightly and stretched.

"Antellica?"

She glanced over at Obi-Wan's still emotionless face.

"What are you doing here?"

Antellica wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question, so after merely gazing at him a few moments put her head down and sighed.

"The emperor sent you here, didn't he?" Obi-Wan spoke into the silence.

"Yes."

"For me or Luke?"

"Both, actually."

Obi-Wan merely nodded.

"I'm not in much of a position to take anyone though, now am I?" Antellica nodded to her stomach.

Obi-Wan rose an eyebrow as he followed her gaze. "Well I don't know, are you?"

Antellica wasn't sure how to respond to that comment so remained silent.

Obi-Wan glanced back down at her swelling abdomen and then back at her face again. With a sigh, he stood up with his back to her, but after much thought on the matter he finally spoke. "I will go quietly with you back to the emperor."

"Obi-Wan, I'm not going back to the emperor."

Obi-Wan turned to Antellica in confusion at what she just said, and couldn't help but be a tad bit suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"Oh Obi-Wan, I can't go back," she suddenly cried. "Already they suspect I had something to do with your escape and-and my baby." She clutched her stomach. "I can never have them find out about him."

Obi-Wan was still confused, but choose to keep his face passive. Some of the anger and hurt that he'd pushed aside earlier came back up at the mention of her unborn child.

"So...who's the father? If I might be so bold as to ask."

Obi-Wan sensed confusion coming from Antellica at his bitter tone of voice, but didn't care.

"Never mind," he snapped before she could respond. "I'm not interested and I don't care. I'm-" He bit back a sound of disgust. "-joyous that you've found happiness with someone else."

Obi-Wan walked out of the sitting room and into the hall that eventually led to the entrance of his home, all the while cursing himself for allowing himself to fall in love-and with a Sith for that matter. Antellica was all he'd thought about since they'd parted and now to find her, almost a year later, pregnant with someone else's child made him so hurt and angry, but mainly hurt.

"I'm ready to go when you are," she stated with no emotion. "I will not so willingly hand over Luke however. And I will not tell you where he is." He gave a bitter laugh. "Though I assume you probably already know by now."

Antellica rose from the cot and approached Obi-Wan's back. "Obi-Wan I told you, I'm not going back to the emperor."

Obi-Wan whipped around in disgust. "What is this?" he spat. "Some type of trick you're trying to pull?"

Antellica was deeply hurt by Obi-Wan's attitude towards her. "Obi-Wan, why are you being so cold to me?"

He merely looked at her and walked past, looking out a nearby window.

"And what do you mean by 'I'm joyous you've found happiness with someone else'?" she added in plain confusion.

Obi-Wan gave her a look of irritation. "Don't play stupid with me Antellica. You're pregnant. What does that say?"

"Obi-Wan you-you think that-" She closed her eyes and nodded, comprehension dawning on her. "You think that after confessing my love for you, I went and laid with someone else? Oh Obi-Wan. Come here."

She held out her hand to him, but he refused to take it. He merely kept his back turned to her. Antellica's eyes began to water and tears soon fell from them. She sat down on the floor before him and wiped her eyes of the tears.

"Do you wanna know the real reason I came looking for you, despite the emperor's orders?"

She got no response, which deeply hurt her even more. Swallowing her hurt, she continued on. "It was nine months ago when I saw you last. Do you remember our time together?"

"Oh yes, quite clearly," he said harshly.

Antellica looked up at him sadly. His back was no longer turned to her, but she kind of wished it were, for the way he was looking down at her, his face could've been carved from stone. Antellica glanced away from him and cried softly a few moments before getting a hold of her emotions.

Obi-Wan wasn't sure what Antellica's problem was, but didn't care. All he wanted was to cause her the same pain she'd caused him.

"The real reason I've been looking for you the past three months-" she started.

"Oh you've been looking for me that long? I'm touched."

This comment from Obi-Wan was of course dripping in sarcasm. By now his hurtful bull was really starting to get on Antellica's nerves, and as such was a bit angry. She rose from her sitting position and faced Obi-Wan, looking into his cold blue-gray eyes.

"Listen Kenobi, I come here to tell you about our future offspring and you-"

"Future offspring? _Our_ future offspring?!" He cut across her confused and irritated. "What are you talking about?"

"Whose child do you think this is?!" she practically screamed.

Obi-Wan's eyes widened in shock and horror at what she was implying. No. He couldn't have. He was careful. He couldn't have impregnated her. He would've known.

But yet when he looked into the Force, he saw that the baby Antellica was carrying was indeed his child.

"Antellica, I-" He made to touch her, but she yanked away.

"Don't touch me you jerk," she spat. Turning away from him, she crossed her arms. Obi-Wan, who was still in a state of shock by all this, couldn't help but be a bit angry with himself for not figuring this out sooner. That's why she was on the floor crying, because she felt rejected by him. She felt he didn't want her or their child. That's why she couldn't go back to the emperor, because he'd want to get his power hungry hands on their child and either kill it or train it as a Sith. But probably the latter. Obi-Wan made to hold Antellica again, but again she pulled away.

"Antellica I-I didn't know."

Antellica whipped around angrily, her face contorted with rage. "That's why it's not good to speak of things if you don't know what you're talking about."

Obi-Wan nodded, feeling a bit hurt by her harshness, but knowing full well that he deserved it.

"You don't know what it's been like Obi-Wan," Antellica spoke, her voice level. "Having to hide this pregnancy from the emperor, empress, Anakin, and Arica. I come here and-"

Her voice began to crack, and tears started flowing down her face again. She collapsed to the floor.

"-and you're so mean to me. The Obi-Wan I knew wasn't ever mean to anyone. He was loving and caring, and always willing and ready to help people."

Antellica's words rang true and even more Obi-Wan began to feel ashamed of himself for his previous actions towards her.

"Antellica I-I'm sorry." He sat down on the floor in front of her and lifted her face with his fingers. "I'm so sorry I did this to you."

Gazing into her tear stained eyes, he leaned forward and lightly kissed her gently on the lips. Antellica kissed him back just as lightly, but was soon falling forward into his arms and sobbing into his shoulder. Obi-Wan wasn't surprised to feel tears falling from his own eyes as he held her tightly.

"I've missed you so much Obi-Wan," she cried into his shoulder.

"As have I my love, as have I."

Eventually they broke apart and kissed gently, yet lovingly. Obi-Wan gazed at her, pushing some loose hair out of her face and than settled his gaze onto her stomach again. Thousands of thoughts ran through his mind as he came to terms with the idea of being a father.

"We're going to be parents Obi-Wan," Antellica said happily, beaming at him. "Isn't this exciting?"

Obi-Wan merely looked at her, not knowing what to say. He was happy yes, from a certain point of view he supposed, but...well...he wasn't really sure how he felt. Putting his head down, he sighed deeply.

Antellica's face fell at this, and once again she was fighting back tears. "You aren't happy?" she sadly asked the floor.

"No, Antellica I-"

That's all she needed to hear. She got up, crying once more and made to leave Obi-Wan's house.

"Antellica, no! Antellica, please wait!" he called after her.

She stopped, but did not turn to face him. "If you do not wish to be apart of our son's life than fine. I shall spend the remainder of my life in exile on some desolate planet, perhaps in the Unknown Regions of space, raising him myself."

"Antellica no please. Listen to me." He reached out and took her into his arms from behind. She slowly turned to face him. Obi-Wan's heart ached at the sight of her tear stained face and hurt filled eyes. "Antellica, I-I am happy about our son. Really I am. I just..."

He shook his head slightly.

"...never expected this to happen that's all."

At her slightly puzzled expression, he added, "Having children with someone I happen to be in love with, I mean."

Antellica smiled slightly and kissed him gently on the lips again.

"Obi-Wan, I-I wanted to stay here with you," she said slowly when the kiss was over. "I-I know it's a lot to ask, and that I'd be putting you in danger but-"

"Shh." Obi-Wan put a finger to her mouth and took her into his arms, making for his bedroom. "It's late Antellica. And we should both be in bed. You must be exhausted."

She smiled slyly. "Don't you mean it's early." She nodded at the nearby power-celled clock that sat atop the sitting room table and read 0415.

"Well, you knew what I meant."

She smirked. "Of course..."

* * *

When Obi-Wan awoke at 1130 that morning, it was to find the bed empty and Antellica gone. Worry and panic was the first thing that sprang into his mind as he jumped out of bed and exited the room. 

Antellica, meanwhile, had woken an hour earlier and after showering, and washing and drying the silver and black dress she'd worn the day before, and than dressing she went into the kitchen to begin making breakfast. That's what she was doing when Obi-Wan came running in. Naked, she noted with a raised eyebrow. Obi-Wan however seemed not to have noticed.

"Antellica, you shouldn't be doing this," he said, making to take the fork she was using to turn over the bantha strips out of her hands.

"What? Breakfast?" She gave a wry smile. "Honestly Obi-Wan, I am capable of things you know."

"Yes Antellica, but you're about to give birth. Here let me help you."

"Oh all right, but only on the condition that you put some clothes on. In case you haven't noticed, you're not wearing any."

Antellica expected Obi-Wan to blush in embarrassment, but he merely grinned at her and kissed the side of her neck.

"There's no one here expect the two of us," he spoke huskily. "Why should I put any on?"

Antellica moaned lightly as he continued to kiss her neck, but than pulled away, giving him a mock glare. "Now, now tiger. You'll put some clothes on, or you won't be fed. And that's final."

She turned away from him and went back to her cooking. A moment later though, she turned back for the reason that his stare was still upon her and he was still grinning.

"I mean it Obi-Wan, put some clothes on now or you won't be fed. No clothes, no food."

"All right, all right." His voice was mildly humored. As he made to leave the kitchen he quipped, "When I'm done showering and dressing, I expect my food to be on the table posthaste."

Antellica's only reply to this quip was a playful sniff and a wink.

As Obi-Wan had 'demanded' by the time he was showered and dressed, breakfast was ready. The couple opted to eat on the sitting room cot and not at the room's table, for it was Antellica's opinion that eating at a table was "so yesterday."

"How did I end up here anyway?" she asked after a few minutes of silent eating. "The last thing I remember is being surrounded by Tusken Raiders and everything turning to black."

Obi-Wan explained everything to her of the early morning events and how he rescued her.

"My hero," she quipped and hugged him from the side.

As Antellica than returned to her food, happy thoughts began to fill her mind. This was wonderful. Here she was with the love of her life, together and happy, just like she'd always dreamed they'd be. They'd be parents soon, and now that she was with Obi-Wan, she couldn't wait to have the baby. Things would be wonderful. She'd have their son and they'd live happily together forever.

These happy thoughts, however, soon disappeared and Antellica's mind began to be flooded with horrid and cruel happenings:

An epic lightsaber duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan on a planet of molten lava; Arica screaming at Antellica for being a traitor while holding back a small, crying little boy that Antellica knew to be her and Obi-Wan's future son; Anakin demanding the location of his children from her and striking her to the ground in anger when she refused.

Unbeknown to Antellica, these thoughts were actually visions of the future. Events that would happen in four years and a half years time. Though she didn't know this, and merely thought they were possible outcomes of the future if ever the empire found them here, they upset her all the same. Her happiness gone, she burst into anguish filled tears, dropped her plate of food, and ran outside the house.

Obi-Wan, confused by her sudden outburst, followed her outside in concern and worry. He found her sitting on the topmost steps that led up to his small home crying. He quickly sat down beside her and wrapped her into his arms.

"Antellica, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

"I'm putting you in danger Obi-Wan," she sobbed. "I know I am." She paused a moment before continuing. "Which is why I think I should leave."

She made to get up, but Obi-Wan stopped her. "Antellica, no. You can't leave. Our son."

He placed his hand on her stomach, feeling the life of their son growing in the Force.

"Yeah but-"

Obi-Wan quickly silenced her with a finger to her lips. "Antellica, I'm already in danger. Yes, now that you're with me I'm in more danger but, I'm willing to take that risk. Please stay with me."

"But Obi-Wan, I'm due any day now. How can I have him? I can't give birth here on Tatooine."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I was thinking about that myself. Perhaps we could ask Bail Organa for help."

"But he was recently on trial with Arica," Antellica protested. "It's obvious the emperor is suspicious of him. I'm not sure what type of help he'd be."

"True, but were you at the trial Antellica?" he asked. "Bail said he didn't see you there."

"No, I wasn't at the trial. I was in the outer rim looking for you. Why, was Organa looking for me or something?"

"No, no. I'd just asked if he saw you there-that's all."

Antellica gave a slight smirk, but said nothing. The two of them sat back down and simply held one another. Obi-Wan placed his head over Antellica's and sighed.

"_Master, I could really use your help right now,"_ he called into the Force to Qui-Gon.

Antellica looked up at Obi-Wan in confusion. The close proximity of the two had obviously caused her to pick up on his Force call. But before Obi-Wan could explain, though he had no intention to, the blue Force form of Qui-Gon Jinn appeared before them. Antellica jumped back in shock as the old Jedi smiled at her.

"Hello Antellica Grievous, I'm Qui-Gon Jinn. It's nice to finally meet you."

Antellica was dumbfounded. Her mouth was slightly agape as she looked from Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon and then back again.

"Impossible," she finally gasped out. "You're dead. You died fourteen years ago. Anakin and Obi-Wan said so themselves."

"In the physical sense yes, but I live on in the Force."

"Explain."

"You see Antellica, when all beings within the Force die, they become one with it, and enter the Netherworld of the Force."

"I know that," she said.

"I entered this realm after dying," he explained, "but was able to retain my Force signature, thus allowing me to return to the physical universe whenever I wish it. Obi-Wan and Yoda are currently being trained in this, so when they die in the physical sense they may live on within this world of the Force as well. I'm sure Obi-Wan and myself can teach you this to you as well if that's what you want."

"Sure, but I guess the light side of the Force's way to immortality has nothing to do with influencing the midi-chlorians in one's being."

"No, because immortality through that sense is cheating death," Qui-Gon explained. "Through the light side you must still die to live on."

Antellica nodded in understanding and Qui-Gon finally turned his attention to Obi-Wan. "You stated you needed my help, young one."

"Yes," he replied. "Antellica-well-she-it's hard to explain..."

"Say no more my old Padawan," Qui-Gon said. "I already know."

"Know? But how could you know?" Obi-Wan asked in surprised confusion.

"The midi-chlorians inside the child Antellica is carrying clearly state that the parents are she and you."

Obi-Wan lowered his head somewhat. "Master, I-"

"You have nothing to be ashamed of Obi-Wan. I'm sure you'll remember Tahl I expect."

He nodded. "Yes, I remember her well."

Qui-Gon nodded slightly and continued after a brief moment of silence. "As for help, I suggest you go to Alderaan. As you know, Yoda will be going there soon to deliver Leila."

Obi-Wan nodded.

"Why?" Antellica blurted out before she could stop herself. "Why is he delivering her there? Wouldn't she be safer if she stayed with Yoda?"

"Yes, but there's only one problem," Qui-Gon voiced. "Dagabah is no place to raise a child."

"Dagabah!" she repeated in surprise. "So he was on Dagabah. And to think the emperor told me to overlook that planet because it was filled with swamps."

"Did he now?" Obi-Wan asked, quite interested. Antellica nodded.

"Dagabah is indeed a swamp-filled world," Qui-Gon said. "That of course is no place to raise a child."

"Well yeah, but why Alderaan? Don't you think it's too close to the capital? Why not someplace else? In the Outer Rim perhaps."

"It was decided after the kidnapping-" Obi-Wan started, but Antellica was quick to cut him off.

"You should very well know that Anakin was heartbroken over that. Sith or not, he loved those children. Padme and the emperor merely used him as an instrument to help carry out their plans because he's this 'Chosen One' character. The only one who can bring balance to the Force. Padme didn't love him. She never loved him. She merely pretended she did so he could be lured to the dark side. Do you wanna know why Anakin turned, besides power? It was because the emperor implanted visions of Padme dying in childbirth into his mind. He told Anakin if he turned, Padme would be saved. So he turns right, and then after the birth of their children she dumps him. Kicks him and the twins out of the house. He loved her so much and she broke his heart. That was taken from him. After that, he had his children to love, and just as he grows close to them, they're taken from him too. To make matters worse, Padme doesn't even care about the twins. She never did. When she found out she was pregnant with them, she wanted to kill them. If it hadn't been for the emperor telling her to keep them because they would be strong in the Force with him as a grandfather and the 'Chosen One' as a father-"

"But don't you see Antellica," Qui-Gon tried reasoning, "that's why the twins must be hidden from the emperor. It's not so much that we took them from Anakin. We took them out of the emperor's clutches because he intended on training them as Sith, did he not?"

Antellica nodded. "He intended on training the more powerful twin, Luke, while Anakin was meant to train the lesser powerful twin, Leila."

Qui-Gon nodded while Obi-Wan had his head down. "I didn't know Anakin went through all that on his journey to the dark side. I knew he went through a lot, but not that much. I simply thought he wanted power. Power the Jedi couldn't give him."

"He did want power. The power to save people from death, but the emperor still to this day hasn't taught him. I don't think he ever intends to. I don't even know if Padme knows it. I'm sorry for interrupting, but I simply felt that needed to be said. Anakin, I don't think, ever fully turned to the dark side. His characteristics don't speak as a Sith: caring, compassion, love. There's hate as well as anger and murder, but all in all he's not that bad a person. Not all evil like Sidious and Baynetta. Just has a nasty temper." Obi-Wan rose an eyebrow. "Are you trying to say that perhaps there's a chance for him to be returned to the light?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He's been badly hurt and manipulated, I know that much."

"Are you going to tell him about this conversation then, Antellica?" Obi-Wan asked in genuine curiosity, not at all accusatory.

"Of course not. Go on with what you were saying Obi-Wan."

"After the kidnapping, it was decided that Luke would live with his relatives here on Tatooine with me watching over him, while Bail adopted Leila. He intends on changing her name so that should help some."

"Even so," she countered, "don't you think you should wait a while before you let Bail and his wife adopt Leila. The emperor already suspects him of treason."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We'll tell Bail to keep a low profile the next few years. Have the rebel alliance bide their time, that way the attention will be drawn off of him for a while."

"_I agree,"_ called out the voice of Yoda.

Antellica whipped around in surprise, looking around everywhere for the green Jedi.

"_See me you cannot Antellica,"_ Yoda said. _"For on Dagabah I still am. Only hear me through the Force you can."_

"What is this?!" she asked in exasperation, rising to her feet. "Do you Jedi intend on ganging up on me or something?! Look, I told you I'm not going back to the emperor-"

"They're not ganging up on you Antellica," Obi-Wan assured, rising up next to her and hugging her softly.

"_Merely overheard your conversation I did,"_ Yoda added. _"Join in I choose to."_

Antellica repressed a snort, but no one seemed to notice as Yoda continued. _"Hope you don't mind I do. Keep Leila on Dagabah a few more years, I shall."_

"But what about us master?" Obi-Wan asked. "Myself, Antellica, and..."

"_Your unborn son,"_ the voice of Yoda supplied.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said.

"_Hmm. As Master Jinn said, go to Alderaan you will. Help you Senator Organa can. Good man he is. Tell no one of your presence he will."_

"It's settled then," Obi-Wan remarked.

"_May the Force be with you,"_ Qui-Gon and Yoda both said in farewell. The young couple was alone again.

"Come Antellica," Obi-Wan beckoned getting up and offering her his hand. "It's not a good idea to stay outside long in these parts. Especially around this time of day."

Antellica nodded as she accepted Obi-Wan's hand and went inside the house.

"Where is the ship you arrived on?" he asked as they entered the sitting room and Antellica sat down on the cot.

"On the outskirts of Mos Espa," she replied.

He collected his Jedi cloak and put it on. "I'm going to go get it. You could give birth any day now, and I want us to be ready when that time comes."

"You're going alone?" she asked.

"Yes, I think it's best that way." He leaned over and gave her a peek on the brow. "I'll be back before nightfall."

"But-"

Obi-Wan silenced her by placing his mouth over hers in a kiss. When they broke apart, he gave her a reassuring smile. "I want you to relax today, all right? Don't do anything I wouldn't above of."

"Such as...?" she asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Strolling around outside, doing work around the house, things like that."

"I never was one to sit idle while others did everything." She stood. "It's my ship, and as such I'm coming."

"Antellica-"

"And nothing you say is going to change that. Besides, you don't know the access code to enter my ship."

"You can tell me."

She smirked. "I could, but I chose to be difficult."

"Antellica-"

She mimicked what he did earlier by cutting him off with a kiss. He swept her into his arms and they held each other, kissing passionately.

Obi-Wan smiled at Antellica with a hint of amusement when they broke apart. "Nothing I say is going to change your mind is it?"

"Nothing."

Obi-Wan sighed in defeat. "Oh all right. But stay close to me."

By the time they made it to _Flying Angel_ hours later, Tatooine's two suns – Tatoo I and Tatoo II – were setting. Upon arrival, Antellica insisted they check around the ship first to make sure no one had tampered with it. Once assured it was fine, she gave Obi-Wan the access code ("You know, you could've just told me at the house"; Antellica stuck her tongue out) and they boarded. Antellica immediately went in the back to change while Obi-Wan piloted the ship back to the house. Just as they landed outside it, Antellica returned from the back in a festive yellow dress and flat sandals.

After complimenting her with a kiss, Obi-Wan led Antellica out of the ship and into the dark night, using the Force to turn the lights on inside the house as they entered. Once Obi-Wan collected a few things – clothes mainly – they boarded the ship again. Before leaving the planet, he insisted they stop at the Lars Homestead with a note, comlink, and message code telling the family of his departure and informing them to contact him if any trouble happened in his absence. They than made for Alderaan.

On the long journey there, Antellica expressed the idea of altering their appearances in the event any Imperial activity is taking place on the Core world, they'll be harder to recognize. Obi-Wan agreed, which resulted in Antellica dyeing her blonde hair a natural brown color. It wasn't as dark as her sister's black hair, so she didn't look too much like her. Obi-Wan, meanwhile, shaved off his long beard and cut his hair. They changed their appearances in two separate bathrooms across from each other, as a way to surprise the other when they finished. Both exited their rooms at the same time and gasped in surprise and amazement at their very different appearances. Obi-Wan looked at least eight to nine years younger – 30 or 31 – clean shaven while the brown hair made Antellica look several years older.

Finishing their appraising of one another, Antellica remarked that they'd be making a pit stop on the Inner Rim world of Atzerri before arriving on Alderaan. When Obi-Wan asked a confused "Why?", she said it was to buy regular, casual looking clothes.

"If we want our disguises to work, we have to be dressed like regular joes off the street, not Jedi and former Empress' Hands."

Atzerri was a tradeworld in the Inner Rim, near the Hydian Way – the only route that passes through the entire galaxy. It was also a member planet of the Association of Free Trade Worlds and only had as much government as necessary to stave off total chaos. The planet consisted of mostly marshes and cities where almost anything, legal or illegal, could be had for a price. Arriving visitors ran a gauntlet of gaudily lit stores known as Trader's Palace, designed to hook new arrivals and separate them from their credits as soon as possible. This was the couple's destination for clothing merchandise, and it was in the spaceport of Talos.

After going through the normal traffic landing on Atzerri, they exited the ship with Antellica cloaking Obi-Wan's presence since he was still dressed as a Jedi. Once the expensive parking fee was paid – she would've used a mind trick had there not been so many people around – the two headed off to do their shopping. Though Antellica had many non-official outfits, she thought it good to buy more anyway. It was as she told the still Force cloaked Obi-Wan, "A girl can never have too much clothes."

Paying for their purchases, they took a shuttle back to the Talos Port Landing Bay, paid the leaving fee to exit Atzerri, and boarded _Flying Angel_ once more. Antellica decided that once on Alderaan, she'd get another ship and have this one destroyed.

When they'd successfully exited the planet and Antellica made the jump to light speed, she turned to see Obi-Wan entering the spacious cockpit again, clad in some of his new clothes: gray pants and a white short sleeve top that was currently being covered by a black leather jacket.

"Wow!" Antellica breathed, taking in his new appearance. "You most definitely don't look like former Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. I wonder if Bail Organa will even recognize you."

"I wouldn't say I look _that_ different," Obi-Wan laughed, taking the co-pilot's seat. "Beyond recognizable. No, no."

Antellica laughed as well and the next few minutes were spent with the two just sitting inside the cockpit, silently enjoying each other's company. Antellica finally decided to break this silence though.

"Let's go in the back," she suggested. "I have a posh living room back there. And there's something I wanna show you."

"Okay."

Hand in hand, the couple went back to the posh living chambers. It was decorated to match Antellica's personality: bright and fun. It had two couches, a HV, desktop computer terminal, stereo, and plush sitting pillows on the floor. The entire room was the color of the rainbow. Inside, Antellica bounded onto one of the floor pillows and flipped her shoes off. Chuckling lightly, Obi-Wan joined her on the floor and also took his shoes and leather jacket off. For a while, the two lovers rolled around on the floor laughing, cuddling and kissing lightly. But when they stopped, Antellica laid on her back, with Obi-Wan to her left, his hand lightly stroking her belly.

"Antellica?" he whispered to her. She hummed a reply, cuddling closer to him. Obi-Wan lightly kissed her lips before digging into his pocket for something. "I wonder if I could ask you something?"

Once again Antellica hummed her reply. Obi-Wan sighed happily and lifted Antellica into his arms.

"Hey!" she protested upon being lifted out of her comfortable position on the floor. Obi-Wan merely smiled down at her as she looked up at him questionably. He placed her down on the larger couch in an upright position and sat down beside her on the right. In his hands now contained a very small box that would change his relationship with Antellica forever. When she caught sight of it, her eyes went wide in surprised excitement and pure joy.

"Oh, Obi-Wan" she said breathlessly.

"Since I assume you already know what's inside this box I'll just, skip the boring monologue about everlasting love with you, shall I Antellica?" Obi-Wan said with dry humor.

Antellica laughed. "Sure, go on."

Obi-Wan smiled and got down on one knee. Antellica clutched at her heart in pure excitement, eagerly awaiting what was to come.

"Antellica Grievous, I ask you to accept my offer of becoming my wife."

Although Antellica knew this was what Obi-Wan was going to say beforehand, actually hearing him say it was something completely different. She was floating on air. Not literally, but the way she felt she might have well been.

"Yes, yes!" Antellica gasped out, throwing her arms around her fiancé in total joy. After holding each other a few moments, they broke apart slightly and Obi-Wan handed Antellica the small box. She accepted it in excited, yet shaking hands and opened it with a gasp. Inside was a beautiful platinum silver ring with a small yet elegant white diamond in the middle. Obi-Wan took the ring out of the box and taking Antellica's left hand into his own, slipped it onto her wedding finger. She gasped down at it again and threw her arms around Obi-Wan once more. But this time with a bit more force as they both fell onto the floor. Yet they were in too much happiness to care and merely laughed as they landed on the floor. They held each other a few more minutes before breaking apart, each sitting cross-legged across from each other.

"You mentioned earlier you wanted to show me something back here," Obi-Wan commented.

"Yes. Yes I did," Antellica said and rose from the floor. She went over to a bookshelf sitting next to the far end room's other couch, but hesitated a moment before opening one of the compartments.

"Before I show them to you, I'll give you the fair warning not to panic."

"O-Kay," Obi-Wan said slightly confused.

Antellica took the three things out of the compartment, sat back down in front of him and let out a deep breath as she placed them out before him. As expected, Obi-Wan gasped at the sight of them.

"Are those-those are Sith Holocrons!"

"Yes," Antellica said gravely, picking one up. She took a deep breath and started at the beginning. She told Obi-Wan of her recent studies of the dark side, mostly being fascinated with the cloaking of one's Force signature within the Force.

"The midi-chlorians inside a Force signature will only allow the signature to be cloaked if the person who the signature belongs to wants it cloaked. However there has to be a way, I know there must be, to somehow make the Force signature of an individual disappear within the Force without the person dying. Do you see how this would help us Obi-Wan if we somehow discovered this secret?"

He nodded gravely. "Yes. It could help us survive and stay hidden easier. However, I will admit to my hesitation of this. Using the dark side to aid us..."

"Obi-Wan, it isn't the dark side," Antellica protested. "Just because the information of cloaking Force signatures is inside these Sith Holocrons doesn't mean that the disappearance of them is dark or evil."

"Yes, but Antellica Force signatures aren't meant to be hidden," Obi-Wan reasoned. "To do so, you have to tamper with the midi-chlorians, and I'm not so sure about that."

"Obi-Wan, I'm simply saying this for the sake of our son. When he's born, unless we do something about it, all Force sensitives will be able to sense his presence. That's how infant recruits for Jedi were brought to the temple, after all. By their presences being felt through the Force. Now that there are much fewer Force sensitives in the galaxy, the birth of a Force sensitive child, with two Force sensitive parents no less, is going to draw the unwanted attention of some."

Obi-Wan sighed deeply, closing his eyes. "Yes, this does change everything."

Antellica let a few moments go by before speaking again. "Do you regret impregnating me Obi-Wan?" She asked this calmly, and with no emotion.

Obi-Wan looked quickly up at Antellica. She wasn't upset or angry, just curious. Though if he answered the question the wrong way that would quickly change.

"No Antellica. I don't regret it. Don't ever think that. I just-never really thought about it in that light before. Yes, all Force sensitives will be able to detect his birth and that in turn may pinpoint the location of us."

"You see Obi-Wan, we must do something. Not just for our safety, but our son's as well."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Let us meditate than. On all the facts of cloaking Force signatures, and maybe between the two of us we can discover something. Though I doubt we'll get any direct answers right away. We must be patient."

Nodding, the two linked hands across from each other and meditated.

The alarm Antellica had set announcing their arrival in orbit around Alderaan broke the two out of their meditation three hours later. The two returned to the cockpit and Antellica returned the ship to real space. The blue-green core world of Alderaan lay before them, causing the ship's comm system to crackle. Antellica switched it on and a man's voice came over it.

"_Naboo star cruiser, this is Alderaanian control. Please state your preference for being here: business or pleasure."_

Antellica motioned for Obi-Wan to speak into the comm. He stepped forward and did so. "Alderaanian control, our purpose here is business. But I must ask you, is this a secure line?"

A few clicks and buttons being pressed could be heard over the comm. _"It is now."_

"Good, this is Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm an acquaintance of Viceroy Bail Organa. Is he available now?"

"_Yes,"_ the man's voice said. _"He and Queen Breha are having afternoon tea. Would you like me to alert them to your presence?"_

"Yes, thank you. That would be most appreciated. And if I might, also permission to land at the Aldera Royal Palace."

"_Just one second."_ A minute or so went by before the man's voice came back onto the comm. _"Knight Kenobi?"_

"Yes."

"_Permission has been granted to land at the Aldera Royal Palace. Queen and Viceroy Organa will meet you there."_

"Thank you."

The comm was switched off and Antellica flew her ship onto the planet. Once the ship was landed at the palace, she suggested that Obi-Wan go out first and then she'd join him once the Organas were told the situation. Obi-Wan absentmindedly nodded to this as she lowered the boarding ramp. Going down it, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward in his new appearance. As soon as he got to the bottom and stepped onto the landing platform, he saw the familiar figures of Bail and Breha approaching with a few aids and guards. They stopped slightly and looked inquisitively at him as he approached to meet them, but he quickly pushed this aside and spoke.

"Senator Organa, Queen Breha," he greeted with a nod at each. "Thank you for allowing me to land."

"Not at all Master Kenobi," Breha said with a smile.

"Please excuse my new appearance," Obi-Wan apologized. "It's apart of my disguise to stay unrecognized here."

"Oh, yes. Of course," Bail said, drawing his attention away from Obi-Wan's new look. "Forgive me. For a moment there I didn't recognize you."

"That's the idea," Obi-Wan commented dryly.

Bail gave a small chuckle. "Well, welcome Master Kenobi. It's a pleasure as always."

"Please Senator, just address me as Ben while I'm here."

"Okay...Ben. What can we do for you? I must say, I'm somewhat surprised by your presence here, though we're happy to have you nonetheless. Did Yoda decide to allow you to deliver Leila instead?"

"No, uh..." Obi-Wan looked back at the ship a moment, wondering how he was going to tell the Organas about Antellica.

"Is something wrong Ben?" Bail asked in concern. Still Obi-Wan hesitated. "Perhaps, you would prefer if we went inside," Breha suggested.

"No, your majesties, I'm sorry to say you won't be getting Leila for another year or so."

Bail exchanged a confused glance with his wife. "But-but I thought it was decided that we'd get her three months after the kidnapping."

"Yes Senator, it was. But the emperor suspects you now. He's going to be watching your every move. How do you think it would look if you suddenly adopted a little girl who _just happened_ to be the same age as his missing granddaughter? If he or any of his servants were to come here requesting they see her, they'd know instantly who she really was. Master Yoda and myself are simply asking you to wait a little while longer. Bide your time. Don't do anything with the rebellion for a while. All right? Bringing Leila here now would cause too much trouble, not just for you, but all of us."

Bail and Breha nodded. "We understand. We're sorry for the attention we brought to ourselves with the trial," Bail said. "We should have been ready and prepared for something of the sort to happen and we apologize."

"Yes," Breha agreed.

Obi-Wan nodded. "It's all right. Now that that's settled, all that's left to reveal is the reason I'm here."

The couple nodded expectantly. Obi-Wan still hesitated, glancing back to the ship again and than the expectant, yet slightly confused, faces of the Alderaan Royals.

"You'll remember of course how I escaped from the emperor's clutches after the extinction of the Jedi, I expect?"

Bail and Breha continued to look confused, but nodded. "Yes. Antellica Grievous set you free," Breha said.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Yes, that I told you. What I didn't tell you was about what happened between us before I joined up with you and Yoda at your apartment."

He ignored the continuing looks of confusion from the Royals and took a deep breath. He let it out slowly and continued. "Although I never would've admitted it before, I'd ended up gradually falling in love with her during our time together in the Outer Rim Sieges with Anakin. Before we parted that night we were...intimate and..." He sighed nodding to the ship. "...she's now nine months pregnant with our son."

Bail and Breha both gasped, but Obi-Wan pressed on. "I know I shouldn't ask you carry this burden with us, but we were wondering-"

"Say no more Ben," Breha said. "We understand." She than glanced back at the ship. "Is she on here now?"

"Yes, but you must understand. She's renounced her services to the empire. She no longer wants anything to do with it. Her pregnancy made her see that. She's in danger now. If the emperor were to find out about our child and that she helped me escape, he'd killed her."

"Not to worry Ben," Bail assured. "You and Antellica are more than welcome to stay here. Your secret is safe with us."

"Thank you Senator, milady. I really appreciate this. We both do. Let me go get her. You're welcome to come of course."

Bail and Breha both shrugged, and after making a motion for the others to go back inside the Palace, followed Obi-Wan to the ship.

"And don't fret when you see she has brown hair," he added. "It's apart of her disguise."

Bail and Breha both nodded.

* * *

After Obi-Wan exited the ship, Antellica sat herself just inside with her back to the entrance of the boarding ramp. She'd heard the conversation outside quite clearly, but made no move to leave the ship until Obi-Wan called her. As he and the Alderaanian Royals made towards the ship he did so and she rose from her spot, proceeding down the ramp. 

"Yes Obi-Wan." On catching sight of Bail and Breha she waved nervously. "Hello."

"Hello Antellica." Breha stretched out a hand for her to take and Antellica accepted it. "Welcome to Alderaan. No need to be scared child. We're all on the same side now."

Antellica nodded. "Thank you, your highness. Hello Senator." She nodded to him and he returned it. "Hello Antellica, but come. Let us get you two inside."

"Once again thank you for this," Obi-Wan said as Bail and Breha led them towards the palace.

"Yes," Antellica agreed.

Bail waved his hand. "Don't mention it. We're happy to help."

"Dinner should be ready by now," Breha commented. "I hope you two are hungry."

"A little bit, I suppose," Antellica said. Obi-Wan nodded.

They were led inside the Palace and into the dining hall where servants and chefs were bustling about laying out dishes of food. The four seated themselves and the meal began. Much was discussed. Antellica requested to go to a shipping retailer to purchase a new ship and have her current one destroyed.

"The _Flying Angel_ is too recognizable as it was once the empress' ship. I merely took it when she kicked me out of her home."

At their confused looks, she proceeded to tell them about the fitful night she left Amidala's handmaiden service and the morning afterwards. This than led to her comings and goings in the empire since than. Bail promised to give her the coordinates to a few retailers after they ate. Obi-Wan than asked if it wasn't too much of a bother to have a small wedding ceremony for he and Antellica there at the Palace the next day. Bail and Breha quickly said yes to this and called several servants in to have them start the arrangements. It was than decided that after the wedding Antellica and Obi-Wan would stay on the asteroid cluster of Polis Massa, a small Wild Space mining settlement far removed from the more populated areas of the galaxy, until the birth of their son and afterwards if they liked.

"The Alderaanians are quite friendly with the Polis Massans, otherwise known as the Kallidahins, being as we get our shipments of coal from them," Bail explained. "Because you see here on Alderaan, people use coal to heat their homes in the winter time. The settlement's a fairly nice size. It has a medical center, research base, sleeping facilities, plenty of food, and quite a few things that I'm sure will keep you occupied. You should be quite comfortable. The Polis Massans are a friendly and kind race. They'll treat you well."

Antellica and Obi-Wan both nodded their affirmation to this and the meal soon ended. As promised, Bail gave them the coordinates to all the shipping retailers on the planet. Though he suggested they go to the largest one, which was located in the heart of the capital city and owned by an old school friend of his who he knew personally. Since they took up his suggestion, Bail decided to call ahead so when they arrived the owner was waiting for them. They were ushered around a bit by him and shown all the latest designs. However, Antellica choose a slightly older model: a sleek, silver star cruiser that she took to naming _Spiraled Avalanche._

After all of their possessions were taken out of _Flying Angel_, it was taken to the repair section of the shipping area where it would be taken apart and used later for parts. Antellica was sad to see it go, but it was apart of her imperial life. And that was something she wasn't apart of anymore. She couldn't keep it. In their new star cruiser, Antellica called it theirs since they would married the next day, they returned to the palace and were showed to the room that was prepared for them. Soon after, they went to sleep with dreams of the next day filling their thoughts.


	8. A Wedding and a Birth

Author's Note: Hey guys! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and got everything they wanted for the holidays. I know I did. My wish was a Philadelphia Eagles victory over the Dallas Cowboys on their Christmas match up. And they got it! My only other hope is that they win against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Anyway, I would've posted this on Wednesday as I said previously, but I'm having issues with a particular family member. I can't connect from home at the present because of a tiff my father has with me. He's blocked my access to the Internet so I have to do this from the library. What a jerk. As I don't know how long this is going to last, I'll probably only be able to do updates once a week now with two chapters each update. Hopefully, you guys won't mind. This update will be the first of two today, so enjoy. And Happy Reading! Make sure to review too. The more reviews, the faster I update.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 8: A Wedding and a Birth

The next day, Antellica and Obi-Wan didn't see much of each other. This was because of the numerous wedding preparations being done. Besides fittings and such, Bail and Breha kept the couple separately occupied with other things until the wedding. It took place that evening, and while a rather small affair, it was wonderful nonetheless. The few that did attend included the Houses of Organa and Antilles, the entire royal court, and some members of the rebel alliance. The most surprising guest however was Yoda himself. The small Jedi also brought the presently five-month-old baby Leila as well. When Antellica spotted Yoda at the reception, she jokingly expressed her confusion as to why he was at the event. He didn't get an invite. This earned her a poke in the leg from his ever-present gimmer stick.

"Invite I do not need. Invite myself I did."

Besides that, he did say how happy he was for the both of them and intended on staying on Polis Massa with them as they awaited the birth of their son. Though he would be arriving the day after they did. He said this with a playful wink and hobbled off.

Yoda staying on Polis Massa for the time being was good news for Bail and Breha, because while he did so he wouldn't have Leila with him. She was to stay on Alderaan with her soon-to-be adopted parents until Antellica and Obi-Wan's son was born. After which, she would go back with him to Dagabah, but the Alderaanian Royals didn't care. They were thrilled to have her even for a short time.

After the reception festivities finally died down, and the newly wedded couple thanked all their guests for coming and keeping the ceremony to themselves, they boarded _Spiraled Avalanche_ and made for Polis Massa. Being as Antellica had swept a large amount of the Outer Rim the past three months she did not need to be told how to get to the asteroid cluster. She'd passed by it before, but didn't know anything was on it. It wasn't till they got closer that they actually saw the medium sized facility inside the center of the main asteroid. After they landed inside the asteroid rock, they exited the ship and were greeted by a group of Polis Massans.

The Polis Massans were a strangely silent alien race that had expressionless faces and mainly communicated with hand motions. As such, this is how Antellica and Obi-Wan were greeted: with a wide hand wave. Returning greeting to their hosts, the couple was than led out of the landing bay station and into what appeared to be the living quarters of the facility. With even more hand motions, they were shown to the apartment they'd be staying in. The Polis Massans that led them in than bowed and left. It turned out that the apartment came with a floating droid to assist them if they needed it.

Obi-Wan playfully ordered Antellica to stay put inside the apartment while he went back to the ship to collect some clothing and necessities, or else.

"Or else what Obi?" she cooed.

He leaned forward so their faces were mere inches from the other's. "You don't want to know."

They gazed into each other's eyes a moment before their lips met in a sweet kiss. When they broke apart Obi-Wan left, but once he returned they enjoyed their wedding night together.

Early the next morning, Yoda arrived at the asteroid cluster with the same greeting Antellica and Obi-Wan received the night before. His apartment was right next to theirs and a droid also came with it.

Yoda visited the newlyweds early that afternoon. They were simply sitting in the apartment's lounge when he knocked his claw hand on the door to be allowed entrance. He was told to come in, and when he did so the couple rose to greet him.

"Master Yoda. Hello." Antellica greeted. "Your journey was well I take."

"Yes, yes. Quite well." Yoda climbed up onto the sofa across from the one they'd been sitting on a few moments previous. They sat back down in their seats and Yoda studied them sitting together with his beady eyes. "Hmm."

"Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said, "there's something Antellica and myself wish to discuss with you."

"Listening I am."

Obi-Wan glanced over at Antellica who nodded. "Before falling asleep last night, Antellica and myself discussed how we wish to tell you of our hoped plan to possibly stay in hiding without ever being detected. Or our son when he's born, and any other possible future offspring we may have."

He winked at Antellica and she gave him a look of joyous surprise. He than turned back to Yoda to find him chuckling lightly. "Still listening I am," he pressed.

Obi-Wan sighed and nodded at Antellica. She told Yoda about the Force signature studies they'd been having the past few days. Somehow trying to find a way to disappear them into the Force before the birth of their son. Antellica naturally assumed Yoda would strike down the act at once saying, "A Sith you no longer are young one. Learn to think and feel like a Jedi you should be doing."

But Yoda did not say this. He merely gazed at her a moment longer and nodded his head, his large ears flapping as he did so. "I agree. A good idea this is. Help us this can. Meditate we will."

The rest of the week was spent with the three in deep meditation. They did tour around the mine a few times though, but most of their time was spent in meditation. With Yoda's help, they began to learn more and more about influencing the midi-chlorians to make their Force signatures disappear. Sadly however, they didn't learn to master this fully by the time Obi-Wan and Antellica's son was born.

On the seventh night since arriving on Polis Massa, Antellica abruptly awoke in excruciating pain. She clutched her stomach tightly, sending waves of comfort to her unborn child. The pain dissipated a bit, but did not fully go away. Suddenly feeling like she had to use the toilet really bad, she jumped out of bed and ran to it. Lifting her bathrobe up, she dropped herself onto it. Instantly her water broke and Antellica knew it was time for their son's birth. Being that fluids were now gushing out of her and she couldn't stop it, she had to scream and yell for Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan was sleeping peacefully, having a wonderful dream about himself, Antellica, and their son when her screaming voice awoke him. He sat up with a start and dashed out of bed, running towards where the voice was coming from. She was in the fresher. When he reached it, it was to find a crying Antellica on the toilet. He rushed over to her.

"Antellica! Darling, what's wrong?"

"Obi-Wan!" she cried.

"I'm here darling. What is it? Is it-is it time?"

"Yes!"

"Let me get the midwife droid. I'll be right back. In the meantime, use the Force to hold the water from continuing to break, all right?"

"Okay," she whispered in a croak. "I'll try."

"Good girl. Now I'll be right back." Placing a peek on Antellica's brow, he darted out the room.

In the time he was gone, Antellica did as he'd suggested, using the Force to hold the water breakage and emptying it into the Force. So when he returned, she was lifting herself from the toilet on shaky legs.

"I alerted the midwife droid and she went to alert the doctors in the medical center."

Antellica groggily nodded and made to step forward, but lost her footing and fell. Before she could hit the floor though, Obi-Wan caught her and proceeded to carry her to the medical facility. As soon as they arrived, they were met by Yoda.

"Sensed she was in pain I did," the small Jedi said. "Time it is."

"Yes, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said as a Polis Massan doctor stepped forward and motioned for Obi-Wan to follow him.

The doctor led him inside a birthing room that was surrounded with see through glass. He gestured for Obi-Wan to lay Antellica down on the birthing table in the center of the room. When Obi-Wan did this, the Polis Massan doctor gave a bow and gestured towards a doctor floating droid who than spoke.

"The patient will have tests done on her while she's in labor. You sir can leave now and wait outside until the child is ready to be born."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay in here with her," Obi-Wan said.

"I'm sorry sir, but no."

"Can't I at least stand next to her. I won't be in anyone's way. I promise."

"Again sir, I'm sorry. No non-patients are allowed inside while the patient is having tests done on them. Standard procedure."

Obi-Wan gave a nod at the droid. "Of course. Forgive me." Gently, he leaned down and lightly kissed Antellica on the lips.

"_If you need me love, I'll be right outside the room. You'll be able to see me."_

Antellica softly opened her eyes and smiled up at him before closing them again. Obi-Wan left and the doctor and midwife droids began their tests.

As was already known, Antellica and the baby were in perfect health. The labor however lasted another hour before she was ready to give birth. Obi-Wan was allowed back in and Antellica's legs were propped up onto a stool. She was then told to push. She did so the best she could, but was having a hard time in doing it. The more she tried and pushed, the more she screamed in pain.

"Obi-Wan!" she cried, crying in pain. "Obi-Wan, help me! Please!"

"I'm here Antellica," he assured. "I'll always be here, but you need to push harder."

"Obi-Wan, it hurts!" she screamed, crying loudly.

Obi-Wan clasped her hand. It broke his heart to see her screaming in pain and crying like this. "Send all your pain into the Force Antellica," he advised.

"I can't!" she cried.

"Yes, you can," he assured.

"No, I can't!"

"Antellica, have faith in yourself and your abilities," he said leaning down towards her. "You are quite capable of doing things."

"I'm too weak," she said a little above a whisper. "I can't do it Obi-Wan. Please help me. Please."

Obi-Wan sighed and pushed as much of Antellica's pain into the Force that he could. It usually wasn't as effective if another person did this to aid someone compared to a person pushing their own pain into the Force. But it did help somewhat. Antellica tried again and pushed and pushed and pushed until finally their son was born. The main midwife droid wrapped the baby into a cloth and handed him over to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan accepted his son into his arms and bent down to show Antellica. She softly opened her eyes and a smile lit her face at the sight of their infant child.

"Little baby Alex," she cooed, reaching a finger out to touch him. "Or did you have a better name for him?" she asked glancing up at her husband.

"To be honest, I hadn't even thought about names."

This statement/quip got a laugh out of Antellica.

"Alex," Obi-Wan repeated.

"Alex of course is short for Alexander," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, I know that," Obi-Wan stated matter-of-factly back.

Antellica laughed lightly.

"Alexander Kenobi," Obi-Wan said. "What about a middle name?"

"Um..." Antellica started to think.

"Um?" Obi-Wan repeated in amusement. "That's the middle name you thought up for our son? 'Um.'"

Antellica sniffed and took Alex out of Obi-Wan's arms. He began to coo instantly.

"Oh Alex," she cooed back, stroking his smooth face. She gazed happily up at Obi-Wan who smiled and kissed her gently before he wrapped his arms around her and they took to gazing at the source of the happiness: their newborn son.


	9. Betrayal Revealed

Author's Note: The second update of the day. Please read and review!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 9: Betrayal Revealed

CORUSCANT – JUST PREVIOUS TO ALEXANDER KENOBI'S BIRTH

Ever since the emperor assigned her to investigating the real events of what happened the night Obi-Wan Kenobi escaped from their clutches, Darth Lady Baynetta remained on the capital doing all she could to discover the truth. Since she didn't know how long it'd take to do this, she'd appointed Moff Jovovich to rule in her stead as Queen on Naboo until she could return.

_But that had been three months ago,_ Baynetta mused as she went through an archive of old security videos. That's how long she'd been at this now: three long, seemingly hopeless investigating filled months. She'd done everything she thought she could to wrap this case. Meditated, searched the entire Senate Building dungeon level along with its video surveillance archive, but the tapes that could've helped her had been erased and emptied the afternoon Kenobi had been captured; the day the Empire was born. Upon entering that new era, the Emperor said there was no reason to keep the old archives of the now dead New Galactic Republic. Baynetta had cursed when she made this discovery while doing investigating in that department.

The only new info she'd discovered over her course of searching was that Antellica had indeed been out and about the night Kenobi escaped. Around 2400. This was discovered while checking her own security surveillance archive in her Coruscant mansion.

The thing was even though the Senate Building's security archive had been emptied a few hours before Kenobi escaped, the tape of him being put into the cell or even taken out for that matter wasn't in the archive though it should have been.

Baynetta had searched her entire home, swept the entire Senate Building top to bottom, and even searched through the entirety of Five Hundred Imperialrica, hoping to find evidence against some random Senator, who perhaps helped Antellica and Kenobi escape. Alas, she came up empty handed every time.

Baynetta was beyond frustrated when she'd went to give her father the usual three week update on the case that morning. After giving her non-successful report, the Dark Lord nodded and suggested she check the security surveillance archives at the Holiday Lakes Hotel in the Entertainment District of Galactic City. She had utterly forgotten about that. Antellica had received a suite in that hotel for her sixteenth birthday last year from the emperor. It was only natural that if she helped Kenobi escape, she may have let him stay at her suite until he somehow got off planet.

For security reasons, all suites inside the Holiday Hotels, rather it be Lakes or Towers, had surveillance cameras installed inside each room of the building. Yes even the freshers, though those cameras usually stayed off. The fact that Holiday was a camera-infested hotel was a little known secret. But since the cameras were only there for security reasons, the videos were never viewed unless say something drastic were to happen, like one of the stores inside being robbed, or perhaps something less drastic like a person trashing a room and claiming they didn't do it. All in all, though the cameras were always rolling, no one ever watched them unless they had a reason.

So this was where Baynetta was now, inside the video surveillance archive room. Holiday Lakes only kept videos for a year before the archive was deleted and started over fresh for the New Year. But since it'd only been about nine months since Kenobi's escape, Baynetta still had some type of hope that perhaps she would find the answer she was looking for here and now. She was currently looking through the dates of the tapes, making to find those marked for _Empire Day_. When she finally found them, she looked for Antellica's file. And when that was found, she placed the tape inside the player she had sitting next to her on the floor and hit play. The way these tapes worked was they lasted an entire day, starting at 2400 and ending at 2400 of the next day. They than moved onto the next tape. Because of this, the empress realized that she wouldn't find anything on the _Empire Day_ tape because Antellica left the house at 2400 of the following day. Inserting the tape back into its place, she searched for the next day's date. After finding that and Antellica's file, she inserted the tape into the player, hit play and began to skim through the tape, hoping to find something.

All tapes were set up with multi screen formats, meaning you could watch all rooms inside one suite at once or simply select a room you wished to view and watch it in full screen. Baynetta had selected the multi screen format. For a while, there was nothing but darkness inside all rooms of the suite. This changed around 0130 though. The living room lights were turned on and in walked Antellica and Obi-Wan. Hitting the stop button, Baynetta selected the living room video, making it full screen. Hitting play again, she began to watch:

_After the two walked in, Antellica gestured for Obi-Wan to sit down on the living room sofa and she did so herself. Obi-Wan soon followed, but only after giving the room a wary look._

_"Antellica, what is this all about?" he asked._

_Antellica smirked slightly, and waved a playful finger in his face. "Now, now Obi-Wan. I didn't say you could say anything yet."_

_Obi-Wan's only response was staring a hole into her._

_Antellica sighed. "Listen Obi-Wan, I don't want to see you get hurt and-"_

_Obi-Wan snorted in disgust. "I don't believe that."_

_"If I had wanted to you hurt I could've done so hours ago. I choose not to."_

Antellica said this is an angry tone, and even from the distance of the camera Baynetta could tell she was glaring at him.

_Obi-Wan sighed and put his head down. For some reason, an expression of surprise crossed Antellica's face and Obi-Wan, who still had his head down, waved his hands as if gesturing for her to continue. Antellica than moved closer to Obi-Wan on the sofa, causing him to look up at her and move back a bit._

_"What do you mean Obi-Wan?" she asked._

The Jedi looked to be confused, and so was Baynetta.

"_How have I already hurt you?"_

Obi-Wan looked at Antellica in shock, and it was only then that Baynetta realized Antellica must've read some of the Jedi's thoughts.

_Obi-Wan sighed and put his head back down. A few moments were spent in silence before Antellica spoke again._

_"You've fallen in love with me, haven't you?"_

That remark definitely took Baynetta by surprise. Impossible. Jedi aren't allowed to love.

_Obi-Wan cocked his head and simply looked at her a moment before getting up and heading outside the camera's view towards one of the windows. Antellica got up and followed him, also leaving the camera's view._

_"Oh Obi-Wan," Baynetta heard Antellica say, "I'm so sorry."_

_"You're sorry Antellica? You're sorry?!" Obi-Wan mocked in exasperation. "Sorry won't bring back those Padawans you ruthlessly slaughtered. You're sorry! Is that all you have to say for yourself?! Just think about all you've done, and what you plan to do. And all you have to say for yourself is you're sorry! You' re sorry!"_

_"Obi-Wan, please," Antellica said after a moment._

_Obi-Wan suddenly reappeared into the camera's view and sat back down on the sofa."Why don't we just get whatever you have to say over with so I can go back to my cell to rot."_

_Antellica returned into the camera view as well after a moment and sat back down next to him."Obi-Wan," she began, "I'm really sorry but you see-"_

_"And there's another thing I don't quite get," Obi-Wan abruptly interrupted._

_This obviously enraged Antellica for her eyes flashed Sith yellow. Obi-Wan took notice and sat back some, remaining silent. Antellica huffed, "Obviously what you have to say is much more important than what I was saying, so by all means Kenobi, Speak!"_

_The look he gave her was one of sadness and regret. Nonetheless, he nodded and spoke. "What I don't understand is how you and your sister suddenly became so active in the Force. The Force rapidly flows around the pair of you now unlike before. I'm wondering how you managed to keep it cloaked all this time and why?"_

Baynetta laughed out loud at this.

"_Cloaked?" Antellica also laughed. "No, no we were never Force sensitive before. Lord Sidious gave us these abilities."_

_Obi-Wan leveled her with a stare. "Don't jape with me Antellica. A person can't simply make someone Force sensitive. They have to be born that way."_

_"I'm sorry Obi-Wan," she appeared to give him an apologetic nod, "but you're wrong. Lord Sidious gave us the ability to access the Force by influencing the midi-chlorians inside our cells with the Dark Side. This took place right after Darth Vader was born and right before the Jedi Temple massacre."_

Baynetta smirked at the pained expression that crossed Kenobi's face at the mention of the Temple massacre.

"_I think he liked Baynetta's idea of five Sith instead of three," Antellica continued. "And once Baynetta and Vader's twins are born there will be seven."_

So, that's how Kenobi and the frog found out about the twins, Baynetta silently mused. Through Antellica. Her and her big mouth.

"_Twins?" Obi-Wan repeated in confusion._

"_Why yes, did I forget to mention that?" Antellica asked. Obi-Wan nodded. "Baynetta and Vader are to be parents to a baby boy and girl in four months time."_

_Obi-Wan seemed very much surprised by this information. "So they're married than?" he finally asked._

_"Of course."_

_"For how long?"_

_"Three years, right at the start of the Clone Wars when Anakin-"_

Obi-Wan wasn't the only one who rose an eyebrow at Antellica's improper addressing of Lord Vader.

_Realizing her mistake she quickly cleared her throat. "I mean Lord Vader escorted Baynetta back to Naboo."_

For a while Obi-Wan remained silent. Baynetta guessed he was digesting all this shocking news about his former apprentice.

"_Did Anakin-" he started, but was corrected by Antellica, "Lord Vader."_

_Obi-Wan however continued as if he hadn't even heard her._

"_-always know Padme was a Sith?"_

Baynetta snorted.

"_Oh, no," Antellica assured. "He never knew, or so much as suspected until the day before last. She told him during the attempted arrest, or should I say the attempted assassination, the Jedi made of the Chancellor, she and myself. They originally came to arrest the Chancellor only, but once seeing us with him, we were added onto their list of enemies."_

_Obi-Wan appeared undisturbed. "I don't know what you expect me to say that. The Chancellor and Baynetta are Sith. They deserve to die."_

_Antellica looked affronted. "I'm a Sith too Obi-Wan. Do I deserve to die? Are you going to attempt to kill me right here and now while it's just the two of us? No witnesses."_

_Obi-Wan simply looked at her a moment and sighed. "No Antellica. I'm not going to attempt to hurt you if you don't attempt to hurt me. You obviously brought me here to tell me something important. I'm listening to what you have to say. I will not interrupt anymore."_

_"Thank you."_

_A few more moments of silence went by before Antellica spoke again._

_"Obi-Wan I-I know I'm only sixteen and that you're much older then me but-" She sighed. "Do you remember that conversation we had in the Room of a Thousand Fountains?"_

_He nodded slowly._

_"I meant what I said about my fondness of you."_

As she said this Baynetta noticed that she refused to meet his eyes.

"_That fondness-well perhaps bloomed into something else. Something that is forbidden for a Jedi, but not for a Sith."_

Baynetta was in shock. She can't mean...

_Obi-Wan looked to be in shock as well, and started to protest. "Antellica, surely you don't-"_

_"I love you Obi-Wan!" she cut across loudly._

_Obi-Wan blinked in shock and Antellica continued in a softer voice. "I do. And rather you want to hear it or not, or believe me or not, that doesn't change the way I feel."_

Baynetta scoffed. She can't be in love. She's a mere girl. She doesn't even know what love is.

_Obi-Wan, meanwhile, looked at a loose for words._

_"I really do love you," she added after a moment. "And I know you do too."_

_He once again started to protest, but again she cut him off, only this time moving closer to him as she did so and her tone light. He did not move away this time._

_"Obi-Wan, listen to me. The only way we could even consider being together would be if you were to turn to the dark side and join us. I'm sure Sidious can work something out."_

Again Baynetta scoffed. He wouldn't turn. The Jedi was too arrogant and stuck up to do so. It's interesting that she tried though...

_Obi-Wan gave Antellica's hopeful face a sad look and sighed. "I wouldn't do that Antellica. And you know I wouldn't. I'd never do that. I wouldn't even consider doing that."_

_Antellica slowly looked over at him. "But I thought you loved me," she whispered._

And from her tone and facial expression, Baynetta knew she was close to crying.

_Obi-Wan sighed again. "Oh Antellica." He moved even closer to her and turned her teary face to look at his. "I'm so sorry, but you're going down a path I can't follow. I love you but...I will not turn...ever."_

Antellica didn't look surprised by Obi-Wan's decision, and neither was Baynetta. _Besides, I doubt Sidious would've let him join anyway. But then again, you never know. But I doubt it._

If Baynetta was in Antellica's position at that moment, she would've fired Kenobi than and there, but alas she wasn't.

_Antellica nodded sadly and than the two were suddenly kissing. When they broke apart a few moments later, she whispered something that sadly the camera didn't pick up. A few more whispers were said between the two before they were kissing again. After doing this for a few more minutes, they got up and went into Antellica's bedroom._

Baynetta hit the stop button and switched the multi screen format to the bedroom. She hit play again. She already had an idea as to what the two were about to do but let the video play out nonetheless.

_The two were kissing heavily. No words were said between the two now just touches._

As Baynetta assumed, Antellica and Obi-Wan were intimate. This lasted till about 0200 and when they finished, the pair fell asleep in each other's arms. It was 0220 when Baynetta was assured they were both asleep. She than pressed the fast forward button till either of them looked to be waking. The camera read 0600 when she stopped.

_Antellica jumped out of bed. She then looked back down at it and smiled. Obi-Wan was still asleep. After appearing to ponder something a moment, she climbed back next to him and gently shook him._

_"Obi-Wan, you gotta wake up," she whispered._

_He stirred after a few moments and whispered her name. They than began kissing again._

Baynetta coughed in disgust at the sight.

_Before the kiss could get too intense, the two broke apart with Antellica sitting up in bed. He sat up as well next to her and cupped her face in his hands, kissing her again._

Baynetta was too disgusted by all this affection between the two to watch. She hit the fast forward button again. The pair on screen fondled each other a bit more before they did it again and finally stopped about ten minutes later. The clock now read 0615. The pair on the screen upon seeing the time began to hurriedly throw clothes on.

_Once dressed, Antellica turned to Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, I know Master Yoda's still on planet. Escape with him, and I suggest the two of you hide yourselves in exile."_

_Obi-Wan looked as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?"_

_"You heard what I said."_

_"But-but what about you?" Obi-Wan asked. "Antellica-"_

_"Don't worry about me," she assured. "I've already thought of a good cover story."_

That comment made Baynetta's blood boil.

_Obi-Wan hesitated a moment. "You're sure about this? Antellica you-you could be killed."_

_"I know," she said softly. "But I'm willing to take that risk. I'll be all right."_

_After sharing another soft kiss, Antellica gestured for him to follow her out the room._

Baynetta once again hit the stop button and switched back to the living room screen.

_After the pair exited Antellica's bedroom, Obi-Wan collected his Jedi cloak off the sofa and they left the suite._

Baynetta once again hit the stop button and rewound the tape back to the beginning of the evidence.

_So, Antellica had assisted Obi-Wan in escaping, and even went as far as sleeping with him. The slut._

When the tape finished rewinding, she took it out of the player and exited the surveillance archive center. As she did so, the head of Holiday Lakes security, Salvo Shryne, greeted her.

"Empress Amidala." He gave a bow. "Did you find what you were looking for? Ah, is that a tape you have there? I assume you did find something then."

"Yes, I did actually. I'm very happy to say my investigation is now closed. Should Antellica Grievous come into this hotel, you are to arrest or stun her. No killing. I think that's something I'd prefer doing myself."

"Your highness?" Salvo asked in obvious confusion.

"As of today, Antellica Grievous is now an enemy of the Empire," Baynetta proclaimed. "She not only helped a Jedi escape from our clutches, but also willingly slept with one, resulting in her pregnancy."

For Baynetta had quickly figured this out. She went over it all in her mind as she left Holiday Lakes and boarded her speeder.

The vomiting. The stomach aches. The secrets. The sense of hiding something. Yes, Antellica was indeed pregnant with Obi-Wan Kenobi's child. And being as this tape happened nine months ago, Antellica could give birth any day now. And suddenly it happened. Baynetta sensed a birth in the Force. The same birth all Force sensitives felt whenever a Force sensitive child was born. But this was much stronger than that. Naturally, that was to be expected since there were very few Force sensitives around anymore. But Baynetta knew than without a shadow of a doubt that Antellica had just given birth. Stepping onto the ignition of her speeder, Baynetta accelerated in speed and raced to the IEB.

OUTER RIM REGIONS – JUST PREVIOUS TO ALEXANDER KENOBI'S BIRTH

It'd been a month since Arica last spoke to her sister telepathically. Ever since then she'd been desperately hunting the outer rim even more than before, in a once again hopeless cause to find Antellica.

Arica had long ago abandoned trying to reach her twin telepathically. She was now trying to break into her mind to discover her location, but alas no matter how much meditating she did or dark side searching through the Force she found nothing. Strangely enough, it seemed that within the past week Antellica's presence in the Force was becoming dimmer by the day, as if she was dying or something. This confused and worried Arica. Because of this, she tried even harder, begging the Force to tell her where her sister was. She was presently aboard her ship, en route to Dantooine. But instead of flying through light speed, she opted to fly in real space. It would take longer, but Arica defiantly told herself that she'd have Antellica's location by the time she arrived. She'd demanded of the Force to tell her the location of her sister by the time she reached Dantooine, or else. She'd do something horrid with the dark side to make it tell her. She hadn't exactly figured out what she'd do just yet, but she would when or if the time came. She was confident though that she would have her answers.

It was than, while preparing to meditate some more, that she felt extreme, excruciating pain coming from Antellica. Her sister, wherever she was, was in pain. Terrible, horrible pain. Arica tried once again contacting her sister, but as usual got no response. This of course was because, unbeknown to Arica, the Force signature meditating Antellica had been doing with Yoda and Obi-Wan caused her mind to be blocked to all other Force signatures besides herself.

The pain, though it dissipated from time to time, lasted another hour and some minutes before an extreme force screaming pain transpired. It was so powerful Arica doubled over in and pain and screamed out loud to the Force to tell her the location of her sister.

Look inside yourself. Only through yourself and your Force bond can you find the answer.

Arica did as the Force suggested, pushing herself to the limit in her dark side abilities, and there it was: Polis Massa. A distant, out of the way asteroid in the outer rim. Arica picked herself off the floor and ran to the cockpit, changing course from Dantooine to Polis Massa.

CORUSCANT – IEB: JUST PREVIOUS TO ALEXANDER KENOBI'S BIRTH

The emperor was in his office going over plans for the buildings of his Imperial Academies across the galaxy. The purpose of these schools was to educate young minds that wished to be apart of the empire in action. These first-class universities would include military training for the navy, as well as political classes. The building of these schools, along with the new cloning facilities for stormtroopers, would begin shortly on various worlds in the Mid and Outer Rim. All that needed to be done was his approval of the building structures and the design issues for the clones.

The present stormtroopers were becoming quite insufficient. Most of them were getting too old due to their growth acceleration; others no longer obeyed direct orders the way they had during the Clone Wars. Some now asked questions before acting. All in all, the emperor intended on getting rid of the clones of Jango Fett within the next few years and have them replaced with a new breed of much more sophisticated warriors than the current ones.

It was just as he was about to file away the papers he approved of that he felt it. A birth in the Force. But not just any ordinary birth. The birth of an extremely powerful Force sensitive child. Not quite as powerful as the twins, but powerful nonetheless. The emperor pounded his fist down in rage on his desk, putting the pieces together in his mind. There was only one way a child could be so powerful in the Force like that. By having two equally powerful Force sensitive parents: Antellica Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Before the Sith Lord could do any more seething, the front door to his office burst open and in ran Padme. She was out of breath and clutching a video in hand. "Master, surely you just felt it," she stated in pure rage.

"Yes," he answered in a hiss.

Padme threw the tape onto the desk and balled her hands into fists. "She is a traitor and a liar! That tape there proves it. It shows the night Kenobi escaped and the time their child was conceived."

The emperor picked up the tape and studied it a moment before thrusting it back at his daughter. "Go down to the electrons center and make as many copies of this as possible. Also alert my aide below to contact all bounty hunters in the galaxy with an invitation to meet me at my office about the bounty of Antellica Grievous. Though now it's probably Antellica Kenobi. The price for her capture will be three million credits, and another five for the capture of Kenobi and their child. Antellica has betrayed us. And as such, she will pay for her actions."

"All that you've commanded will be done my lord." The empress bowed herself out the room.

As soon as she was out the door, he mentally contacted Arica.

"_Hand?"_

"_Yes, master?"_ Arica's response was fast and prompt.

"_Have you found your traitor of a sister yet?"_

"_I'm making for Polis Massa right now. It's an asteroid field in the Outer Rim. That's where I felt her presence. Through her pain, I was able to determine her location. She's still there even as we speak."_

"_You are aware as to why she was in pain, do you not Zenevieva?"_

"_No. All I know is for the past week her presence in the Force has been fading more and more rapidly. Her mind blocks continue to grow stronger so I can't break into it. With her signature becoming dimmer and dimmer, it's as if she's dying or something."_

"_Hmm. Perhaps she is. It would serve her right. But no, dead or alive she will be found along with Kenobi and their child."_

"_Child, master?"_ she asked in confusion.

"_Yes, Lady Zenevieva. That's why she was in pain. The pain you felt was her giving birth."_

"_But-but-"_

The emperor smirked at Zenevieva's obvious shock. _"Inform me if or when you find her Hand. Antellica may have been alerted through your Force bond that you're coming for her."_

"_Yes master. I shall attempt to keep my intentions in finding her under wraps."_

"_Very good Hand."_

POLIS MASSA – PRESENT TIME

Antellica and Obi-Wan had only gazed at their newborn son a second before the doctor droid make a noise that sounded strangely close to a throat being cleared. The new parents looked up.

"I'm sorry sir and miss, but I'm going to have to take your little one. He needs to be cleaned and cared for."

Antellica hesitated, not wanting to let go, but eventually sighed. "All right."

The doctor droid gently took baby Alexander out of her arms and took him away. Antellica sighed as she watched the doctor go. Obi-Wan also sighed, but happily.

"How about 'Chad Michael' as middle names?" he asked. "Alexander Chad Michael Kenobi. What do you think?"

But Antellica wasn't listening to what he was saying because she'd just felt something. Arica. She was coming to Polis Massa to capture them.

"We have to leave. Now!"

Obi-Wan glanced over at her in confusion. "What?"

"It's Arica," she clarified. "She's coming here now on the Emperor's orders. We must leave."

Obi-Wan, for a moment, looked at a loose for what to do. He glanced over at Yoda a moment and than took Antellica into his arms. The main midwife droid rushed over.

"Sir, where do you think you're going with her. She needs-"

"I'm sorry," he said in a rush. "I thank you for all you've done, but we must leave."

"But sir," the midwife protested. "She needs-"

"I know and I'm sorry. But this is urgent. We have to go now. Please have Alexander cleaned and ready to go within the next twenty minutes. We do have that long, don't we?" he added to Antellica who nodded.

"Yes, but I don't know how long after that."

"But sir, there is paper work that needs to be signed-"

"Just please have Alexander ready for us when we're ready to go." And without another word to the droid, Obi-Wan carried Antellica out of the birthing room. Before rushing off to their room however, he stopped briefly to glance at Yoda.

"Go I need to, to Alderaan and retrieve Leila. Much danger she's in if stay there she does."

Both Obi-Wan and Antellica nodded. "Farewell Master Yoda," Antellica said. "And may the Force be with you."

Yoda smiled. "And with you three as well."

With one last nod, Obi-Wan ran off with Antellica. He went outside the facility and laid Antellica down on a bed in _Spiraled Avalanche._ After kissing her briefly he spoke. "I'm going to collect the few things we brought. I'll be back within the next ten or so minutes."

Antellica nodded and Obi-Wan left. As he ran off the ship, he saw Master Yoda's small ship already rising into the air and leaving. Giving it one final look, he ran back to their room to find that all their belongings had already been packed up for them by a few Polis Massans.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said and made to grab one of the bags, but the Polis Massans shook their heads and bowed before lifting the bags themselves. Obi-Wan nodded back and was then led out of the room by the three aliens.

"Thank you, but if you don't mind, you may simply leave our things outside the ship."

The three Polis Massans bowed once more and headed for the hanger. Obi-Wan than made for the medical lab, but was met halfway by a female Polis Massan and the doctor droid. Clad in a white blanket, and in the aliens arms, was baby Alexander. With a bow, she handed him to Obi-Wan. He nodded back and thanked her, and than turned to the doctor droid, who handed him Alexander's birth certificate.

"I do not know the reason you feel so rushed to leave, but make sure Mrs. Kenobi stays off her feet for at least a week," the droid said.

"I will. And thank you doctor."

"You are most welcome sir," it said with a slight bow and floated off. The female Polis Massan followed.

With his son in his arms, Obi-Wan made for the hanger. Upon arriving he got a pleasant surprise. All around the ship stood at least fifteen Polis Massans. Clad in all their hands were bags of plush toys, baby clothing, formula, and soft blankets. Obi-Wan approached them in taken aback happiness, at first not knowing what to say.

"Thank you," he finally said. "For everything. Your kindness and goodness to us while staying here will not be forgotten."

The Polis Massans lowered their bags onto the ground, bowed and moved aside to let Obi-Wan through. He nodded to them, and after delivering Alexander into Antellica's waiting arms, he loaded their original belongings and the gifts on board. With one final wave, they left Polis Massa, never to return, and headed home to Tatooine.


	10. Loyalty Confirmed

Author's Note: Yah! I have the Internet again! The return of frequent updates! Today, tomorrow, and the next day will host fresh new chapters! Make sure you review also. I love hearing what you have to say.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 10: Loyalty Confirmed

As much as Arica wanted to deny it, she knew it was true. Antellica had indeed just given birth to a child. It all added up. It'd been nine months exactly since Kenobi escaped. Four months after that, Antellica began getting sick, but shrugged it off as a cold. And a month after that, she began to take on an aura of secrecy about her. She must've been cloaking her pregnancy with the Force.

_But why wouldn't she tell me about this?_ Arica wondered. _I'm her sister after all. Her twin. We're supposed to tell each other everything._

Arica was a tad bit sad and hurt that Antellica felt she had to hide her pregnancy from her. But at the same time, she was also ticked off at her sister for putting herself in this situation to begin with.

_How could she do such a thing? Not only lie to us. To me. But get romantically involved with a traitor of the empire. It just isn't like her. Why Antellica, why? The Emperor will surely want you killed._

Being as she was still very much in shock by these change of events, she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she saw Antellica. The Emperor would either want her killed or captured, but Arica...she wasn't sure what she wanted.

_Yet as the Emperor's Hand, it is my duty to do as my lord commands, rather I like it or not._

Sighing, she pulled back the hyperspace lever, returning to real space outside an asteroid cluster. It'd been an hour and a half since she changed course from Dantooine. But just as she began to approach the asteroid, she began to feel like something wasn't right. Could the emperor possibly be right? Could Antellica somehow had been informed through their twin Force bond that she was coming for her? She didn't know, but she'd soon find out. Making for the center of the asteroid, she saw a medium sized facility inside and landed on the landing platform that lay right next to it. She shut down the ship and donned her Sith cloak, making sure that her two lightsabers were safely hidden within, and exited the ship.

There to greet her was a strange race of aliens that had no faces. Well they had faces, only nothing was on them. Strange. As she swiftly approached them she noted, with some disappointment, that no other ships were on the landing platform.

"Greetings! My name is Arica Grievous, former General of the Clone Wars. This asteroid was, or is, being used as a refuge to shelter two criminals: Obi-Wan Kenobi and Antellica Grievous. Antellica, you see, is my sister. She recently gave birth here. What I need to know is if she's still here or not."

The Polis Massans began to make hand motions to each other and beckoned towards her. She nodded slightly and followed them. They led her into the facility and went down a long white hall that reminded Arica vaguely of the same, almost exact hallways that she, her sister, and Master Yoda had once walked through on Kamino at the beginning of the Clone Wars during the Jedi's retrieval of the Republic's clone troopers. At the end of the hall was a medical lab. Arica didn't need to stretch out with the Force to know Antellica, Kenobi and their child weren't here. Though she wasn't sure where these two aliens could be leading her. She was led into what appeared to be a records room where two floating droids were conversing. They stopped, however, upon she and the aliens' entrance. The Polis Massans went over to them and began doing various hand motions, sometimes gesturing towards her, sometimes not. Arica sensed through the Force that this was the only way they could speak and also discovered a way to understand what they were signing. It was basically what she'd said to them upon her arrival.

The droid that appeared to be a male floated forward and Arica lowered her hood, revealing her similar resemblance to Antellica. The droids seemed wary at first, but this changed as soon as they saw her face.

"Arica Grievous, is it?" the male droid asked. She nodded. "I'm sorry to say your sister and her husband-"

Arica blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say 'husband'?" She knew she must have heard it wrong.

"Yes, she and her husband, Obi-Wan Kenobi, left about an hour ago with their son."

"Son," Arica repeated mainly to herself. "I have a nephew." She addressed the two once more. "What did they name him?"

The doctor droid turned to the other, which seemed to be a female. She presently had a sheet of paper in hand and handed it to Arica. She accepted it and began to read. It was the medical lab's copy of Antellica and Obi-Wan's son's birth certificate:

Polis Massa Vital Record of Birth

Date: Galactic New Republic Year 0 After the Millennium, Day 270, Time 0125

Sex: Male

Name: Alexander Chad Michael Kenobi

Father's Name: Obi-Wan Kenobi

Mother's Maiden Name: Antellica Paris Whitney Grievous

"Alexander Chad Michael Kenobi," Arica repeated mostly to herself. "I like it."

"Yes, it is a beautiful name," the droid nurse agreed. "And he was an equally beautiful baby. Mr. and Mrs. Kenobi were so happy. Though they left in such a hurry. I don't know why. They never said."

"Hmm." Arica studied the certificate of birth another moment and pocketed it. This was evidence the emperor would want to see.

"Uh, miss-" the doctor droid started, but Arica ignored him and addressed her Polis Massan guides. "Is there anyway I can talk to whomever is in charge here?"

The Polis Massans quickly nodded and motioned for her to follow them. She made to do so, but both droids floated in front of her, blocking her way out. She smirked slightly at them.

"I'm sorry Miss," the doctor said, "but we're going to need that birth certificate back."

Arica merely looked at him a moment before pushing both droids out of the way and inserting a Force malfunction into each, so by the time the Emperor's Hand and her alien leaders were halfway down the hall both droids self-destructed behind in their attempt to follow. The Polis Massans turned and made towards them, but Arica stepped in their path.

"You will take me to your leader now!" she commanded with a slight wave of her hand. The aliens were stock still for a moment, but they than bowed, turned, and continued to lead her on.

As they led her to an upper level of the facility, Arica informed them she could understand their sign language and so asked where they were leading her.

'To the three Council leaders,' they signed. 'They are the only Kallidahins among us who can speak. All of our race, with the exception of the two oldest Council leaders, lost the ability in a dark era over a millennium ago. The third Council leader is their son, so because of them, he can speak as well.'

Arica nodded as the other continued. 'They've just arrived back from their yearly two month vacation, so weren't here when your sister and brother-in-law were.'

Arica inwardly cringed at the prospect of her longtime enemy Obi-Wan Kenobi being her brother-in-law now, but decided not to think too much of it.

"Fascinating. Where did they go this year?" she asked.

'A planet in the Inner rim that uses our coal services.'

"Coal services?" Arica asked in confusion. But before either could respond, an olden Polis Massan, or Kallidahin as they called themselves, approached them. It was than that Arica realized they were inside the Council Leaders Quarters. Looking back at the entrance, she saw that the doors were just now closing behind them.

"CT4 and CT8, whom do we have here?" the olden Kallidahin asked. "I thought you said the humans who were staying here already left."

'They did,' either CT4 or CT8 signed. 'This human here is one of the other human's sister. She came here looking for her. When she discovered they weren't here, she asked to speak with you and your parents."

"I see," the olden alien said. Though as he looked the same as the rest, with no facial features-not even a mouth, Arica didn't know how.

'We were just discussing the Polis Massa coal services across the galaxy when you came in, father,' the other alien signed.

"I see," the old alien repeated before turning his nothingness face to Arica. "Come here than deary. Don't be shy. Have a seat."

Arica gave a slight bow and did so as the old alien said, "Though the upper council leaders are asleep at the present. So unless you want to wait, you'll have to deal with talking to me."

"Oh, that's perfectly fine," she said. "But tell me more about the Polis Massan coal services."

"Well you see deary, many planets across the galaxy use various means to heat their building structures," the olden alien, whom Arica detected names' was Ballger, explained. "Oil, fuel, gas, electric, and coal to name a few. Not many civilians use coal anymore though. They say it's too messy. However, there are a good amount of Mid and Inner Rim Territory planets, and some even in the Core, who still use coal and their supplies come from us. We mine the coal personally and deliver it to the planets in large shipments."

"Interesting," Arica said, mulling over this information in thought. "I wonder, are Alderaan or Naboo one of these planets that receive coal from you?"

"Alderaan yes, but not Naboo. They heat their buildings with cheap electric." Ballger snorted at the last two words.

"Fascinating," Arica commented. "I have been on both planets and I must say, Alderaan's buildings always seemed much warmer than Naboo's."

A lie, but the flattery went straight to Ballger's head as intended. "You bet it was. If it weren't for us, hundreds of systems in the galaxy would be out of heat for their homes and businesses."

"I see," Arica remarked, a devious plan forming in her mind. "But there are other sources people could go to if they wanted coal, right? Surely, you're not the only coal source in the galaxy."

Ballger seemed to sniff, if that was possible, but it didn't to Arica. "There's a coal mine on Malastare, but it, as well as the planet, is controlled by the Hutts."

"Indeed," Arica said with a hint of gleefulness. _Organa wouldn't want to deal with the Hutts to get coal. My revenge shall come at last._

Arica rose and activated one of her lightsabers, the green one. Ballger seemed to sit back in his chair somewhat. "I'm sorry to say this Ballger, but as the Emperor's Hand of the Galactic Empire, I'm going to have to place you and your colony under arrest for aiding criminals."

"Aiding criminals?! I don't understand what you mean! We are a simple people who mine coal for a living."

But Arica wouldn't hear of it. With a swift slash of her blade, Ballger was dead. The other two Kallidahins, obviously Ballger's children, were signing words of confusion, but Arica merely smirked before slicing them down as well. She then ran to the back room where she sensed the upper council leaders. They were still asleep and she was slightly disappointed by this. She wanted to give these pitiful beings, whom didn't even acknowledge that the New Republic was now an empire, violent and gruesome deaths. That's when an idea struck her. Instead of simply slicing down these alien scumbags, how about burning down their facility as well? Since there were no electrical objects of any kind on the entire colony, she couldn't do an electrical fire. Another idea came to her. After decapitating the upper council leaders in their sleep, she ran from the room, out the deceased council leaders quarters, down the stairs, the hallway, and back to her ship.

Upon boarding, she rose it into the air a few feet and fired a series of torpedoes at the facility. It was in flames in no time. Setting the ship back onto the ground, she than grabbed a spare can of star cruiser fuel from the back and exited her ship, Sith hood up, and eyes blazing with hatred. Several of the freak aliens were running about the landing platform in confusion and terror. The ones that dared approach her were sliced down. Deactivating her lightsaber for the time being, Zenevieva slowly stalked towards the main source of the fire and dumped the can of fuel at it in a throw. Instantly, the fire became even larger and the sounds of screams could be heard everywhere.

Reactivating her laser blade, Zenevieva resumed her massacre of Polis Massa. It didn't matter who was sliced down and slaughtered with the Sith Lady's green lightsaber; children, adults, what seemed to be pets. The Sith had come to Polis Massa, and there would be no escape for any of them. Zenevieva sliced down all the aliens she came up against in cold blood. That was the way of the Sith. Hatred and anger.

An hour later, the entire colony of Polis Massa was no more. It had been destroyed by Darth Lady Zenevieva's deadly grip. This was the sense of power she missed from the Clone Wars. The power to be able to take life at will. She thought about this as she watched the remaining flames of Polis Massa burn and destroy everything it touched. She felt nothing less than pure rage at her sister, Kenobi, Yoda, and all the enemies of the empire.

_Let them feel the results of their betrayal. Let them know that because of them, an entire race of innocent civilians was wiped out._

* * *

Across the galaxy, all Force sensitives felt the massacre and extinction of the Polis Massan race: Yoda on his way back to Dagabah with baby Leila; Obi-Wan and Antellica on their way back to Tatooine with their newborn son Alexander; Anakin on the Mid Rim world of Felucia, continuing his hunt for Yoda and his daughter; Darths Sidious and Baynetta on Coruscant – Baynetta while showing screenings of the 

Obi-Wan and Antellica Holiday Lakes security tape to Imperial forces, alerting them to stun the two on sight, and Sidious conversing with a several bounty hunters via comm about the bounties that had been placed on the Kenobi family, Yoda, and the infant Skywalker twins.

While Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Antellica mourned the loose of the kind Polis Massan race, Anakin rejoiced in it. Taking the feeling of death and letting it wash over him. He, of course, had been informed of Antellica's betrayal with Obi-Wan by the emperor. His reaction to it was a mixture of things: anger at his old master for being a bad influence on Antellica; betrayal at Antellica for assisting Obi-Wan in his escape, than lying about it; and confusion as to why she would become romantically involved with the old Jedi to begin with after swearing her life to the Sith.

Sith and Jedi didn't get together romantically or even as friends. They are sworn enemies who hated one another, and yet Antellica and Obi-Wan had had a child together a few hours ago. That's what she was hiding. That's why she said no one could help her...but herself.

Although Anakin now knew that Antellica was a traitor of the empire and would probably be wanted dead by the Emperor and his wicked daughter, he couldn't help but think Obi-Wan was the one responsible for the cause of all this. He brainwashed her, filled her innocent young mind with nonsense, and Antellica fell headlong into it. He always had taken a liking to her, even if they bickered all the time and Antellica had looked up to Obi-Wan, just as she looked up to him, so it was only natural that she'd listen to something Kenobi said. Anakin, however, believed that he could've talked sense into her, but now that she'd bore Obi-Wan's child and was in hiding with him, he doubted she'd ever listen to him again. Obi-Wan had taken a perfectly wonderful girl and destroyed her life for his means alone. The dog.

So while Anakin continued to seethe about Obi-Wan, Baynetta also rejoiced about the deaths of the empire's enemies, as did Sidious. This act done by Zenevieva was proof enough of where her loyalties laid. All the emperor's previous doubts about his Hand possibly joining her sister out of love if she saw her were banished. Zenevieva wasn't going anywhere. She was pure Sith. Loyal and true. And would be rewarded for her actions and faithfulness.

* * *

After watching the remaining flames of fire that so mirrored her yellow Sith eyes flicker out, Arica strolled around the ash remains of the colony observing the results of her hatred. This race of aliens deserved what they'd received, and Antellica and Obi-Wan would now have the deaths of the entire Kallidahin race to hang over their heads. It was their fault she slaughtered them. They made this race of simple miners turn against the empire by assisting them. Strolling through the ashes a few more minutes, reminiscing to herself about the sweet success of the slaughter, she soon boarded her perfectly unscratched ship and made for Coruscant. 

When she arrived a good twelve hours later, it was to a wondrous welcome. As soon as she touched down at the IEB, she saw that the Emperor and Empress were there to meet her. She bowed before the approaching Emperor at her exit.

"Master, I am sorry I was not able to capture Antellica-"

"Say no more child," the Emperor said. "Rise."

She did so and he gestured her forward. "Come, I wish to hear all about your mission on Polis Massa."

So with not so much as a nod to Padme, Arica proceeded to report on the events of the asteroid colony as they made their way to the emperor's office and than after. She also showed him – and the empress just had to put her dirty hands on it too – the birth certificate of Obi-Wan and Antellica's son, Alexander. At the end of report, the emperor was silent for a moment.

"You have done well Hand," he finally said.

Arica bowed. "Thank you master, but Antellica and Obi-Wan-"

"-will be found eventually," he interjected. "With the birth of their son, it'll be harder for them to cloak all their signatures. You see, they can cloak theirs fine, but they cannot cloak their sons' because for a Force signature to be cloaked, it must be done by the person the signature belongs to. No one can do it for them. No, not even a parent."

Arica nodded and listened as the Sith Lord continued. "The slaughtering of the Polis Massan race proved to me, Lady Zenevieva, that you have no intention on turning your back on the empire."

"No master, that thought never even crossed my mind," Arica said evenly and indeed it hadn't. She loved her sister, but she would never turn her back on the Empire and run away with her, besides she had nothing less than hatred for Kenobi.

Either some of her thoughts showed on her face or he was reading them, Arica never knew. He gave her his usual mockery of a smile. "For your faithfulness Zenevieva, you shall be rewarded. I am hereby making you Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy, second in line after the Supreme Commander, Lord Vader. The fleet will eventually become larger than it currently is, and I need another able body to lead it."

"I am honored to do so my lord," she said with a bow.

"In the meantime, the navy will be split between the two of you," he continued. "You will presently lead the half that's in orbit around Mustafar overseeing the building of the Death Star. You are to leave within the hour. This will also make you the sixth most powerful person of power in the Empire, but if you don't mind, I'd like you to continue serving as my Hand as well when you aren't preoccupied with the fleet."

"Of course master."


	11. An Assembly of Bounty Hunters

Author's Note: I realize that I spend so much time asking for reviews that I don't often thank those who do so. So thanks to those like G-Anakin 13, Thrawn 716, and JainaZekk621 who review. You too MissNaye for your one review. And welcome to the story Fallen Senshi. In answer to your question yes eventually Anakin will become the man in the suit. Towards the episode's end. This chapter features two familiar characters to Expanded Universe fans, and the surprising return of an old Episode I character. Enjoy!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 11: An Assembly of Bounty Hunters

As the Emperor commanded, Arica left the capital within the hour for Mustafar. He, meanwhile, was addressing the Imperial Senate concerning Antellica's betrayal and child, and the extinction of the entire Polis Massan race as yet another example as to what will happen to enemies of the Empire. As expected, when some heard of the "Polis Massa massacre" as Bail Organa was calling it, they complained.

"Hundreds of planets will be without coal," the Senate Representative for the Colonies world Yir Tangee complained. "And as such, heat."

"Arica did," the Emperor began testily, "what any true member of the Empire would have done if they came across enemies. The Polis Massans deserved what came to them. They were helping Jedi, and so deserved to be punished."

"But by death?" another Senator asked.

"What of the countless systems that need coal?" Organa asked. "Where are they to go?"

"There are other outlets, or shall I say outlet, you can go to for coal," the Emperor said with a slight smirk.

"Where?" several Senators asked.

The Emperor exchanged a glance with the Empress and she spoke up next to her father. "There is a coal mine on Malastare," she said smoothly. "Controlled by the Hutts yes, but it's still a coal mine."

The Senate murmured at this.

"We can't get our coal from Malastare," a random Senator yelled out. "It's controlled by the Hutts."

The Empress pursed her lips in disdain at having her words repeated.

"Well, I'm sure you'll work something out," the Emperor offered, undeterred by the factor of the Hutts.

"But the Hutts?" another Senator protested.

"The Hutts are gangsters," another Senator called out. "I'd rather do business with a filthy bounty hunter. Scum deal with Hutts and bounty hunters, not respectable members of the Empire."

"Really?" the Emperor asked in a leer. "That's interesting, especially since right after this meeting I happen to have another scheduled with various bounty hunters from all across the galaxy concerning the tracking down of Antellica, Kenobi, and their son. Are you calling me _scum_, Senator Matthews?"

As Senator Matthews, Senate Representative of the Colonies world Talasea, flushed, the empress crossed her arms and sneered at him.

"No, of course not Emperor," he quickly said and bowed. "Forgive me, I was merely saying..."

"Well, don't merely say," the empress snarled.

Again, Senator Matthews bowed. "Once again, forgive me."

"Hmm..."

"The factor of coal is irrelevant." The emperor was irritated that the subject had gotten off Antellica and onto something as pointless as coal. "The point of this whole meeting is that Antellica Grievous, or as she's now Antellica Kenobi, is an enemy of the Empire. If you see her or come in contact with her, you are to alert Imperial officials at once and have your planetary military arrest her."

"But what about the coal issue," Organa pressed. The emperor hissed. "Our facilities on Alderaan are practically out. Need I remind you Emperor that the winter season has recently arrived. We need heating or else our people, the people of Alderaan and the others whom use coal, could get sick and die."

The empress stepped down from her father's podium in a fit of coughs that was to cover her cruel laughter. The emperor, on the other hand, put on a look of mock sympathy. "Yes, a very tight situation that puts you in Senator. But perhaps it's time you get your planet out of the Stone Age and start using gas or electric like everyone else."

Mostly all in the arena nodded at this and Organa seemed to reach some unsaid decision. "Yes, perhaps I should Emperor."

He nodded. "Very well Organa. If that is all, this meeting is now-"

"Treachery!" boomed to voice of a random Senator. The empire's supreme rulers, along with others, looked all around for the source of the voice. When it was spotted, everyone was very much surprised. Coming forward in his Senate pod was Zeltron Senator Gael Cuaron, a very soft spoken and kindhearted politician who supported the Empire from his Inner Rim world. Or so he claimed.

"Senator Cuaron," the emperor began. "What a pleasant surpri-"

"I have had it I tell you!" the near-human, pink-skinned and long red haired Senator roared. "I have had it! You and your filthy empress daughter ruling this," he gave a cough of disgust, "Empire. Having your lapdogs slaughter countless innocents and than brushing it under the carpet, saying there's nothing wrong with it. Pieces of scum and dirt! You're a power hungry tyrant Palpatine, and this is what I think of you." He proceeded to spit on the emperor's podium. All during his ravings, he'd floated his pod closer and closer to the podium so when he finished he was right in front of it.

Baynetta had half a mind to Force choke the Senator right there and then in front of the entire Senate and all the press cameras that were floating around the arena. However, she bit back her anger and contained herself. The emperor was actually amused by the Cuaron's ravings, but before he could reply to them the Senator continued.

"My entire planet of Zeltros is out of coal. We were scheduled to get some more today, but since the entire colony of Polis Massa was slaughtered by that bitch Arica Grievous, we won't be getting any. It's because of you Palpatine, you and your treacherous Empire, that my planet no longer has heat. It's because of you that my entire planet could get sick and even die from the cold. It's because of you-"

"I think you've made your point Senator," the empress smoothly informed. "You may be silent now."  
Cuaron swung his fists around and proceeded to spit out a string of curses in an unrecognizable tongue that wasn't Zeltron as Basic was the official language of speech on Zeltros. Not surprisingly, the emperor was cackling. "My suggestion to you Senator Cuaron, after washing out your mouth with soap that is, is this: If you want coal so much, I suggest you go to the remains of Polis Massa and dig for it yourself."

This brought a few chuckles from various Senate members while Cuaron hissed out even more swear words.

"This meeting is officially adjourned," the emperor announced with clapped hands.

The podium lowered itself and after descending from it, the emperor, empress and entourage left the Senate Building and made for the IEB and the emperor's office where the variety of bounty hunters he mentioned earlier were waiting. About a dozen of both Royal guards and stormtroopers were also there for the protection of the Empire's rulers.

As soon as the two royals entered the room and the assembly of hunters bowed, even if some did it reluctantly or halfheartedly, they addressed their audience. The emperor going first.

"Welcome my vile bounty hunter friends," he greeted. "You all are aware as to why you're here. To begin your jobs hunting down Antellica Kenobi, her husband Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their newborn son Alexander Chad Michael Kenobi. Though I'm more concerned about Antellica's capture than the other two. The capture of Antellica alone, as previously said, is 3 million credits. The capture of Obi-Wan Kenobi alone will be $2.5 million, and the same price for their son alone. All together that's $8 million. Empress Amidala here." He gestured towards her and she stepped forward, handing out packets to each of the thirty-five bounty hunters present, "is now giving out some information to aide you in your hunt, like a surveillance tape of the two together the night Antellica aided Kenobi in his escape nine months ago. That will give you a perfect opportunity to watch and study both of their appearances, voices, and movements. The slightest gesture can be helpful. There are also photos of the pair, separately and together, in the packet along with the special contact number you are to call as soon as you have the captive or captives in custody. Any questions?"

"Yes," said the thirty-three year old dyed red haired former handmaiden of Queen Amidala during her reign as elected monarch. Yame Sing, who now went by her middle name Aurra, had chosen the profession of bounty hunter after Amidala threw her and another handmaiden, Sache, out of the palace due to the arrival of the orphan Grievous twins. The empress had recognized her, of course, but choose to ignore her, not giving any sign of recognition as she thrust a packet into Yame's hands.

"Where exactly do we start looking for them?" Aurra asked.

"Anywhere you like my dear," the emperor responded. "These Jedi could be anywhere."

"And if we are to come across any other Jedi," another hunter queried. "Will we be rewarded for capturing them as well?"

"Yes, but there is only one other Jedi out there besides Kenobi and Antellica, and that's Yoda."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Boba Fett, the clone/son of the late bounty hunter Jango Fett, now fifteen and a bounty hunter himself, asked.

Though there was a helmet so like his father's covering his face, the empress detected that underneath there was a raised eyebrow.

The Emperor smirked. "I'm sure you are aware of my, Empress Amidala, Darth Vader, and Arica Grievous' true identities as Sith, yes."

Boba nodded, as did a few others while the rest looked surprised – Aurra included – and interested.

"That's how we know," the Emperor stated.

"A Sith, ah?" a Rodian hunter named Greedo asked with a raised eyebrow. The Empress recognized him as one of Anakin Skywalker's little friends on Tatooine when she'd first met him. "I thought they were extinct?"

"Well you thought wrong Greedo," the empress coldly announced. At the Rodian's mild surprise, she continued. "Yes Greedo. I remember you from all those years ago as one of Anakin Skywalker's little friends. But that doesn't change the way I'll treat you."

"Of course Empress." He gave a slight bow. "I'd ask it no other way."

"Hmm. So the Empress is a Sith too, is she?"

The Empress' eyes flashed at the person who spoke. No it wasn't Aurra, though she'd kind of wished the woman would give her some type of bait to hook onto to. It was the Falleen Prince Xizor of the House Sizhran and the arrogant heir of the Black Sun Crime Lord Throne. Black Sun was probably the largest and most infamous crime syndicate in the galaxy. It held a massive amount of reach and influence, extending its tendrils of corruption wherever it so pleased. His father, King Zarcar, was the kingpin of most of the galaxy's crime. He had a good many smuggling acts passed and placed bounties on people, giving hunters everywhere jobs. The reason his ruthless son was here rather than the kingpin himself was because he couldn't make it. Zarcar was one of the ways the Emperor was able to get in contact with some many bounty hunters. Since of this, the King felt he should show up at this meeting as well. Alas, something came up. A shipment of spice he was having smuggled was dumped into space by the hunter shipping it as a way to get back at the kingpin for double crossing him in the past. Because of the spice dumping, Zarcar was on his way to tracking down the hunter and killing him personally. So as he couldn't come, he sent Xizor, presently Black Sun's Vigo, a lieutenant that reported directly to the organization's head, in his stead.

Xizor, like all other Falleen, was green-skinned with only a small patch of black hair that was up in a ponytail at the crown of his head. He was over a hundred years old in age, but that was only about half of the usual Falleen lifespan, as most lived to be over 250 like Zarcar. Also like his father, Xisor was a ruthless competitor and charismatic public figure mainly in the Mid and Outer Rims, as Black Sun was based on Muunilinst. Though the Sizhran House did venture forth into the Core on the rare occasion to make their presence known through elaborate banquets, the buying of property, sponsoring museums and galleries, and charity events to make themselves out to be sophisticated people. No one usual bought into it though, and because of this, the Sizhran House usually kept themselves on their homeworld of Falleen or Black Sun base on Muunilinst.

It was the empress' distaste for the Sizhran House and all things non-human that caused her eyes to quickly turn Sith yellow as they glared at the Falleen Prince in response to his question. "That's right," she finally replied in a haughty tone.

Xizor made a noise that sounded close to humor; though he quickly covered it in a coughing fit. "Please excuse me your majesties," he apologized in-between this.

This simply made Baynetta angrier. "You don't believe me, do you Xizor?" she asked in a forced mutual tone.

The Falleen Prince shook his head. "Not to sound disrespectful empress, but no. You don't take me as Sith material."

Baynetta smirked. "Than perhaps you'd like me to give you a free demonstration." And without waiting for a reply, she struck Xizor to the floor with Force lightning. As expected, he began to convulse and howl at the extreme pain that was coming with her attack, and after a few moments the emperor told her to cease. However, she gave a deaf ear to this command and increased the power of lightning, bringing the Falleen close to death, but not all the way. Just when he was about to die, Baynetta stopped, picked him up with the Force and slammed him into a nearby wall. Going over to him, she restored the Prince to full health and pulled him roughly to his feet. She glared into his angered face a moment and than slammed him into the wall once more. After which, the empress readopted her position by the smirking emperor's side.

Greatly embarrassed and deeply enraged, Prince Xisor picked himself up off the floor and took a moment to give the empress a death glare before stalking out of the room with thoughts that contemplated vengeance against her.

"Whoa!" one of the hunters exclaimed truly impressed. A few others clapped. Aurra remained unmoved. "Remind me not to ever double cross you."

The Empress' only reply was an arrogant, mean smirk. The Emperor though cackled. "To answer the question asked, yes if in the event you come across Yoda and capture him the reward will be 5 million, 10 million if Leila's with him, and an added 5 million to the 8 million if you find Luke with the Kenobis. If any of you are so fortunate as to find all six, though I doubt you'll be able to, an added 7 million bonus will be added to the original 23 million bounty. Any more questions?"

No one said anything. Mostly everyone was greedily shaking their heads, obviously going over the large amount of money the emperor had offered in their scum filled minds.

"Very well. You are dismissed," the Emperor said. "Except you Boba. I'd like to speak with you before you dash off."

So as the rest of the hunters filed out the room around the escort of Royal guards and stormtroopers, Boba stayed and awaited the Emperor's request.

After the Empress motioned for Mas Amedda, Sly Moore, and her own assistant and secretary to leave, and they did so, the teenage hunter spoke. "Now that it is just the three of us, what is it that you wished to speak with me about your highnesses?"  
The Emperor presented the case of the current stormtroopers to the boy. Their growing old age and uselessness making them not as elite as they once were.

"What the Empress and myself are asking is if perhaps you'd be interested in being cloned in a facility that will begin building in the Outer Rim next week once it's finished in six months time. It'd be nice for the Empire to have much newer and more equip clones to use in our military again."

"You don't have to give us an answer now," the Empress added. "Think it over a bit and let us know soon. Just make sure your decision's made by the time the facility is complete, or we'll find someone else."

Boba was silent for a long moment. "And if I were to say yes, how much would I be paid?"

"You decide," the Emperor replied.

He seemed to think this over a bit. "So, if I said I wanted 500 million credits, you'd say..."

"We have a deal," the Emperor finished.

"All right. Done."

"Excellent. Half of the amount you requested will be given to you now, while the other half will be given later. Six months from now you are to report to the facility on Geonosis and have the beginning phase of the cloning begin. Afterwards, you may come to Coruscant to collect your other half. Agreed?"

The Emperor held out his hand to shake. Boba accepted it. "Agreed."

After Boba was also given the job of killing Senator Cuaron for another million credits, he left and the Emperor and Empress began affirming the construction plans for the Imperial Academies across the galaxy. They, like the cloning facility on Geonosis, would also begin production next week.

Glancing over all the production plans, the Empress laid the papers down with a sigh. "With all these new activities going on in the Empire don't you think Vader's services could be used elsewhere?"

The Emperor slowly turned to look at his daughter as she continued. "Don't you think it's time his hunt for Yoda and Leila ceased? Important though the finding of them is, but a bounty hunter could resume it."

"No!" Sidious roared, pounding his fist on the table. "Vader has not yet finished his sweep of the Mid rim. He hasn't even swept half of it yet! Yoda and Leila will be found, but by a Sith, not a pitiful bounty hunter. And now that Antellica had joined their rakes, and she and Kenobi have a powerful Force sensitive child, it's even more crucial that they're found and finished! Now! It's as you yourself once said: the Jedi need to be hunted down and destroyed now. Not later, now!"

"Please forgive me master," Baynetta quickly said, bowing. "I knew not what I said."

"Indeed you didn't child, but forgiven you are."


	12. Presences Disappear

Author's Note: This isn't that very long of a chapter, but I promise the next, which I'll post tomorrow, will be much longer and more informative as some interesting things are revealed within it about the Grievous sisters' past and unspoken of family. Enjoy!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 12: Presences Disappear

A month later, two events happened. Antellica, Obi-Wan, and Yoda's presences in the Force completely and utterly vanished, and the divorce between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala was finally finalized.

Though he was supposed to, Anakin did not attend the court finaling on Coruscant due to still being in the Mid Rim and refusing to take a break from it. The divorce finalized fine without him however. The papers he was supposed to sign were sent to him via terminal download. After he printed them off and signed them, they were sent back via email. He was happy and glad to be a single, unmarried man again. Though for how long that status would last he did not know. He thought about this as he returned to his duties on the _Executor. _Padme was equally glad to be out of the marriage, if not more. She felt as though a heavy weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders.

As for Antellica's Force signature vanishing, she wasn't dead as some may have thought. She and Obi-Wan had finally mastered the art of vanishing Force signatures into the Force at will. They'd quickly shared this information with Yoda and between the three of them were able to find away at dimming Alexander's Force signature a bit since they couldn't vanish it. Only he could do that when he was older. Yoda suggested he be taught this. But teaching him this would also mean he'd need to be taught the ways of the Force, something Obi-Wan wasn't too keen on.

"If it's all the same with you master," Obi-Wan said to the holographic form of Yoda that stood before he, Antellica, and baby Alexander in the main room of their Tatooine hut – the last of which were on the floor playing with rattles and a stuffed bantha, "I'd prefer Alexander not to be trained in the ways of the Force."

"What?! Why?!" Antellica asked in surprised confusion, drawing her attention for a moment away from their one-month-old son.

Yoda was frowning. "Strong in the Force your son is, Obi-Wan. A powerful Jedi Knight he _will_ become."

It was the stern defiance in Yoda's voice that irritated Obi-Wan somewhat. "I'm afraid that's for me to decide Master Yoda. I am his father, and if I say I don't want him trained-"

"Well I want him trained," Antellica spoke up, cutting him off. "If you won't train him Obi-Wan, I will."

"You?" Obi-Wan gave a small chuckle. "Forgive me for saying so my beautiful wife, but you can't train him because you aren't fully trained yourself. The blind can't lead the blind."

Before Antellica's anger could flair up, Yoda banged down his gimmer stick in frustration.

"Upset you are Obi-Wan," he said. "Think that lead another down the dark side you will, if train another you do."

Obi-Wan was on the verge of a sarcastic retort, but than sighed and lowered his head towards the floor. The small Jedi Master was all too right. Glancing over at Alexander, he spoke. "I failed Anakin master. I couldn't bear to have that happen again, not to Alexander."

Once more, Yoda banged down his gimmer stick. "Your fault it was not that Vader turned. His own choice that was. Beat yourself up, you should not. Not the only to have a pupil turn to the dark side you are."

Obi-Wan nodded at this in remembrance. Qui-Gon's first apprentice, Xanatos had turned and became a dark rogue Jedi. And one of Yoda's own Padawans, Count Dooku, had became a Sith.

"Obi-Wan," Antellica said gently, sitting next to her husband on the room's only couch. "We all know how dark the Force is with the domination of the Sith, but it doesn't have to stay that way. If ever we want peace and justice to return to the galaxy, and the Force to return to being in the light, we must do what we must by training the next generation in the ways of the Jedi: Luke, Leila, Alexander, and any other children we may have."

Obi-Wan softly turned to gaze at his wife's reassuring face and than glanced at Yoda. "Listen to Antellica you should. Much wisdom she has, though young she is."

Antellica smiled softly at the green Jedi. "Thank you Master Yoda."

Obi-Wan glanced from Yoda to Alexander again–he was currently hitting the toy bantha he was holding over the head with his rattle, chattering nonsense. Obi-Wan smiled slightly and looked back over at Antellica's still smiling face and kissed her. Eventually, he sighed and placed his hand down onto his wife's shoulder before looking back over at Yoda.

"All right," he finally said. "I'll train him, and you," he added glancing at Antellica.

Antellica gave her husband a sly smile. "Of course you will."

* * *

The empire's four highest raking officials, now that the Skywalker twins were no longer within it, had various reactions to the Jedi's Force signatures suddenly vanishing. 

Arica, who was conversing with Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin at the time she felt the disappearance, was somewhat saddened by it and quickly excused herself from the bewildered Moff's company. She was aboard her Super Star Destroyer, the _Executrix _in orbit around the _Death Star_ and Mustafar.

As Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy, Arica had been given the older sibling of the Supreme Commander's own Super Star Destroyer, the _Executor,_ as a flagship. Though a few years older than Anakin's newer model, it was still as effective as the _Executor_ if not more. It was the same size as its brother, but laid out different on the in and outside. Arica had fell in love with it the moment she laid eyes on the vessel and still, after having it for a month, couldn't get over the fact that it was actually hers.

Arica and Tarkin had just been conversing over the problems with the _Death Star_ project. It turned out that the space station was far behind schedule. It was beset with engineering problems, delays in shipments, the unreliability of contractors, and most important, a shortage of skilled laborers. As of recently, the Emperor had placed Tarkin in charge of supervising most aspects of the _Death Star's_ production as the empress was far too busy to continue as co-head anymore, though not all of it. Which was why Arica or Anakin would continue with overseeing the project's production at times.

Strangely enough, Arica hadn't met Grand Moff Tarkin before, and so was introduced to him by the Commander of Tarkin's own Star Destroyer, _Rapture_ when she first arrived and left her ship to board the Moff's. He was a very dolsole man in his early 40s, and a bit too arrogant and self-righteous for Arica's tastes. But that was to be expected she supposed. Tarkin had flown up in the rakes of the emperor's new military/political command faster than anyone could say "Cheating dog!" He was self-satisfied and did not take well to failure, the latter being the only quality about Tarkin that she admired.

After Arica had excused herself from the Moff, she went to the chambers that had been prepared for her while staying on _Rapture_ and meditated on what she'd just felt.

_Force signatures don't just disappear, unless of course...No. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be._

But yet when Arica searched the Force for her sister's once bright Force presence, all she found was what was expected when people pass on from the living to becoming one with the Force: emptiness.

Besides her anger, hurt, and confusion towards Antellica, Arica couldn't help but be a little sad and cried softly for a short while at the thought of her sister's death.

Anakin was on the beautiful Mid rim world Ord Mantell when he felt the disturbance of the three Jedi's presences disappearing in the Force. He was taken by slight surprise that they all disappeared at once, but than shrugged it off. He didn't care about Obi-Wan and Yoda. In his eyes they were bastards. It was Antellica whom he was upset over.

_She was so young, only seventeen. She had her whole life ahead of her._

But anger is another thing he felt, once again at the now dead Obi-Wan for taking Antellica's whole life and future from her.

The empress was on Coruscant, arriving back at her office from the divorce finaling when she felt it. Unlike the other three however, she could've cared less. It was as she told her father later that day, "I hope she did die. And those dogs with her. My only regret is that I wasn't the one whom brought her life to an end."

The emperor shook his head at this and rose from his seat, making to look out his vast office window. "It doesn't add up," he said thoughtfully. "The possibility of the three of them all dying at once while they're in hiding doesn't make sense."

Padme shrugged. "Maybe they were found by the bounty hunters."

"That fast?" he said doubtfully. "No, I don't think so. Besides if that were so, I would've been notified at once. The bounty hunting scum would want to get their filthy hands on those credits as soon as possible. No." He continued to gaze out at the night sky of Galactic City, deep in thought. "It's something else. For some reason now Antellica and Kenobi's sons' presence is dimmer than it was before, as if it's being deliberately dimmed by another Force sensitive to keep his location from being found by other sensitives, preferably Sith."

Padme shook his head in disbelief. "Are you trying to say that- You can't mean that they're still alive?! That's impossible! Their Force signatures are gone. They've vanished. The three have moved on from this life and are now one with the Force."

The emperor though was not convinced. "I shall have to meditate on this..."


	13. The Grievous Family Heritage

Author's Note: Hey, since I don't feel too well today I'll keep this brief: The title itself should say something on its own. But for those of you clueless enough not to figure out it's meaning, Antellica and Arica's past and family is explored in this chapter. For what reason? You'll just have to read and find out!  
Further in response to your review Thrawn 716 – I don't feel my original response was satisfactory enough – there are some Expanded Universe things going on behind-the-scenes at this very time in the empire in this story. However, as they would reveal too much of future plot lines, they won't be revealed until Episode IX. But also don't expect me to follow the outside-movie-canon too much as most fans are only familiar with the movies, and others, like me, don't like the EU stuff too much, except for maybe the New Jedi Order series, the Dark Nest Crisis, and most especially the Legacy of the Force series and the Legacy comic series.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 13: The Grievous Family Heritage

Within the next two months multiple things happened in the empire: Vader continued his sweep of the Mid Rim; Arica acted as overseer for the productions of numerous Imperial Academy buildings in the Inner Rim and Colonies; and while attending to her royal duties on Naboo, the empress recruited a new Hand to fill the now vacant position that was once occupied by the traitorous Antellica Grievous.

It all started when Padme decided she wanted to do some research on the Grievous family in Naboo's planetary record files. All who were either ever born or lived on the planet, no matter how long or short a period of time, their record files remained inside Naboo's Hall of Records; a building located downtown Theed, just a mile south of the Royal Palace.

This research she was doing was not for investigation, but pure curiosity of the other Grievous family members whom the twins never once spoke of. She didn't even know what Antellica and Arica's parents names were.

Entering the building with no entourage, a receptionist showed her to the 'G' section once asked and left her at that. It turns out there were only ever four Grievous' besides the twins that lived on Naboo. Antellica and Arica's paternal grandparents – Zsa Zsa and Diago, and their only son – the girls' father – Lamar. The other Grievous, of course, was by marriage, the twins' mother, Velásquez Starflare-Grievous.

Picking up the file on their mother and reading, Padme was slightly impressed. Interestingly, Velásquez and her three older sisters, Valarie, Valencia, and Vanessa were child actresses around thirty to forty years previous. By the time they all reached the age of twenty though, they retired from the entertainment industry and settled down by getting married or having children. They were quite famous in their prime though, and Padme had a vague recollection of hearing about the famed "Starflare sisters" from time to time as a child while watching HV. Padme found it strange that neither of the girls ever mentioned this fact. Most people would boast at even being distantly related to someone famous, compared to actually being that person's child or niece.

Another thing Padme found interesting was that not long after Velásquez began dating Lamar at eighteen (in 18 NRE), a family feud erupted in the Starflare and Grievous families because neither liked who their family member was dating. The Starflares didn't like that Velásquez was dating some "black guy" as they called him, and the Grievous' insisted that their son could have better than that "foolish little white girl". When the young couple became engaged a year later, both families broke ties from each of them and disowned them both. They also said that if ever Lamar and Velásquez were to have any children, they wanted nothing to do them, for they'd be nothing more than "stupid little half breeds with a black father and a Caucasian mother."

Padme took that as why the girls never spoke of their family and were left with no where to go when their house burnt down. According to other files Padme went through, it said that the cause of the fire was arson. It started out of what seemed no where and consumed the house in mere minutes. Lamar and Velásquez, only twenty-eight when they died, were able to save their eight-year-old twin daughters, Antellica and Arica, but the flames consumed them before they could save themselves.

Moving on, Padme went to the 'S' section to look up the files on the twins' three maternal aunts, Valarie, Valencia, and Vanessa. She pulled them all out at once since they were in the same shelf, but went through them each separately.

Valarie, the oldest of the four sisters, was currently fifty-two years old and married to a financial mogul by the name of Nicholson Dublavviane. They had two sons together – Baron, 21 and Conrad, 16 – and resided in one of the first Human settlements on Naboo, Deeja Peek, a city famed for its stunning views as it was built close to a great waterfall and laid at the summit of the Gallo Mountains chain. Valarie was a novelist now and also had two grown daughters – Ruby, 32 and Renee, 30 – from previous relationships.

The second oldest Starflare sister was Valencia. At forty-seven, she'd been married twice, engaged once, and had children with each of them. Iolana, age 21, with her first husband; Whitney and Chad, ages 18 and 16, with her second; and Kimberly, age 11, with her ex-fiancée. She was currently single and also resided in Deeja Peek.

Padme glanced only briefly through the third Starflare sister's file. Vanessa was forty-two and yes married with three daughters – Farrah, 21; Alexia, 13; and Sophia, 10. Though her first child was through an ex-boyfriend.

The reason Padme grew disinterested with Vanessa's file was because she'd taken an interest in Valencia's oldest daughter, Iolana. Seeing that her last name was Lestrange, Padme went to the 'L' category and searched for Iolana's file. When she found it she began to read:

_Iolana Lestrange_

_Full Name: Iolana Ashlee Starflare Lestrange_

_Gender: Female_

_Birth Date: Galactic New Republic Year 20, Day 58, Time 1430; 21 Years B.G.E. (Before Galactic Empire)_

_Father's Name: Kirth Lestrange_

_Mother's Maiden Name: Valencia Iolana Starflare_

_City of Residence: Deeja Peek; as of recently, Kaadara_

_Profile: Currently training at the Military Institute of Naboo to become a security guard or police officer. Quite well accustomed to self-defense in hand-to-hand combat, good with guns, fair with swords._

_Very interesting. _Glancing at the bottom of the page, Padme saw something entitled 'Fun facts'. It was something usually dubbed on all person's files, but more so if the person had a major degree at a big time university or was related to someone famous. The fun fact on Iolana Lestrange was as follows:

_Not only is she the daughter of child star, Valencia Starflare and niece of Valencia's fellow child actress sisters, Valarie, Vanessa, and and the late Velásquez, but she's also the cousin of Antellica and Arica Grievous: former Handmaidens of Naboo's Second Electoral Queen Amidala, participants in the Clone Wars, and currently Hands of the Emperor Palpatine & Empress Naberrie Palpatine Amidala._

_This has yet to be updated,_ Padme thought in disdain at the last sentence.

Running off a copy of Iolana's file, Padme than left the Hall of Records and headed for the Military Institute of Naboo via private shuttle.

Though one of Naboo's smaller cities, Kaadara, the location of the martial establishment, made up for that in being a popular tourist destination because of its oceanside highlights. The city wasn't that far from Theed; approximately thirty miles south after the crossing of an ocean.

The royal queen arrived in the city and at the institute without problem, and upon entering the university's information center, Padme went to the main office inside and asked where she might find her desire in question. Her status as Naboo's Queen and the Galactic Empire's Empress saved her the trouble of giving information as to why she was inquiring. The receptionist made a few calls and finally told her that Iolana, along with a group of sophomores, had recently finished up their gun shooting target practice on the grounds and were now in the mess hall eating.

Once Padme was given the directions to the building, it was several hundred paces west at an angle, she left and headed for it. Entering the structure, she calmly strolled the length of its entrance hall, ignoring the college students whom stopped and stared as they walked by her. She took the flight of stairs laid at the end of it and led up into the eating center. The sight that greeted her upon reaching the top was being ran into by a Caucasian Human female with with long blond hair. She obviously wasn't paying attention to where she was going and the tray she'd been carrying crashed to the floor at the collusion.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, you-"

The young woman suddenly stopped her shouting and gasped at the sight of Padme, who was merely standing there, hands on hips and glaring at her. The woman, whom the empress knew was Iolana, suddenly went into a frenzy.

"Oh My Gods! I mean, I'm so sorry your highness. Please forgive me. If I'd known it was you, I never would've-"

"Oh I'm sure you wouldn't have." Padme cut across her in a sharp tone as she took to looking her new choice of Hand up and down and circling her. Iolana stood there nervously fidgeting and a crowd had formed in the cafeteria to watch the scene.

Though four years older than the Grievous twins, Iolana actually looked slightly younger than they did. The resemblance was quite clear though. Looking at her, anyone would know she was related to them because of the same blonde hair color and facial features they shared. Besides that though, the resemblance stopped. Unlike Antellica whom had brown eyes, and Arica who had blue, Iolana was green-eyed. The twins were also very tall for their age and always had been, at nearly 2 meters. Iolana, meanwhile, was petite at the height of 5ft 2in. Also as the twins were of a mixed skin tone that went wonderful with their blonde hair, Iolana was your average blonde haired, pasty faced Caucasian Human female.

Finally, Padme stopped her observations and faced Iolana with a sly smile. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me back to the Palace, Iolana."

"Come with you?!" she started to protest. "But I-Hey! How do you know my name?"

Padme smirked. "I have my sources. Now march."

Iolana continued to protest. "But-look, if this about running into you I'm sorry. I didn't see-"

"March Lestrange!" the empress commanded sharply.

Lowering her head, Iolana did as commanded and proceeded down the stairs. Padme followed, but not after chatting with the few students in the crowd who approached her.

The two left the academy and returned to the Theed Royal Palace in silence. Once reaching the throne room, Padme gestured for her guest to be seated. She did so nervously, and Padme studied her a moment before speaking.

"Well Iolana Lestrange, as of today you are no longer a student a MIN because...I have a better job for you. If you're interested of course, though why wouldn't you be?"

"What?! What do you mean I'm not a student at MIN anymore? I have another two years yet till I graduate. And what's this about you having a better job for me?"

The Queen silently pulled out Iolana's Hall of Records file from a concealed pocket of her black robes and handed it to her. As Iolana confusedly accepted it, Padme spoke again. "I was doing some research on the Grievous family when I came across your file, Iolana. As I'm sure you know, when Antellica and Arica Grievous' parents, Lamar and Velásquez Grievous, died in a fire nine years ago, they came here, to the Theed Royal Palace looking for work as a way to support themselves. As elected Queen at the time, I gave them the jobs of Handmaidens; a job they continued to obtain when I became the planet's Senatorial Representative. Of course, during my time in the Senate, Arica became the military leader of the Separatists while Antellica aided the Jedi with her talents. Once the war ended and the New Republic became the Galactic Empire, they were both named Hands of the Emperor and Empress. Arica was, and remains, the Emperor's Hand while Antellica was, but no longer is, my Hand. I'm sure you heard about her betrayal on the HoloNet."

Iolana nodded. "Yes. She assisted Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in his escape and than lied about it. I also heard something about her and Obi-Wan being married now and having a son together, but that was probably just nonsense Brooke made up. Brooke's one of my fellow classmates at the Institute," she clarified at Padme's slightly raised eyebrow. "She's always making up stuff. I mean come on; Antellica's a teenager. Obi-Wan Kenobi's in his late 30s or something. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Yes it would sound ridiculous, wouldn't it," Padme agreed. "But I'm disgusted to say that it's true. That was no rumor your friend made up. It's actual fact. After Antellica assisted Kenobi in his escape, they were intimate before parting. Kenobi and Yoda, another Jedi, later kidnapped the Imperial Prince and Princess as a way to get back at the Empire for eliminating their pathetic Jedi Order. Antellica, Lord Vader, and later Arica were sent out to look for them. Eventually, it turns out that Antellica found Kenobi and they went into hiding together due to her pregnancy that she was shockingly able to keep hidden from us an entire six months. Their son, Alexander, was born a short while later."

Iolana nodded, taking all the information in and Padme continued. "As I'm sure you figured, the position of Empress' Hand is no longer being filled by the traitor Antellica. That is where you come in."

"Me?!" Iolana sputtered.

"Yes," Padme affirmed. "Question?" she abruptly asked. "Why would a beautiful girl such as yourself be interested in being a security guard or police officer?"

Iolana shrugged. "I don't know. I guess with the war and everything that was going on I wanted to somehow help out, as much as I could anyway. Once the war ended, I simply choose to continue my studies and military training. What was the point of studying there for a year and suddenly unrolling myself just because the war ended? A lot of students did that though. My mom wanted me to do that. I don't think she liked the idea of having a warrior for a daughter."

Padme chuckled lightly. "Let me guess, she wanted you to be an actress or model like her?"

Iolana nodded. "Yup. But that just doesn't interest me."

"So what does interest you than, Iolana?" Padme asked.

She shrugged again. "Helping people, I guess. And making a point in the military world that women can, and are capable of doing the same things men do. Can you believe that besides myself and Brooke, there are no other females in our year, and only a few others that attend the school? And Brooke's not even a girl. She is, only she doesn't act like one and likes to be known as a tomboy."

"Yes, I can believe that not many females would be interested in doing anything that had to do with the military," Padme said.

"That's why I very much looked up to Antellica and Arica," Iolana said. "In spite of the fact that they're actually younger than me. They've made a name for themselves as successful young women in the military. And they're not tomboys or wannabe tomboys like Brooke is. They're, or perhaps I should say were in Antellica's case, beautiful young women who could be famous holostars if they wanted to be, yet they choose not to."

Padme rose a slight eyebrow. "You think so?"

Iolana nodded. "Definitely."

The empress didn't hide her confusion. "But I thought there was a falling out between the Grievous and Starflare families?"

"There was," Iolana affirmed. "But I don't know much about it. I was really small when it happened. I couldn't have been any older than 2 or 3 maybe."

"And so...what does your family think of Antellica and Arica?" Padme asked. "Surely they've heard of them."

"Oh yeah, they've heard of them all right. As to what they think..."

Iolana made a slight face.

"...Most of them, like my mom and her sisters, my aunts, along with their husbands, are disgraced at the idea of teenagers fighting in a war or being involved in the military all together. I had to run away from home to go to the Institute."

"They don't know where you are than?" the Queen asked.

"Oh they know now," Iolana assured. "At first they didn't, but they know now. When the war ended, I considered dropping out of the Institute when I visited my family over break. But I didn't. Since of this, they pretty much washed their hands of me."

"But why?" Padme wanted to know.

"Mom said that military life is dangerous and that thousands of people who chose the field as a career die through it. If I suddenly died or something, she said she didn't want to have to mourn my loose, so by disowning me it's like pretending she never had a daughter named Iolana Lestrange to begin with."

"How horrible," the Queen sympathized.

Iolana merely shrugged. "It's not that bad. I've gotten used to it. As for the rest of my family, like my cousins and siblings for example, they all, well mostly the younger ones like Aunt Vanessa's two little girls and my little sister Kimberly, don't understand any of it. But the older ones, who are mostly a few years younger than me, all think like the rest. That Antellica and Arica are stupid and I'm stupid for following in that path."

"And you? How do you feel about that?" Padme queried.

Iolana shrugged yet again. "They can think whatever they want. I don't care. It's not gonna change how I feel about it."

Padme nodded and brought her hands together in a clap. "The position of Emperor's or Empress' Hand is simply this: The Hand is one of a ruler's most loyal associates. They go on missions all across the galaxy that aide the one they're serving. The paycheck's nice too. And you get to help people...to a certain extent," she added almost as an after thought.

"But-but why are you offering this position to me?" Iolana asked. "Wouldn't you want someone with more than two years of military experience? Besides, you don't even know me. You just met me by accident a little while ago. I'm a complete stranger to you."

"There are things that I just...know about people," Padme said. "Call it a gift I have. Being able to discern if a person's good, trustworthy or not. And you Iolana, I'm happy to say, fit into the good and trustworthy categories."

When the young woman continued to look unsure, Padme rose from her throne chair and crossed the distance to Iolana's lone chair in the middle of the room. She stopped in front of her and bent down somewhat so their faces were level.

"Just think of it Iolana, you wouldn't have to go to the Institute anymore. You'd get to travel to all these wonderful places across the galaxy. Of course, you'd have to give up your life here on Naboo, say goodbye to all your friends and family, but come on! The entire galaxy is lying before your feet. Just waiting to be picked up."

Padme could tell her words were having an effect on Iolana, but choose not to say anything about it. She got up and made for her throne again. "I'll give you sometime to think it over. I'm not going anywhere soon, so feel free to come back anytime with a yes or no answer."

Iolana nodded, rose from her chair, and gave a bow of reverence before leaving.

Padme smirked as she watched her go. _She'll be back._

And indeed she was. Several hours later to be exact. Padme and Moff Jovovich had been eating a dinner meal in the dining hall at the time, conversing over the Imperial Palace's near completion, when one of the Palace guards informed her that the Iolana Lestrange she was expecting had arrived. After exchanging a glance with Jovovich, she told the guard to let her in.

The same guard that had announced her presence escorted in a moment or so later the woman in question. He left to resume his guard duty after giving a bow however, causing Padme to than turn her attention to Iolana who was standing at the side of the room nervously. After a moment, she swallowed and spoke. "I've been thinking about your offer."

"And?" Padme pressed, though she already knew the answer.

"And...I'd like to take it. If it's still available that is," she quickly added.

Padme smiled at her shyness. "Of course it's still available. Have a seat Iolana." She gestured towards one of the chairs. "And welcome to the Empire."

After the meal, the empress and her new Hand returned to the university to pack up Iolana's belongings and inform the school officials of her appointment so they could cancel her classes at the school from than on.

Padme asked Iolana in suggestion if she wanted to visit her family before they went to Coruscant, but Iolana said no this. "If they found out beforehand, they'd only try to stop me. No, let them find out through the HoloNet and once again thank you, your highness. This is a great honor for me and I'm very happy you choose me."

"As am I," the empress said with a smile. "But please, call me 'Padme'. Only subjects refer to me as 'your highness'."

Soon they were bound for the capital where Iolana was introduced to the emperor and press as the new Empress' Hand.

News of Padme's replacement of Antellica spread across the galaxy like wildfire. It was mainly the fact that Iolana was the Grievous twins cousin that fascinated people the most. Iolana took her instant celebrity status quite well. Her first assignment was helping Arica oversee some of the Imperial Academy buildings in the Mid Rim. She was to work with the more experienced Hand a bit before moving on to work by herself.

Upon learning about the new Empress' Hand, Arica was somewhat surprised for two reasons:

1) The quickness of it.  
She'd thought the Empress would at least wait a while before even considering a new Hand,

2) And the fact that Iolana was a family member of hers.  
Because of the rift between the Grievous and Starflare families, Arica, nor her sister, had ever met Iolana, or any of their family, outside their parents, before. Because of the situation Iolana was in as Padme's replacement Hand, Arica was a bit distant with her at first. She knew what Padme was doing. She was simply replacing Antellica with a look-a-like as a way to say, "Let's pretend Antellica Grievous never even existed or betrayed us to begin with. Antellica Grievous? Whose she?"

This made Arica furious. It was like having a carrot dangled in someone's face as a way to get back at them and make them hurt more than they should. It wasn't Iolana's fault though, as Arica soon learned from her. Once she explained everything about how she met Padme and was randomly chosen of all people after the empress did some research on the Grievous family in the Naboo Hall of Records, Arica began to gradually warm up to her a bit, but never entirely. She wasn't sure if she could ever do that. Not yet anyway. She'd just lost her sister and wounds like that didn't just heal at a snap of a finger. Iolana understood this once Arica explained it to her and did not push herself on her cousin, something Arica was glad over.

"It's not that I don't like you Iolana," Arica said after a long discussion between the two of them. "I do, it's just that..." she trailed off and eventually sighed. "Just give me some time, okay."

Iolana nodded. "I will. Take as long as you need."


	14. Imperial Anniversary

Author's Note: Hey guys! What's up? I'm back with another chapter, but don't expect the next tomorrow like last week's string of four chapters after the other. I'll probably have it up no later than Saturday. And welcome back to the story Twisted Words. I was wondering when I would hear from you again and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 14: Imperial Anniversary

Two major events happened at the end of this two-month period. Lord Vader and his troops finished their six-month sweep of the Mid Rim Territories. And while it had been an interesting experience for the young Sith, getting to see all these unique planets and cultures, it was to no avail. Yoda and Leila still hadn't been found.

On a happier note however, the other big event was that the Imperial Palace was finally finished being constructed. Remarkably enough, one day shy of the Galactic Empire's first anniversary. Because of this, the Emperor thought it only fitting to have a day-long celebration in honor of the Empire and Imperial Palace. It was demanded that all Senators, Representatives, officers, and people of importance attend. So not one hour after the Palace was finished, furniture and other such things began to be moved into it.

It was a luxurious structure. The palace appeared as a hybrid of a cathedral and a monumental pyramid, and reached the height of three kilometers, making it the tallest building on Coruscant. Beneath the structure of the palace were a series of chambers that held the Imperial Information Center, as well as the emperor's personal prison complex, complete with torture chamber. The immense building was made of polished gray-green rock and mirrored crystals. Even at night, it would never grow dark as blazing illumination from phosphorescent panels, glowspheres, and electroluminescence strips kept the structure in a shower of blazing light. Gardens were also located to the side of the building to add a final touch.

Being as the Palace was for the Empire's supreme rulers to reside in, the emperor was somewhat surprised at his daughter's decline to move in. Not entirely anyway. Only half of her belongings were moved in while the rest remained at the Amidala Mansion. At his questioning of why, the empress stated how she preferred having both the palace and her current residence as an alternate between public and private lives, as the palace was also center of the imperial government and while immense did not provide some of the privacy of her own home gave.

Guests from all across the galaxy began arriving for _Empire Day_ as soon as the night before and as late as the early morning. As the Emperor commanded, everyone was coming for this. Everyone...except Lord Vader that is. The Executor informed his master early _Empire Day_ morning (about 1000) that he would not be present for the celebration due in fact that he was en route to the Unknown Regions to continue his hunt for Luke, Leila, and the Jedi there.

"That isn't really necessary Lord Vader," the emperor said to this. "And I'm not sure I like the idea of the entire half of the fleet that far out in the unknown reaches of space."

"Not to worry my master," Vader replied. "My half will not be going with me. They're making for Coruscant as we speak. I am going to the Unknown Regions alone."

"Lord Vader," the Emperor tried to argue, "surely-"

"I'm sorry my master, but I am in no fit state, or mood, to celebrate. I was very disappointed in my hunt of the Mid rim and wish to continue it in the Unknown Regions."

"Your disappointment is an even more reason to come back for the celebration," the emperor presented. "It'll take your mind off of it for the time being and onto something else. Than, if you still wish to commence with your hunt afterwards-"

"Once again, I am sorry my master, but no thank you. I'd rather not travel all the way back to Coruscant for a day, only to leave the next and travel the entire lengths of the galaxy back to the outer rim. No master, I am closer to the Unknown Regions from where I am. I'm sorry, but you'll just have to celebrate without me."

The Emperor finally sighed in defeat, knowing he wasn't going to win this argument. Besides, _Empire Day_ was simply a celebration being done to lift he and his empire up on a pedestal. It's not like Vader was missing anything.

"If you must Lord Vader," he said at last. "Though you'll be missed. But there's always next year."

"Of course master. Once more, I present my apologizes."

And with a nod, the transmission ended.

* * *

The festivities for _Empire Day_ began at 1200 downtown Galactic City. There was a parade and many activity stands of all type were set up to entertain the citizens of the capital planet. Food, drink, and party favors were other necessities. The Emperor and Empress both gave speeches on the stairs of the Imperial Palace about the prosperity of the New Order government among other things, and a VIP-only Imperial Gala was held later that day (1700) inside the newly decorated structure. 

_It was truly a vision,_ Arica thought to herself as she, along with many others – mainly politicians and reporters – were toured inside the royal residence by the emperor and empress.

The full structure of the palace, it turned out, featured approximately twenty-thousand rooms in fifty connected structures, so naturally they weren't able to see everything all in one tour. What they were able to see however was the Grand Corridor, – one of the few sections of the palace that would remain open to the public, it featured high ceilings and cut-glass windows. Designed by the emperor himself, the hall was so large it could easily accommodate a _Victory_-class Star Destroyer, held a number of cafes and beverage stands, and was lined with Ch'hala trees, a favorite plant of Palpatine's and a most potent tool as they were infested with intelligence devices for security purposes, but mainly to spy on those who walk the corridor walls in the hope of catching interesting conversation – the other cafes situated on balconies of the level above, an info center for tourists, music rooms, pavilions, a medical center, a six hundred six-person red repulsorlift stalled Senate chamber that resembled the larger Grand Convocation Chamber of the Imperial Senate Building, the Empress' throne room – a grand and majestic room similar in design to the Grand Corridor, the Emperor's Guest Floor, the Royal Residential Levels, and finally the Emperor's throne room, located at the palace's peak in the highest tower that overlooked all of Coruscant. It was a sunken auditorium, similar to a large crater, dug into bedrock. On the audience decks, there were flat stone benches arranged in long arcs where visitors would be allowed to come and hear any pronouncements the supreme ruler made. What was unique about this chamber was that the audience, though some distance down from the throne itself, could hear everything the Emperor said from below; and above, the emperor could also hear anything said to him from the audience decks. The slanted ceiling of the room was surrounded by gigantic purple and red Imperial banners, and at the pinnacle was an angled, prismatic skylight that poured rays of light onto the emperor in his seat. At the bottom, around the tower of the throne, six Imperial Royal Guards stood at attention at all times, protecting His Imperial Majesty.

It turns out it was decided upon that the emperor and empress should have their own separate throne rooms by the two instead of being seated side-by-side the other. And actually, in Arica's eyes anyway, it did seem to work better that way with the splendor of the empress' throne room and the majesty of the emperor's.

Numerous architectural styles and design motifs could be found all over the edifice. In some areas, the structure was open and airy, with much illumination and transparisteel, while others were dark with craved friezes on the ceiling. The walls of the palace were made from cortosis, and its flooring included some sort of marble tiles which the emperor said were from somewhere in the outer rim, though he never said where exactly.

Eventually, the tour ended, roughly two hours after it began, and the party gala began in the enormously elegant Great Ballroom.

The ballroom, the Palace, everything...it was all like something out of a fairy tale. All that was missing was the handsome Prince ready to sweep the beautiful maiden off her feet when he appeared. But he never did.

Arica sighed at this. All day she'd been wondering where he was. Where Anakin was. She was never able to ask the Emperor for he was far too busy with everything going on. And when she'd asked Padme earlier that day, the Empress seemed rather surprised that she'd even spoken to her. After a moment though, she took on the arrogant gaze she usually set her with when she addressing her now and snarled, "I'm sorry, did you say something Grievous?"

"Lord Vader." Arica repeated herself. "Is he here? Do you know where he is?"

The empress' only reply was the biting retort, "Don't know, don't care."

As of the present, the Emperor's Hand was idly strolling around the ballroom, thinking and wondering to herself where he could possibly be. She was secretly hoping for him to come up behind her anytime now and whisper into her ear for her hand to dance. Sweep her into his loving arms, twirl her through the air and...

Arica sighed happily and hugged herself. It was amazing how much of an impact he, or even thoughts of him, had on her. She was going too soft for her own good, she half-reproved herself. No one would take her seriously again on anything if they heard these type of thoughts. But naturally, no one ever would. And that was the great thing. She could have the best of both worlds in being a feared assassin and in love with an equally feared person, and no one would ever be the wiser to the state of it and how wonderful it was.

It was than that she noticed a young Human male appearing to be around her age on the approach, but still off at enough of a distance that he wouldn't notice her next move. Knowing his intention, she flipped her specially styled wavy black hair over her shoulder and studied a nearby sculpture. It was made of pure gold and shaped like a spiraling serpent wrapping itself around a post. Before the male, whom was a Senator's son, could say anything though, Arica spoke for him.

"No thanks kid. I only dance with myself or a friend. And being as you're neither, you can scat."

Though her back was still to him, she felt the surprise as it radiated off him at her knowing he was even behind her to begin with. After a moment however, he gave a somewhat sloppy bow and ran off.

Because there were a lot of other males whom wanted to dance with her, she dragged Iolana away from the buffet area and danced with her a bit. Most of the males stopped pestering her, but a few more came over anyway asking for either her or Iolana's hand. They were all denied. Then another man came over – short, light brown hair, gray eyes. He looked to be about Anakin's age. Arica recognized him to be the Prince of a Royal throne in the Mid rim she'd met when overseeing one of the academies on his planet. Oddly, she couldn't remember the name of it.

After nodding to Arica, he looked to Iolana with a smile. "Hello," his rich accented voice said. "You must be Iolana Lestrange, the Empress' new Hand."

"Yes," she replied a bit breathlessly. "Yes I am," she added as a way to continue having herself speak.

Never had Iolana seen a man so handsome. The brown hair. The dreamy eyes that just asked for you to get lost in them...

Arica coughed in revulsion at the sound of Iolana's sappy thoughts. The Prince guy, as Arica dubbed him since she'd also forgotten his name as well as his planet, merely glanced at her with a smile before looking back to Iolana. He cleared his throat and gave a bow. "Would Miss Lestrange like to dance with me?"

"Would I?" she repeated, overjoyed. "Yes. Yes I would."

"But she can't," Arica objected. Iolana looked at her confusion, as did the Prince guy. "Because she's with me," Arica continued, "and I don't like you."

And with that, she dragged her cousin back over to the buffet table.

Iolana proceeded to complain, but these all fell upon deaf ears as Arica piled her a plate of food and shoved it in her face, saying she should "satisfy her hunger with food, not men."

Iolana insisted she wasn't hungry, but Arica wouldn't hear of it. "All you've had since you've been here is a salad. Yes, they're good for you, but come on that's pushing it! Have some real food girl, like nerf and bantha with noodles and cheese."

Iolana proclaimed these foods "fattening garbage", and said she refused to eat a "slaughtered animal." Arica rolled her eyes and took the plate herself. As she ate its contents, Iolana went on about the poor animals that are slaughtered just so meat eaters – she spat out the word – can have a garbage-filled meal.

Arica ignored most of Iolana's ravings, but did find it interesting that she was a vegetarian. After finishing, she left to use the fresher with Iolana calling after her, "I hope you get sick after eating those poor animals."

Despite herself, Arica couldn't resist a slight smile. Her cousin was really beginning to grow on her. But Arica's happy thoughts on Iolana soon turned to anger when she returned to find her happily dancing with the Prince guy. Arica angrily stalked over to the pair and cleared her thought loudly. Since the slow song that was playing had just ended there was no excuse as to why they couldn't hear her, though they made no move that they had. They were too wrapped in gazing into each other's eyes.

Enraged, Arica cleared her throat even louder, drawing the attention of some dancing politicians nearby who looked at her strangely. Iolana and her Prince finally looked over at her wearing the same expression everyone else in the close proximity was wearing. But Arica paid no mind. Her voice was as cold as ice when she spoke.

"Miss Lestrange, a word if you please."

And without waiting for a response, she roughly grabbed Iolana's arm, gave a mocking bow to the Prince, and stalked off, all the while still holding her cousin in a firm grip while she protested.

"Stop it Arica. Why are you doing this? It was a dance."

Arica turned sharply around to face her. She noticed Iolana jump back slightly at her yellow Sith eyes and couldn't help but allow a sly grin. Iolana had yet to discover her cousin's Sith powers. As well as Padme's or the Emperor's for that matter.

"Arica, what's wrong with your eyes?" she asked a bit fearfully. "Why are they yellow-like all of a sudden?"

Arica gave no immediate response. There were too many people watching. Grabbing Iolana's arm once more, she led her out into an outside hallway that eventually led to the Grand Corridor.

"Arica stop this!" Iolana cried. "You're starting to scare me."

"Good," Arica snarled. "Than maybe it'll be easier for me to get my point across to you."

"Point? What point? What are you talking about Arica?" Iolana looked generally confused. "If this about Vandurelle-"

"Romance, it can be a very interesting thing, don't you find?"

Arica's abrupt pronouncement caused Iolana to blink in confusion. "What?"

However, Arica made no move to have heard her as she continued. "It can change even the most stubborn or trustworthy person and turn them into something they never were before. It's that very same thing, romance, that caused Antellica Grievous to turn her back on the Empire and everything else she believed in. Now, romance is not all bad, I myself am in love."

Arica ignored Iolana's shocked expression and disbelieving question, "You have a boyfriend?!", as she continued. "The point of the matter is this: Your job as Empress' Hand is very important and until you've proven yourself to be a responsible Hand, I suggest you keep your eyes down when it comes to the opposite sex. Because we don't need another Antellica."

With that said, Arica started to storm off, but stopped abruptly upon seeing the empress hiding in the shadows of the hall, obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. After an eye roll however, she soon continued on her way.

Once Arica was gone, the empress quietly approached Iolana, who seemed to be biting back tears.

"She's right you know," she said upon coming within a meter of her Hand.

Iolana jumped slightly and turned around. "Padme! I didn't know you were here too."

Padme simply nodded and studied her a moment. Iolana seemed a bit nervous, as if anticipating her mistress to yell at her. That had been the empress' intention at first, to reprimand her for hanging around with that foolish Prince boy, but one look at Iolana's face changed her mind. Unlike Antellica and Arica, she would not lose her new Hand to the same path of hatred she'd inflicted on her cousins. A special bond was forming between the two and Padme didn't want that to be broken.

"Iolana, I'm not here to reprimand or judge you, but I do think you should follow Arica's advice...for now anyway. I'm not saying you can't date anyone, but if they were to ever get in the way of your duties, than they'd have to go."

"I'm sorry Padme," Iolana apologized. "I didn't mean any harm. It was just a simple dance."

"Yes, but simple dances can often lead to other things: com calls, date nights, midnight kissing."

"I'm sorry Padme. Truly I am."

"I know you are Iolana. Let's not talk about this anymore tonight."

And with a hooked arm around Iolana's neck, the Empress and her Hand reentered the Ballroom. Prince Vandurelle instantly rushed over to give his apologizes, but Padme brushed them off saying he hadn't done anything wrong by dancing with her.

"If you're looking to put Iolana on your throne however, I'm afraid to say that won't be possible. Iolana has a responsibility to the Empire and to me."

"I know that your highness. Please excuse what I did. I simply wished for someone to dance with. Need not you worry, I have a mistress back at home."

Iolana's entire face fell and Padme sensed that the Prince was lying, but choose not to pursue the issue. She simply gave him a nod and strolled off with her Hand.

Arica, meanwhile, had been sitting by herself at the Buffet table for a good ten minutes when the Emperor came over, brushing off his entourage of followers as he did so.

"Arica child," he greeted as he approached. "What are you doing here at the Buffet table? Everyone else is on the dance floor. Not eating yourself sick I hope," he added with a chuckle.

"No, no," she said with a slight smile. "I'm all right. Except that-oh it doesn't matter."

"What doesn't matter child? Obviously it does matter to upset a strong young woman like yourself."

Arica flashed a smirk/smile at the Emperor's compliment of her.

Smiling himself, he sat down beside her. "What troubles you Hand?" he asked in a more serious tone.

Arica looked to her master and sighed. "Would you happen to know where Lord Vader is by any chance? I thought he'd be here, but I don't see or sense him anywhere."

"Oh no, he isn't here," the Emperor affirmed. "He called earlier saying he couldn't make it."

"But why?" Arica wanted to know. "He finished his sweep of the Mid Rim yesterday."

"Yes, but he wishes to continue his hunt in the Unknown Regions. That's where he's headed to now."

Arica nodded. The Emperor was than called off by some politicians and so left her sitting at the table with her thoughts.

It'd been months since the two of them had seen each other. Six months to be exact, and Arica missed Anakin terribly as she knew he also missed her. They kept in contact via holo message once a week, but it wasn't the same. Well, there was no reason for her to stay on Coruscant. Since she was currently on leave, she could go to the Unknown Regions and join him. And though the party was only halfway through, Arica left anyway, suddenly disinterested.

The Emperor watched as his Hand leave the buffet table, Ballroom, and ultimately the building. He'd figured Vader's absence was the reason for her troubles and was right. He also knew by telling Arica where he was that she'd go after him to either try to bring him back, or help him in his search. The Emperor had no problem with this of course. It was perfect actually. The two of them having some overdue alone time together.

_And who knows,_ he mused, _maybe by the time they come back I'll have a new apprentice to train._


	15. The Unknown Regions

Author's Note: Hey guys! Today you're being given two chapters. Just so you know, there's a love scene in this chapter, however it's not that bad. I was going to remove it altogether, but than this is rated T.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 15: The Unknown Regions

It took Anakin a week and a half to reach the Unknown Regions of space from the outskirts of the Mid Rim. Haruun Kal was the planet he'd left from because it was on the borderline of where the Outer Rim began, and thus the last planet that'd been searched on his six-month sweep of the Mid Rim. Anakin was devastated by the quest's results. He had been so sure and confident that he'd have found Yoda and his presently eight month-old daughter Leila before now. But he hadn't. All during the hunt what had kept him going was telling himself that if they weren't on the planet he was on they'd be on the next, and the next, and the next. Until one day there wasn't another next. The commanding officers of his fleet had been afraid their young Supreme Commander would do something to them in anger because of the hunt's failure, and he'd almost been tempted to give into their fear by killing a few of them to make himself feel better. But he knew doing that would not make him feel any better. Nothing would until he found them.

Once Haruun Kal – a world of toxic cloudseas, plateaus, jungles, and volcanoes – had been fully searched, a meeting was held in the conference chambers of the _Executor_. It was there that Anakin voiced his thoughts of searching the Unknown Regions. He'd been going over it in his mind for the past week or so and finally decided to act on them. His fellows officers, however, didn't agree with their leader, fearing they'd get lost upon venturing out that far into space. This show of pathetic nature enraged the young Sith, causing him to choke a few of the pitiful fools to death. Eventually though, he figured it'd be better for him to go by himself. The Emperor wouldn't want half the navy in the unknown reaches of space, and he just as well confirmed this when Anakin contacted him, declining the invitation to _Empire Day._

He did watch the celebration via the HoloNet though, while en route to the Unknown Regions on board his star cruiser _Vengeance._ From watching it, he could tell he wasn't missing anything. There was only one regret he held for not attending however, and that was Arica. He hadn't seen her since the trial, and that was a little less than six-months ago. He missed her deeply. The HoloNet cameras didn't even begin to capture her full beauty. He'd seen that her still dyed black hair had grown close to her waist and was intertwined with streaks of dark brown here and there. It was currently styled as slightly wavy and her bright blue eyes and black mini dress went wonderful with it.

The other person who'd captured his attention was Arica's apparent cousin and the empress' new Hand, twenty-one year old Iolana Lestrange. Of course he'd heard about the young woman when she was appointed the position a month ago, but hadn't really given the matter much thought. He'd had more important things to worry about at the time. But now that he saw her, even if it was on a HV screen, he told himself that if he hadn't known she was Antellica and Arica's cousin, he easily could've guessed. The resemblance was clear, except that she petite and was much lighter completed than her cousins.

A fireworks escapade took place downtown Galactic City after the Palace Gala around 2400. But it was around that time that Anakin had turned the HV off and went to bed.

In the week and a half it took to reach the Unknown Regions, Anakin mainly meditated, did research concerning the Unknown Regions and planets in the Outer Rim near it via a portable computer terminal, or studied some of the Sith Holocrons he was borrowing from the emperor.

The promise his master made about teaching him how to cheat death and sustain life eternally was something he had yet to fulfill. And whenever he brought the subject up, his master would brush it off with either a mission he wanted his apprentice to do or shove several more Sith Holocrons at him to study.

"Only until you reach your full power can you learn the ways of eternal life."

Those are the words the emperor had said to him the last time Vader brought up the promise. And it angered him really.

_Not until he reached his full power?! What in hell was that supposed to mean?_

The other thing that angered him slightly was how the emperor had said they would discover the secret of cheating death together. There was no secret to it to begin with. He'd learned through one of the Holocrons that Sidious learned this 'secret' long ago during the original era of the Sith. He was one of the Sith Lords who'd fought during the Great Sith War between the Sith and Jedi a thousand so years ago. The emperor was over a thousand years old! No mortal being was able to live that long without the aid of some type of power. In Sidious' case, the dark side.

Looking back at his turn to the dark side, Vader saw clearly what made him turn: lies and the lust for power. Lies about Padme dying in childbirth, of which were merely premonitions inserted into his mind by her father. He'd read about that in a Holocron as well, the ability to insert dreams in ones mind. The Jedi Anakin Skywalker had been a hopelessly in love idiot at the time who, as Padme had once said, knew "nothing about anything." Now he was older and wiser. Sidious had fed off of Anakin's lust for power to lure him to the dark side through fear of the one he'd loved.

Lies, lies, lies. That was what had gotten him to where he was now. But that wasn't entirely a bad thing though. Over the past year, Vader's abilities and power in the Force had grown rapidly. But not so much as being greater than his master. Not yet, anyway. Sidious had seen to that personally. The emperor had no intention on having his apprentice become more powerful than he was. So he held him back by only teaching him pacific aspects of the dark side, while leaving others out. Never would he allow Vader inside his Sith Artifacts room that stored all one hundred Sith Holocrons out of fear that Vader may pick up one of the more powerful ones. So Sidious settled with he and Vader being equals only. But this would soon change, Vader was making sure of that. One day, with Arica and his children by his side, he would rob Palpatine and Baynetta of their thrones, and he and Arica would rule the galaxy together with Luke, Leila, and any other children he and his future empress may have as their apprentices and heirs. It was this thought that put a devious smirk on Vader's face.

_Beware Palpatine, your days are numbered._

* * *

When _Vengeance_ finally came upon the outskirts of the Outer Rim Territories, far beyond an area that was known as Wild Space, Anakin released the hyperspace lever, returning the ship to real space. He decided that he wanted to be in actual space when he passed by the last planet of the known galaxy, Zonama Sekot, and entered the Unknown Regions. 

From what he'd read about the Unknown Regions there wasn't much there; just a black darkness of space with no stars to light your way. No known systems or planets were said to be there either, but than how would anyone know if there were any or not? For all that ventured in were said to never return. Anakin didn't accept this though and dismissed it as nonsense. There had to be something out there. Some distant planet or asteroid just waiting to be discovered. The thought of his childhood dream of searching and seeing all the planets of the galaxy came back to him slightly, putting a small smile on his face.

As _Vengeance_ made its passed by Zonama Sekot, Anakin mused that perhaps one day the world itself would be inside the Unknown Regions because of its inner-planet hyperdrive system. During his readings, the young Sith discovered that Zonama Sekot was a planet that once resided in the Core of the Universe close to one hundred and twenty-six thousand years ago at the start of the Old Republic. Little by little however, it'd made its way further and deeper into the galaxy via its hyperdrive system. Out of all planets in the known galaxy, Zonama Sekot was the only living one to exist. It was an interesting planet of intrigue that he definitely intended on visiting someday.

At _Vengeance's_ pass of Zonama Sekot, Anakin continued to fly ahead several more kilometers into the star-filled distance of space. Not far ahead though was a sudden deep blackness where no stars resided. He knew instantly that this was the entranceway to the Unknown Regions. Any ordinary person might have been scared by the upcoming darkness that continued to grow the nearer _Vengeance_ came to it, but Darth Vader was far from being any ordinary person. Instead of fear, he felt excitement at the growing darkness.

When finally the ship was submerged completely into it, he had to turn all the outer hull lights on to see where he was going. There was nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see, miles upon miles of it. But Vader was undeterred by it. He just knew something was out here. But as for what, he hadn't a clue.

* * *

For four days he continued to travel through this deep, dark blackness that seemed to grow darker the further in he came. Never once did Anakin even think about giving up or going back though. 

It was on that fourth day that something wonderful happened. No, he didn't find a system of planets inside the Unknown Regions. It was better than that. Arica contacted him telepathically, informing him that she was presently on the outskirts of the Outer Rim, in orbit around Zonama Sekot, and how she wanted to join him in his search of the Unknown Regions. This overjoyed Anakin. Finally, he would see his love again. Anakin decided to turn about from his current position and meet her halfway. This happened two days later. Since Arica's _Jeweled Dolphin_ was great deal smaller than his _Vengeance,_ it was decided that she'd dock her ship inside his mechanical room in the back of the ship, as it could also second as a docking bay.

Arica was extremely thrilled. It'd taken her two weeks to reach the Outer Rim outskirts from Coruscant, in which time she worried if Anakin would allow her to join him or not. But once she contacted him and got his joyous reply, she excitedly raced to meet him. Just before she'd gotten in orbit around _Vengeance_ however she changed out of the regular black top and pants outfit she usually wore and into a black bra and panties flowered lace set with a blue see-through nightgown covering it. Slipping on a pair of white sandal heels she went into her closet to grab the animal print coat she'd been borrowing from Antellica. But now that Antellica was dead, the coat was hers. She gave no thought of her sister as she put it on however, and returned to the cockpit.

She was now in orbit around Anakin's ship. Following his instructions of flying beneath it, she than flew upward into the port that opened slightly for her. Once landing successfully, she checked her reflection in her ship's bedroom mirror. Being as her hair was in a bun and the printed coat was covering her erotic lingerie, Arica thought she looked mild. But once she got Anakin alone in his bedroom and revealed her lingerie and curly waves of long hair to him she'd look hot and heat him up instantly. So after appraising her appearance for yet another moment, Arica raced towards the exit of her ship, using the Force so when she got to it the landing ramp was already being lowered.

Despite the fact of wanting to look classy as she strolled down the ramp, Arica couldn't help but beam when she caught sight of Anakin coming towards her, clad in all black; pants, jacket, and a sleeveless top that showed off his muscular arms as the jacket was only loosely on his shoulders. She excitedly increased her pace and ran to meet him.

As Anakin saw Arica run to him, he also increased his pace, caught her in his arms, and twirled her through the air. Placing her back down, he sighed into her neck, biting lightly.

"Oh Arica," he whispered. "My beautiful, darling Arica. I've missed you so much."

"Oh Anakin," Arica sighed and took her head off his shoulder to run her fingers through his seemingly longer wavy, dirty blonde hair.

She kissed him passionately on the lips and a heated make out session began with each moaning into one another's mouths. Anakin's hands began to wonder as he made love to Arica's mouth, their tongues battling together in a heated war. He made to undo her bunned hair and take off her animal print coat, but Arica stopped him with a slight wave of her finger before claiming his mouth with hers again.

Anakin smirked into her mouth. _"Are you wearing anything under that coat my love?"_ he asked telepathically.

Arica gave a slight chuckle into his mouth. _"Of course I am. What do you take for, a slut?"_

Anakin laughed lightly into Arica's mouth as they continued to make out heavily.

"Is there a room we can go to. To be alone for a little while," Arica murmured in-between heavy kisses.

Anakin hummed a reply into her mouth.

Not letting go of each other, Anakin led Arica into his room. Once the door was closed behind them, Arica pounced onto Anakin, wrapping her legs around his waist. The impact of her sudden jump knocked him back onto the bed. Finally, they broke apart for air, laughing.

But after Arica placed one more quick kiss onto her beloved mouth she picked herself off of him, pushing him back when he made to follow her.

"Hush baby," she whispered, shushing his questions as to where she was going or what she was doing. She rose before him slowly and took off her animal print coat, revealing her lingerie beneath. Anakin's eyes clouded with lust as he took in her lasciviously clothed body. But Arica gave no notice as she untwisted her hair out of the loose bun she had it in. Wavy curls of black with brown streaks fell onto and far beneath her shoulders. Arica smirked as she thought back to the last, and only, time they'd been intimate.

"So, Lord Vader," she cooed as she crawled towards him on the bed, "do you like what you see?"

Anakin smirked as he propped himself up so their faces were level. He ran his fingers through her soft curly locks and Arica sighed, tilting her head back slightly at the feeling. Anakin chuckled lightly and lifted her face back up to his.

"But of course Lady Zenevieva," he said before capturing her lips within his own once more.

This time as their hands wandered neither of them stopped the other. In no time, Anakin had taken off Arica's see-through nightgown and Arica had taken off Anakin's jacket and shirt. Lifting herself up lightly Arica kicked off her white heels. They stopped kissing briefly to run each other's hands over each other's chests and shoulders and through each other's hair, gazing into each other's eyes.

Smiling slyly at his beloved, Anakin took Arica's lips into his once more and moaned. Arica melted into his arms as the kissing got more heated again. Anakin's wondering hands unsnapped Arica's black lace bra, and he than put his hands over the front of her shoulders, lightly pulling the bra off her chest. As soon as it was gone Anakin ran his tongue along her breasts, causing Arica to moan.

"You don't know how long I've craved this again Arica," he murmured into her neck while biting and kissing at it. Arica moaned in reply as he made to take off her panties. She lifted herself up again so he could. Once they were off, Anakin gripped her ass tightly and squeezed it.

Smirking in delight, Arica pushed Anakin down onto his back and undid his pants button and zipper. As she pulled them down she was very much surprised to see that he wasn't wearing any boxers or briefs underneath. Arica gaped a moment at this, causing Anakin to smirk before he got off his back and threw his naked body onto hers. They moaned as they wiggled their naked bodies against each other. The feeling of each other's flesh against each other driving them practically insane with desire.

"Eight months it's been Arica," Anakin murmured between kisses. "Eight months since we last did this with each other."

As Arica continued to let out soft moans, Anakin lifted himself off her and used his hands to spread her legs, lightly flicking her with his finger, emitting a louder moan from Arica. He than picked her body up into his arms and had her come down onto him in an upright position with her in his lap. Animalistic growls were emitted from each of them as they became one again. After withdrawing all the way and plunging himself to the limit back into her for a second time, he looked down and watched himself slide in and out of her increasingly tight wetness before than growling a moan and officially mounting her...


	16. Uncontrollable Desire and Planet 1

**Important Author's Note: This chapter is probably the shortest I've ever written (only one page on Open Office). It features a tad bit of the naughtiness that its preceding chapter holds, but it's main purpose is to introduce and than conclude the first planet found in the Unknown Regions.  
Also, as I can't seem to get in contact with the people who run this site, I'll present the question here and maybe someone can answer it: Even if a disclaimer is used, can fanfiction still be considered plagiarism, even if one isn't making money off it and is simply doing it for fun? I've been posting on this site since May and am fully aware that without a disclaimer, stories get pulled off the site left and right, but with a disclaimer they usually aren't. The only reason I'm even asking this question is because my parents, for some reason, think I and this site could be fined if Lucasfilm found out about it. According to them, college students get pulled out of universities left and right because of it. Is this really true? I'd hate to have to pull both my stories down because of some unknown law I don't know about. But if I have to, I will.**

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 16: Uncontrollable Desire and Planet #1

The next two days were spent with Anakin and Arica wrapped in constant lovemaking, with little time for anything else. They took each other everywhere: the cockpit, the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, closets, up against walls in hallways, atop the table in the dining room, but most of all the bedroom. They just couldn't get enough of each other.

Eventually they desisted with this though, finding other ways to spend their time as the days of black space continued to go by. Meditation, studying Sith Holocrons, talking about any and every subject that popped into their minds, etc.

It was on the twenty-first day of their journey – 21 days since Arica joined Anakin; 37 days since Anakin started – that the ships' scanners picked up a nearby planet ahead, about 20,000 miles away.

"At our current rate of 10,000 miles a day, we should reach it in two days time," Arica said looking over the scanner's reports, clad in a pink and black lace silk nightgown that came just below her knees in length.

Nightclothes were practically all they ever wore anymore since they would always rip each other's actual clothes off whenever they were put on. Plus nightclothes were easier to work with if they suddenly wanted to be intimate.

"Indeed we shall my love," Anakin whispered into her ear, hooking his flesh left arm around her neck.

Arica shivered slightly and they shared a sweet kiss. One thing than led to another, and before they could stop themselves, they were making love on the cockpit floor.

Anakin and Arica had an addiction to each other when it came to sex. It seemed the more they did it, the more they craved for more. They were like toxic to one another.

At finishing up a few minutes later, Arica insisted they practice sparing together.

"You never know what we'll encounter on the planet," she said. "So it's best that we're in our top form."

Anakin agreed, so after showering together, they practiced for an hour in the hanger...before making love yet again against Arica's ship and on the cold metal floor.

After this however, Arica playfully, yet sternly, reprimanded Anakin for taking her than and there when they should have been sparing.

"But we were sparing," Anakin murmured between kissing her neck.

"Yes, but notice the key word 'were'. We're not anymore. How are we supposed to accomplish anything if we're always being intimate?"

Anakin smirked. "How indeed."

He made to kiss her lips again, but Arica pulled away.

"Anakin!" she reprimanded.

He held his hands up in defeat. "All right, all right. Let's spare than."

The rest of that day and the entirety of the next was spent doing just that, with no sex in between.

_Vengeance_ came in orbit of the unknown world at 2400 on the fortieth day. It was a light brown color from the outside and shaped as a small moon. Both Anakin and Arica picked up a sense of nothingness from the planet. In fact, if the headlights on the ship hadn't flashed onto the small world, they wouldn't have even seen it and probably would've flown right by if the sensors and scanners weren't on.

They flew out of the regular course of space and slowly onto the planet. Looking out the cockpit viewport showed the two the desolate landscape of the planet. The small, light glow of an unseen sun from space appeared to shine onto the dry, rock crusted ground.

Deciding to land in an open space, Anakin touched the ship down and he and Arica than left it; senses alert and armed. As soon as they stepped out, they were swept with a light blast of wind in their faces. As they'd thought the air wasn't toxic and the weather was a mixture of humid coldness.

Locking the ship behind them, they officially left it and began to explore the planet. As they'd sensed before landing, the planet was full of nothingness. It consisted of miles and miles of open dry land.

Eventually growing tired of walking after three hours, they went back to the ship and decided to skim low over the entirety of it. This took no time to do – an hour or so.

Alas it was the same everywhere on the planet; merely landscapes of nothingness.

"Well that was a waste," Arica commented as Anakin piloted the ship outside the planet. "Quite boring, but the walk was nice."

"Yeah it was," Anakin seconded with a dry smile. "After being on board a ship for forty days, it was nice to get out, even if there wasn't anything on the planet."


	17. Planets 2 and 3

Author's Note: Hey guys! I've pretty much chosen to ignore my parents on the whole not posting on here thing. I'm not doing anything wrong and neither is this site. If Lucasfilm didn't want fans writing fiction on their work, they'd say so. However, they haven't. And until they do I will continue to post on this site and so will others. Anyway the next chapter will be much, _much_ longer and feature lots of action and intrigue. I'll probably have it up within the next few days.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 17: Planets 2 and 3

Three days later, scanners picked up a reading of another planet 20,000 miles away. So as last time, _Vengeance_ arrived two days after the reading was first picked up. This planet was a little easier to see from space via it's outer gray coloring. Once again though, the pair sensed nothingness radiating off the planet. As they slowly entered it, they saw that this planet consisted of rock formations. Large, medium, small, all sizes. All were gray and they covered the entire planet. A misty gray fog hung over the planet as well, but it wasn't so thick that one couldn't see through it.

Being as the scanners on board said that the air outside was indeed toxic – "no gravity air" to be precise – the adventure pair opted to stay aboard and not go out exploring. Sweeping the entirety of the slightly larger than the last planet took about an hour and a half, and like last time they decided to sweep it twice. This planet was just as desolate as the last; no life, no nothing, just rocks. Leaving the planet they continued on their way.

Again three days later, the scanners picked up the reading of yet another planet.

"For people to say the Unknown Regions is full of nothing but black space, they obviously never explored it," Arica commented after Anakin informed her of the third planet.

"Of course they never explored it," he said sitting down next to her on the ship's living room floor. "It's just a bunch of talk they chatter about. People don't know what's out here so they just make up stories."

Just as the last two times, they came in orbit around the planet two days later. The only problem was they couldn't see the planet anywhere. The scans said they were in orbit around it, but whenever they flashed the ships' lights they couldn't see anything anywhere, nothing but deep, black darkness.

"Wait a minute," Arica said, a thought suddenly coming to her. "I wonder."

"What is it, Arica?" Anakin asked.

"Do you think the planet-" She stopped and started over. "The first one was hard to make out because of its dark color, whereas the second planet was easier to make out because of its lighter color. I wonder."

Anakin gave a thoughtful "Hmm," before closing his eyes and slowing reaching out for the ships' controls. Once it was off cruise control, he grabbed a hold of the steering, eyes still closed, and turned it towards a North/West angle. Still keeping his eyes shut, he continued to go in that direction and than abruptly turned a hard right and steered forward. The abrupt turn knocked Arica out of the copilot's seat and onto the floor.

Turning slightly, Anakin finally opened his eyes and glanced down at her. "Sorry about that baby, but I'm pleased to say I found the planet. We're entering it now. Look!"

Picking herself up off the floor, Arica stood next to Anakin and gazed outside the cockpit window. What she saw, for some reason, sent a fearful shiver down her spine: the entire planet was full of darkness, not as dark as space, but almost. The sky was a purplish black with no stars. All before them were the tops of black trees that seemed to go on and on without end. Finally though, there was a small gap in the trees and Anakin flew the ship down into it. The cockpit viewport showed that before the landing ship laid a small pond of water, dirty water by the looks of it. Besides that however, all that laid ahead were trees of darkness.

Arica found herself slipping into Anakin's arms a bit. He amusedly looked over at her and chuckled lightly before placing a kiss on her forehead. "The air here isn't toxic," he said beginning to shut down the ship's systems. "But I don't sense any living presences here per say. Just a lot of darkness."

When he was finished shutting down the ship, he thoughtfully looked out the cockpit viewport a minute and made to leave. Arica, however, stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"To have a look around."

"Outside?"

"But of course." He winked, and with a slight shutter Arica followed him outside the ship, hand on the hilt of her lightsaber.

It was even darker out than it seemed from inside the ship, though they were still able to make out things in the darkness.

Arica stepped away from the ship slightly, being between it and the dirty pond as she looked around. It was like something out of a horror holofilm with its Black Forest of wilderness, black and dead leafless trees of darkness and the dark feeling of emptiness. Everything about the planet was...well dark and almost forbidding.

Arica realized that Anakin was beside her at that moment and so looked over at him to see what he thought of the place. He basically felt the same way Arica did, with the small exception that he, unlike her, was not afraid of it, nor the darkness for that matter. A wielder of the dark side has no fear.

"I'm not afraid," Arica protested, obviously picking up on his thoughts. "I just think it's...spooky."

"Spooky Arica," Anakin said, "is still a sense of fear."

The look on Arica's face at that moment was priceless. At first she looked angry, but than she stuck out her lower lip in a pout and looked at him, arms crossed, as if daring him to take back his words. Anakin smirked lightly and placed a small kiss on her nose. She giggled and threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

Laughing, Anakin let go of her and stated that he was going inside the forest to have a look around. Arica though wasn't sure about that and Anakin sensed a small trace of fear radiating from her. Instead of speaking of it again however, he teased, "If you don't want to go in, I'll go in alone. You can always stay here by yourself. Or on the ship. All alone. Monsters just waiting around every corner to pounce once I disappear."

Giving a playful growl, Arica punched him lightly in the chest – "Hey!" – and the two set off.

As soon as they entered the throng of dark trees, Arica grabbed hold of Anakin's mechanical right hand and stuck close to him, all the while looking this way and that, senses all alert for any possible danger.

When they started out in the forest, they could see fairly well, but as they continued on the deepness of it caused the night to grow darker and darker, causing the two to ignite their lightsabers to see better.

For a while they walked in silence. On and on they went, but eventually Arica grew tired of this silence and suggested they talk.

"If it makes you feel any better chicka," Anakin quipped.

Arica let go of his right arm and hooked the arm that had been holding it around his neck and kissed him.

They mainly talked about the three planets they'd encountered so far, the possibility of how many others could be out here just waiting to be explored, and if there were any intelligent life on any of them. Arica eventually grew comfortable enough to let go of Anakin and simply walk beside him.

Walking on another half-hour, Anakin decided to play a funny, yet mean joke on Arica. She was presently saying how if there was intelligent life out here in the Unknown Regions, they probably knew nothing about the galaxy outside their region and how exciting it'd be to tell them about the universe.

While she was saying all this, Anakin slowly decreased his pace in walking and hid behind a nearby tree on Arica's right.

Arica, expecting Anakin to say something in comment to what she'd just said, continued to walk, oblivious to his joke. When he never said anything, Arica added, "Well I think it'd be interesting to meet other types of people, even if I despise non-Humans, who don't know about the universe outside. You may not, but I do."

Still Anakin didn't say anything, which was odd because by now he'd have surely thought of a quip to crack. Yet all remained silent.

Looking abruptly around at the sense that something wasn't right, something was very wrong, Arica saw to her shock and horror that Anakin was no longer beside her. Fear immediately took hold of her as she looked all around and saw him no where.

"Anakin? Anakin?!" She began to panic. "Anakin, where are you?! Answer me! Please!" _Surely he would've said something if he wanted us to split up._ "Anakin! Anakin, please!"

Silent tears were falling from her eyes now. "Anakin, this isn't funny! Anakin!"

Suddenly, Arica felt a strong grip grab hold of her from behind. She began to scream, but a hand was placed over her mouth, covering it.

"_Anakin! Anakin, help me! Please!"_ she cried out to him mentally.

"_It's all right baby!"_ Anakin's sweet voice said inside her head. _"It's me."_

The grip on Arica's body was released and she turned around to see Anakin grinning broadly at her.

"Anakin!" Her cry of happiness and grief was mingled with hurt as she threw herself into his arms.

Anakin held her tightly as she cried softly into his shoulder. He didn't mean to upset her. He was just playing around.

Abruptly Arica pulled out of his arms and slapped him hard across the face. Anakin recoiled slightly as she began to shout at him. "You jerk! I hate you! That was not funny!"

She angrily turned her back to him and began to stalk off. Anakin caught her before she got far though and hugged her from behind.

"I'm sorry baby," he whispered into her neck. "I was just trying to lighten the mood and be funny."

"_Lighten the mood and be funny!"_ Arica repeated in outrage as she tried to move out of Anakin's grasp, but he wouldn't let her go.

"Hate you!" she spat.

Anakin smirked. "No you don't."

"Yes I do," she protested angrily.

"No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

Her last protest was exasperated. She turned to Anakin with a smile and took his lips within her own in a passionate kiss.

"Don't scare me like that," Arica said once they broke apart.

"I'm sorry baby," Anakin whispered. "I couldn't resist. Besides," his tone turned somewhat serious, "this'll teach you to stay on your guard at all times. Even around those you know."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Arica said waving his slight reproval off.

After continuing on for another ten minutes, Anakin decided they'd go back. But instead of walking, he choose a better idea. Closing his eyes, he stretched out his hand and concentrated only on the Force and the ship. A moment or so later, _Vengeance _appeared above the trees overhead. Anakin moved his arm downward, attempting to land the ship in front of them. Alas, because of the trees, it didn't work. So grabbing Arica's arm and taking a step back, Anakin Force-jumped through the air up to the ship.

At first, he was going to open the ship's ramp to let them in, but decided against this and merely jumped them to the ship's crown instead. Safely on top, Anakin used the Force to fly the ship forward. He sensed confusion from Arica being as he'd said they'd go back and not continue on. He quickly explained, "as the planet's small in its circular form, we're make it back to our original spot eventually this way."

Sweeping the rest of the planet showed them that there was indeed another space of empty land South East of the smaller spot. Only this was larger. There was another small pond on it, but this one was on the side of the area right in front of the dead trees. As Anakin touched down the ship in a space next to it, they saw that the pond was slightly larger and a bit cleaner than the other. Plus there was more space to move around in the area.

When the ship was successfully landed, Anakin and Arica slid off the top and onto the ground before the awaiting boarding ramp that had been lowered at its landing.

Once inside the ship once more, Arica went into her and Anakin's bedroom to collect a blanket to use to wrap around her bare shoulders and arms. The flight on top had chilled her somewhat.

Returning to the cockpit where she sensed Anakin's presence, she saw him looking through the navigation computer settings. Stepping up next to him she followed his gaze into the computer's screen to see nothing but numbers and symbols all bunched together. She had no idea as to what they meant. Anakin's _Vengeance_ was much more advanced than her _Jeweled Dolphin._

"What's the computer telling you?" she asked. "Nothing bad I hope."

"Oh, no," he assured. "It's a technical reading of all the miles the ship's traveled over the past fifty-one days and possible readings of other planets beyond this one. However, since we're not in space I can't do the test properly."

"Than, why don't we leave then?" she suggested. "I can see from our exploring that there's nothing of much significance on this dark world. Just trees, two ponds, and two empty spaces."  
"Hmm." Anakin smirked at her eagerness to get off world. "Surely, you're not still afraid of the planet, Arica."  
"I'm not afraid," she protested.

At Anakin's raised eyebrow she added, "Really I'm not. I just-can you keep a secret?"

He blinked in confusion. "A secret? Sure. But what's this got to do with any-"

"I'm afraid of the dark," Arica blurted out. "Not as much as I used to be, but still a little. Sith know no fear of course, but I'm still a tiny bit afraid, when I'm by myself anyway. It's something I developed in my childhood, and it's never really gone away no matter how much I've tried to make it."

Anakin looked at her in awe. "I had no idea that Arica, the all powerful Darth Lady Zenevieva and former Supreme Commander of the CIS, was afraid of the dark."

"A tiny fear," Arica objected. "Just don't tell anyone. Imagine what that information would do to my reputation. Besides, it's something I'm working on riding myself of."

Anakin lightly chuckled. "Just like your love of collecting stuffed toys."

"They're for my future little ones," she objected. "You know that."

"Right." Though his tone was sarcastic.

Giving her boyfriend a playful swat on the arm, Arica turned her back to him.

"Well, with the navicomputers current settings," he continued, "I think it would be better to give the ship a short break."  
Arica slowly turned back to him, understanding what he meant, yet not wanting to believe it.

"You mean stay here for a while," she queried. "But-why can't we give the ship a break on another planet? Or better yet," Arica's eyes lit up at a sudden idea, "why not leave yours here and continue on in mine?"

Anakin smirked. "Nice try Arica, but here we will stay, with the ship. Besides-"

At that moment an alarm sounded, cutting Anakin off. Turning they saw a red light flashing on one of the panels. Looking at it, he gave her a triumphant smirk. Gesturing towards the flashing light he said, "Besides the ship's out of fuel."

Arica's face paled. "You mean, we're stuck here!"

But before Anakin could object to this, she continued heatedly. "If you want to stay on this desolate planet of darkness, be my guest. But if you wanna continue on searching the unknown depths of the Unknown Regions, I suggest you come with me on _Jeweled Dolphin._"

She than made to leave the cockpit, but Anakin stopped her. "Arica, do you honestly think that I'd allow this ship to run out of fuel without having extra?"

Arica stopped at this, looking into his amused eyes. She laughed lightly and couldn't help planting a warm kiss on his lips. Anakin moaned into hers, deepening it bit.

"I'm sorry Anakin," she whispered.

"Shh." Anakin placed a finger on her lips. "Say nothing more of it my love."

The two shared a warm smile and Anakin than went off to refuel the ship. In the meantime, Arica decided to set up camp outside. Instead of staying aboard _Vengeance_, they could camp in the moderate-sized tent she set up. Just as she got a fire started, Anakin came up behind her and wrapped her in an embrace.

"What're you doing baby?" he whispered.

"Setting up camp. I thought we could bunk out here since with the ship resting, we won't be able to use any of the electronic things inside."

"A fair point you raise," he commented appraisingly.

Unwrapping herself from Anakin's arms, Arica returned to the ship, with Anakin close behind, to collect some food – cheddar cheese, uncooked nerf dogs, bantha, dewback, and shaak, along with a carton of Fruit fizzle drinks. Being the gentleman Anakin was, he carried the beverages while Arica was left with the meats and cheese, off the ship. Placing the items down before the fire, she laid out a blanket for them to sit on.

The next hour or so was spent with the two young lovers talking while frying and eating the meat – putting little shreds of cheese on it or just eating the cheese as is – and sipping hot fizzle drinks as they'd placed the aluminum cans by the fire to warm the contents inside.

Upon finishing up, Anakin suggested they run laps around the open space to "not only burn off the fatty calories we just ate, but have fun exercising as well."

Doing this helped Arica feel more comfortable about the area and planet. It didn't seem as dark or sinister anymore. When she voiced this thought to Anakin, he grinned. "That was the other reason I thought we should run. To help you feel more comfortable about and in the planet's environment."

Several more laps were ran, but in the form of challenges to see who could surpass whom first and how long they could stay in the lead. But eventually, the duo became too tired to go on any longer and retired in the tent set up, calling it a night.

When Anakin woke the next morning, it was to find the sky outside still as dark as ever, the wind whipping around quite rapidly, and the dead leaves of dying black trees flying around with it in the form of a dance.

Reverting his gaze from the see through tent ceiling and back to beside him, he smiled. Arica was still snuggled up in his arms, sleeping soundly; the sound of her light breathing vibrating against his chest. She was so beautiful and breathtaking. He couldn't wait to make gorgeous children with her and take her as his wife. For marriage was an idea Anakin had been toying with for the past few weeks now. He wanted to give it another try, and it was obvious Arica felt the same. She'd drop hints here and there about getting married and having a family one day. She never said who with, but Anakin wasn't stupid. He knew she meant him.

A part of him wanted to make her his wife here and now and impregnate her atop their dining room table, but there was another part of him, the logical part, that told him to wait a while and not rush into something like this again so quickly. Anakin choose to go with the more logical part of himself by waiting. Besides, if they got married here and now, he wouldn't be able to have the big, media-filled wedding he always thought about having with Arica. What a way to get back at the Empress by flaunting it in her filthy face.

Bending over slightly, Anakin placed his hands on Arica's bare shoulders and shook her lightly. This only caused her to snuggle even deeper into his arms with a groan. Chuckling softly, Anakin sat up and lifted his future bride into his arms, carried her out of the tent, and onto the ship where he laid her on their bed and placed a blanket on top of her. Throwing some nightclothes on, he collected the few things that were still outside the ship, brought them back on board, and within the hour the 'Planet of Darkness' was little more than a memory for the duo.


	18. A World Shrouded in Mystery

Author's Note: As promised, this is an extremely long chapter filled with intrigue and action. You'll love it. I also want to make another disclaimer for this and the next chapter only, as they were semi-based on a non-Star Wars movie. Spy Kids 2 is owned by Dimension Pictures and Robert Rodriguez. And Atlantis: The Lost Empire is owned by Walt Disney Pictures. I'm simply using some of the elements of both for fun and no profit of any kind. Oh, and yesterday made a month I've been posting this. Thank you to everyone whose made this a success so far.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 18: A World Shrouded in Mystery

As expected, three days later, yet another signal was picked up indicating yet another planet. But that wasn't the only signal _Vengeance_ picked up that day. Since the ship was in space again, Anakin was able to do the test scan previously mentioned of all possible sectors/systems/planets within a 200,000-mile radius. Besides the fourth planet, the scan also picked up three others.

Since it would only take the usual two days and 20,000 miles to reach the fourth planet via real space, Anakin decided to make the jump to lightspeed and get to the planet within a few hours instead. However, it turns out, as he and Arica soon learned, that ships can't make the jump to lightspeed in the Unknown Regions. The atmosphere and star-less darkness of space surrounding the ship wouldn't allow it. So alas, the explorers were forced to wait the regular two days to reach the next unknown world.

When _Vengeance_ came in orbit around the yellowish brown planet, the scan readings showed the pair something that made them feel slightly hopeful: according to the readings, various lifeforms dwelled on the planet.

"Wonderful," Arica said. "Finally a world with some intelligent life on it."

Anakin was quick to rebut that. "The scan doesn't say the lifeforms are intelligent, Arica. Just that lifeforms dwell within it."

"All lifeforms have intelligence to a certain extent," she pointed out. "Even if it's a small fly or beetle. They still have some type of moral intelligence. It's how they stay alive."

"Of course Arica," Anakin said, giving into the defeat of her argument.

Switching the scanner on again, as the ship made its descent onto the planet, Anakin began searching for where the lifeforms were located with the aid of the scanner and his Force abilities.

It was than, all of a sudden, that the lights inside the cockpit began to flicker on and off. And it wasn't just them. All the controls in the ship than began switching on and off, making their descent onto the planet from the outer to inner atmosphere a bit bumpy and rough.

"What's going on?!" Arica yelled over the sound of the ships' power generator coming on and off and on and off again.

"I don't know!" Anakin yelled back. "The ships' power generator keeps shutting off and starting again for some reason. Like there's some sort of power loss."

The flickering between on and off on the controls continued to grow faster and faster as they entered more rapidly into the planet. Within a few seconds, the flickering between the controls had grown so rapid that the ship suddenly shut off completely, refusing to come back on no matter what buttons its occupants pushed. This was definitely bad as _Vengeance_ was just exiting the stratosphere of the planet. It was still thousands of feet in the air!

"Anakin, what are we going to do?" Arica frantically asked.

"I'm not sure what can be done." His hands were going as fast as lightspeed across the suddenly dead controls. "I don't even know what's going on. All power's off. Even the emergency power. This is going to be a rough landing, so be prepared for the worst."

Nodding, Arica strapped herself into the co-pilot's chair.

The more the ship descended into the planet, the faster it went. Anakin was beyond frantic to stop it, but nothing he did, even with the aid of the Force, helped.

The cockpit viewport presently showed the scape of the planet, but the ship was going so fast that all they were able to make out was a glimpse of sunshine and patch of land before the ship crashed head on into a large ocean of water.

The crash thankfully slowed the ship down a bit so by the time Arica counted to ten, waiting to die, they'd finally stopped. Their halt came underwater, but after a few moments the ship began to rise and eventually reached the surface, the front end bobbing out of the water. They were met by the sight of bright sunshine through the cockpit viewport and had to shield their eyes at first to keep from going blind. But once their pupils dilated, they moved their hands and looked out the viewport and beyond. Land was about half a mile ahead. Most of the bottom half of the land looked to be that of a desert while the higher parts were lush green and beautiful mountain tops could be seen in the distance.

"Well this is lovely," Arica said a bit more sarcastically than intended.

Anakin sighed. "Indeed." He than began pressing all the control buttons again, but to no avail. "Power's still off. I don't understand this. It's so strange."  
A moment was spent in thoughtful silence before Anakin abruptly got up. "Well there's no point staying on board. Come on. I think there should be some rebreathers and life jackets in the back."

Leaving the cockpit and going in the back, they did indeed find the rebreathers and life jackets though they opted to go with the first choice. All along the way, Anakin would flick on light switches in hopes that the power went off only in the front and not the back. Sadly, that was not the case.

After collecting the rebreathers, they went in the hanger in hopes that Arica's ship still worked. Alas, the power was off and refused to come on in hers as well.

"So strange," Arica muttered as they exited her ship.

Since all power in _Vengeance_ was out, Anakin had to open the top hatch on the crown of the ship manually so they could get out. There was no point in manually opening the landing ramp. The ship would be flooded with water in no time.

Climbing out of the top hatch and closing it behind them both Anakin and Arica gave a brief look ahead at the patch of land ½ mile away before taking their rebreathers into their mouths, jumping into the ocean, and swimming towards the shore.

Once there, both removed their rebreathers and breathed in the fresh, if yet dry, air of the planet. As they'd seen earlier, the bottom most part of the land was a desert, while in the higher elevations it was lush and green.

"This really is a beautiful place," Arica commented, putting her soaking wet hair in a ponytail at the top of her head. "And the weather's perfect."

For although they were in the desert portion of the planet, the weather was still nice. Not to hot, not to cold, just right.

However, Anakin was frowning. "Yes, but it's a partially desert world."

"And?" Arica asked with a shrug.

"And you know how I hate sand and desert environments."

"Oh so that's it than, is it?" Arica said throwing her arms in the air, irritated. "You just wanna leave."

"No, I-"

"You don't even care about the life signatures that were picked up on."

"Arica, I-"

"And after practically crash landing onto the unknown planet, you don't even want to look around to possibly discover the cause."

"I didn't say that Arica," Anakin protested. "I just...commented about my dislike of all things sand, that's all."

"Hmpf." Arica turned her back to Anakin and strolled off along the beach, taking her boots off as she went.

Shaking his head in amusement, he watched her figure stroll further and further away, but than turned back to view the ocean and his ship. It could be seen in the distance still bobbing up and down in the water.

Reaching out with the Force, he closed his eyes and extended his hand towards the ship, calling it to him. The slightly bobbing form of _Vengeance_ slowly rose out and above the water and Anakin led it towards the shore beside him, sitting it down at ease.

Opening his eyes once more, with a simple flick of his hand the landing ramp lowered and Anakin went into the ship. One quick check of all the switches told him that the power was still out.

_Very strange._

Collecting his portable computer and he and Arica's lightsabers, he left the ship again, but kept the ramp lowered.

Arica was sitting not far from the ship on the ground, running her fingers through the coarseness of the sand. With a smile, Anakin sat down beside her, and handed her her lightsaber before turning the PC on. He was going to use it to continue the life signs search. But it never came on. He pressed the 'on' button again, but still nothing.

Squinting at it in confusion, he continued to press the 'on' button, but still it did nothing. It won't respond or anything. It just sat there.

"I don't get this!" Anakin exclaimed.

"What?" Arica asked from beside him, drawing her attention away from the sand she was playing with.

"That's just it. Nothing. My computer refuses to come on or at all respond."

After checking the battery and shaking it around a few times, Anakin got up and went back onto the ship. Plugging the adapter that came with the computer into it, and the other end into a power outlet in the living room, he tried again. But as before, still the computer did nothing.

"This makes no sense," he said to no one in particular. "It was working fine earlier."

Again and again he tried different outlets, and again and again the computer stubbornly refused to turn on. In aggravation, Anakin angrily stalked out of the ship and threw the portable computer into the ocean. Sadly, this didn't make him feel any better. The slight satisfaction he'd felt at throwing it soon vanished when he realized what he'd done. Thousands upon thousands of files on the navy, _Death Star_, and various other things concerning the empire and his ship were on the computer that was now floating away. Vital and valuable information of importance.

Sighing in irritation, he used the Force to call it back to him. When he caught it he saw that, just as he'd suspected, some minor damage had been done to the computer, but he wasn't too worried. He was sure he could fix any of the problems that might arise.

Glancing away from the computer because he felt Arica's gaze on him, he turned to find her shaking her head at him with a smirk. Smirking back slightly, he stuck his tongue out at her before going back onto the ship and using a towel to dry the computer off. All the while, he was lost in thought.

What was going on here? Why is it that everything that runs off of electronics refused to work or do anything on this planet? And even more, when the time came that they were done searching the planet, how would they leave? Would the power mysteriously turn back on the same way it turned off?

Anakin's musings led him back outside where he paced along the beach.

Watching Anakin pace in thought, all the while hearing his worried musings, Arica couldn't help but be a little worried about the situation also.

Attempting to take her mind off the subject, she strolled a little way down the beach and upon coming across a small lush green leaf tree that was standing idly alone, she was hit with an idea.

Turning her lightsaber on, she decided to cut the small tree down. But nothing happened. No matter what she did the lightsaber refused to turn on.

_Well this sucks_, she thought irritably throwing it to the ground.

Walking by the still pacing form of Anakin, who was so lost in thought he didn't even notice her, she went onto _Vengeance_ to retrieve her most prized possession of weaponry after her many lightsabers, a sword of durasteel she was fond of using for sparing matches, but not actual combat. It was as sharp as a razor, though thin and light at the touch, about a meter in length, and an excellent weapon that couldn't take the place of a lightsaber, but came close.

Coming back out with it, Anakin still didn't notice her, she went back over to the small tree and cut it down. Entwining the branches and leaves together in an exotic fashion, Arica made a one person leaf swing. Standing back to observe her work, she simply looked at it a moment before glancing back at the still pacing figure of her boyfriend. Shaking her head once more, she went over to her production and settled herself down into it. It was a perfect fit. She began to swing contentedly at peace.

Anakin, however, found no peace as he continued to pace down the beach, Arica watched. Abruptly he came to a stop and looked thoughtful. Seemingly coming to some unsaid decision, he began to walk towards her. It was obvious he saw her swinging in something, but made no move to mention or ask about it.

"Come on Arica," he urged. "Let's have a look around the planet. Maybe we can find someone...and discover some answers."

"All right."

Arica got out of the swing and Anakin finally took notice of it.

"Was that there before?" he asked stepping forward to take a closer look at it.

"No, I made it myself out of a little tree that once stood here." She patted her foot on the little tree stump that remained of the tree.

"Impressive," he complimented, looking it over. Than he noticed her lightsaber lying idly on the ground and asked why it was doing there.

"Oh, I threw it there in irritation after discovering it didn't work," Arica said nonchalantly, reaching down to pick it up and clipping it back to her belt.

As she than threw her regular sword over her shoulder, Anakin gave her a confused expression.

"Doesn't work? What do you mean it doesn't work?"

"That's just it." She unclipped it from her belt and handed it to him. "Here you try. But I doubt it'll work for you either."

Anakin accepted one of Arica's many lightsabers into his hand and pressed the red activation button. Nothing happened.

He blinked. Again he pressed the red button. Still nothing happened.

"They don't work, no point in even bringing them," Arica commented as Anakin continued pressing the activation button as in hope that it'd suddenly come on.

Reaching onto his own belt to retrieve his lightsaber, Anakin handed Arica back hers.

"It probably malfunctioned. Either that or you're not taking very good care of it."

"Indeed Anakin," was Arica's sarcastic reply as she snatched her 'malfunctioning' lightsaber out of his hands. "And I'm sure yours works perfectly."

"Of course it does. See, watch this."

Anakin pressed the activation button on his own lightsaber, but nothing happened.

Arica gave a sarcastic stare. "Watch what?"

Anakin looked confusedly down at his lightsaber as he continued pressing the activation button.

"Watch you attempt to turn on a non-working lightsaber," Arica drawled. "Is that what I'm supposed to be watching?"

"I don't believe this! I refuse to believe this! Why aren't they working?!"

Anakin continued pressing the small red button that so many times before had turned on at the slightest touch.

"Well, one might wonder why all power aboard the ships went out and why they're still out," Arica reasoned. "Don't know, maybe this planet's immune to electricity of any kind. We won't know unless we have a look around."

Anakin nodded. "You're right. It may seem useless to bring them, but I think we should anyway."

"Okay." Arica clipped her saber back to her belt and Anakin did the same.

"Before we go out though, I think we should grab some supplies," Anakin said.

"Agreed," Arica affirmed.

Giving each other a high five, they boarded the power deprived ship once more and collected a variety of things: another almost similar in design, though somewhat heavier, sword for Anakin; an archery set; glow rods; small particles of food, water, a fold up tent; matches; sleeping bags; and extra clothes. All this, with the exception of the sword and archery set, was packed inside a medium-sized tote bag that the two would share in carrying.

Exiting the ship once more, Anakin used the Force to close it up before they proceeded into the desert landscape of the planet.

Unlike the beach floor that was covered fully in sand, the ground of the desert landscape was hard and dry. The temperature in the air also increased a bit. Not that much, but enough that you could notice it. About five minutes into walking the ground began to rise to a slight hill. At the top, the desert landscape of nothingness disappeared and turned into a landscape filled with cactus' and, interestingly enough if yet strange, rock formations. Stopping briefly to examine the different rock shapes and green prickly cactus', the two than continued on.

Glancing over at a baby cactus plant showed Arica a medium-sized rattlesnake, slithering around it. Tapping her companion on the shoulder, she nodded over to it. "Do you think perhaps that was one of the lifeforms the ships' scanners picked up?"

Anakin frowned. "I doubt it. But than one really can't know."

They continued on.

"There are various types of lifeforms on this planet," he continued. "Animals..."

"...and humans," Arica finished.

Anakin nodded. "Though not many. My guess would be one or two to the most."

"But there's something else," Arica said slowly, almost hesitantly. "I sense a presence in the Force here."

She paused briefly before continuing. "A very vague presence. Untrained in Force potential, but yet still there."

Again, Anakin frowned. "Strange. I don't sense anything."

Arica gave a hum of acknowledgment. "Well I do. I think the Force led us here for a reason."

"You think?" he asked in genuine curiosity.

"I do," she affirmed.

Anakin nodded slightly, but didn't give Arica's word much thought. It's not that he didn't believe her. It's just that he didn't sense anything. But who knows, maybe Arica was sensing something that he couldn't for some reason.

Arica, meanwhile, couldn't shake the sense of this mysterious untrained Force signature.

"Perhaps it's their son Alexander," Anakin mused aloud to Arica. "They could actually be here on this planet, but-but I doubt it."

"No, I don't think so," Arica said, still in thought. "This untrained Force presence is no mere child or baby."

"How can you know?"

"I don't know. I just...do."

Another pause went by.

"I don't know, maybe I'm just going crazy."

"I don't doubt that Arica," Anakin quipped.

Arica gave the grinning Anakin a punch on the arm. His response was wrapping his right arm around her neck and giving her a peak on the brow. With a slight giggle, Arica placed a kiss of her own on Anakin's cheek. They continued on in silence, arms still wrapped around the other.

Two hours were spent walking in the desert landscape, going up a few hills on occasion, before they conclusively came across the lush green, grassy fields.

"Finally!" Arica exclaimed with joy as they entered the field.

She disengaged herself from Anakin and ran further into the field, than collapsing onto her back in the soft grass. Anakin was soon joining her and dropped their bag of supplies onto the ground beside them. The long walk in the desert had tired the two a lot than they realized before falling to the ground. Simply lying in the grass a good three minutes or so, Anakin finally sat up and began rummaging through the bag for food. Both deciding upon what they wanted, the pair ate contentedly, all the while chatting idly about their surroundings in-between. They continued on twenty minutes later.

A half-hour after this found them a mile or so from the base of what turned out to be a volcano, not a mountain like they'd originally thought. It wasn't active though, so they were safe to be around it. The twosome was just about to go around the side of it when they suddenly heard the sound of a creature screeching. Looking all around for the source of the noise, they spotted some trees a short distance behind them shaking violently, the leaves on them rustling rapidly. A moment later, a creature appeared out of the trees, than another. They looked to be the combinations of snakes and lizards in a giraffe-like body with the lizard half as the bottom and the snake half as the top, its long slithering body acting as the neck. Catching sight of the humans, the creatures gave more slithering sounds of shrieks and came at them snapping their mouths open and closed.

Arica, who had been standing stock still in shock at the sight of them, instantly ran the moment the creatures made towards them. Anakin, however, whipped out his archery set and made to shot the creatures down. Noticing that Anakin wasn't running beside her, Arica stopped and looked back. Seeing what he was about to do, she ran back and grabbed him around the waist.

"Come on! Put that archery set away this instant and let's go!"

Anakin hesitated at first, but after more of Arica's irritated protests and the creatures coming closer and closer by the second, their long slithering necks thrashing about towards them, heads chomping, and licking their lips rapidly, did Anakin quickly nod and run off with Arica.

Roaring with rage, the creatures upped their pace and Anakin and Arica were forced to run at Force enhanced speed to keep away from them. They were chased the mile distance to the base of the volcano and began climbing up with rapid speed. Halfway up however, they stopped briefly to look down at the 'slizards.'

They were at the base of the volcano, but because of their bodies could not climb up after them, they merely stretched their long necks towards the humans, hoping to bite them off the volcano.

"Keep going!" Anakin yelled to Arica.

She didn't need to be told twice. And it was a good thing she was so quick to, for the very spot she'd been at a second before was now the head of one of the slizards, licking and biting at the volcano surface.

They heard the obvious roars of rage from the slizards continue but didn't stop to look, just kept going till they made it to the very top of the volcano, and safety. For the moment anyway.

Looking back down showed that the slizards were still down there, growling up at them with licking chomps. Arica shared a relieved breath with Anakin as they both set their attention before them into the mouth of the volcano.

Pitch dark blackness lay beneath, but a small light of reddish orange glowed slightly dim in the darkness.

Taking a tentative step forward, Arica made to take a closer look but Anakin was quick to stop her.

"Arica, stay back," he sternly advised with an arm blocking her path.

Arica rolled her eyes and moved Anakin's arm out of the way. "It's not active."

Just as Arica was about to crouch down and take a closer look another screech of a creature was heard, but it wasn't the slizards. A moment later, some strange looking flying creature flew by. Anakin ducked in time, but Arica didn't and was knocked into the open mouth of the volcano.

"Arica!" Anakin yelled.

Quickly grabbing a grappling hook he threw the tote bag he was carrying to the ground and secured it with a nearby heavy rock, connected one half of the hook to himself, the other half to the bag and jumped in after her. Within a few falling seconds, he caught her ankle in his hand.

"All right Arica, this is what we're going to do. Reach up and grab a hold of my other hand."

Arica reached up as much as she could and grabbed onto Anakin's flesh hand, causing him to lose his grip on her ankle, thus causing her to lose her grip on his hand and having to throw her arms around his neck to stop from falling. This caused his archery set to fall off his back and into the abyss of the volcano below.

"My archery set!"

"How cares about your stupid archery set!" Arica yelled. "Just get me out of here!"

"I'd get us both out if my power harpoon rope was working."

"All right, than I'm going to climb over you and attempt to get to the tote bag above."

Letting one arm lose its grip on Anakin's neck, Arica, with his help, pushed upwards and climbed onto his back. She than grabbed onto the grappling cord and began to climb up it.

A second later however she stopped with wide eyes at the now tarring cord. Looking up she also saw that the tote bag was coming closer and closer to the edge of the volcano's mouth. Either way if the cord broke first or the bag fell over they were going to fall to their dooms.

"Why did you stop?" Anakin asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Close your eyes," Arica instructed.

"Why?" Anakin asked in confusion.

Arica didn't answer, merely closed her eyes slightly at the perpetual tarring cord.

For a moment, the cord stopped tarring and just hung onto its last thread. A instant after that however, the cord snapped and they began to fall into the depths of the volcano, screaming, the tote bag falling after them.

As they continued to fall deeper and deeper into the depths of the volcano, they awaited the hard fall of landing onto the volcano floor. But it never came.

Hours went by and they were still free falling into the seemingly endless abyss, the only sound being heard was that of the wind whipping rapidly past them at an expedient pace.

As there wasn't anything else to do, Anakin repositioned himself from his falling position so that he was lying stretched out in midair with his hands behind his head.

He sighed. _Would this falling ever end?_

Meanwhile, across from him, Arica also repositioned herself so she was lying on her back. Crossing her arms across her chest she looked up, wondering if she'd see the top. But no top could be seen, only forever reddish orange volcanic light with no end above, below, or on the sides. They were surrounded and engulfed in endless light.

She turned her head over in Anakin's direction with a sigh. "How long do you think we've been falling?" she asked.

He glanced over at her and shrugged. "I don't know. Three hours maybe."

"Feels like four," she said.

Again, he shrugged.

In actuality, it'd been 3 ½ hours, but they of course had no way of knowing this.

A few more silence filled minutes went by before Anakin realized he was hungry. Reaching into one of his pants pockets, he took out his bag of unfinished peanuts and began to eat.

Noticing Anakin moving around and popping things into his mouth, Arica turned to look at him again. It took a moment for her to realize what it was he was doing. When she figured it out, she was disgusted.

"How can you be eating at a time like this?"

Anakin only spared her a smirk. "You know that sinking feeling you get in the gut when you fall a long distance?"

"Of course."

The smirk became more pronounced. "I'd say it went away after the first hour."

Before Arica could say anything in response to this, Anakin gave a yell. Looking down, she gave one of her own.

As the gravity of the volcano turned them onto their stomachs, the volcanic abyss around them finally came to an end and they found themselves floating suspended over some type of device. Looking around them showed they were inside some kind of dark cavern, and looking below showed that the device they were suspended over was engulfed in a small pool of water.

Looking around themselves once more, Anakin caught sight of someone hiding behind a nearby boulder.

"Hey there!" he greeted. "Who are you?"

Arica looked over at Anakin in confusion. "Did you see someone?"

"Yes, over there!" He nodded to the boulder.

Squinting her eyes, Arica saw the figure of what looked to be a human hiding behind it.

"What do you want?" the figure asked in a male voice.

"At the present, I would like to get down!" Anakin replied.

"Who are you?" the figure asked.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker," Anakin blurted out before he could stop himself. Realizing his mistake, he made to correct it. "I mean-"  
_"Just stick with Anakin Skywalker,"_ Arica hastily thought to him.

"Yes." Anakin gave a slight look at Arica before turning back to the boulder. "I'm Anakin Skywalker," he continued, "former Jedi Knight of the Galactic New Republic, current Supreme Commander of the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy, and fifth in line to the Imperial throne."

A "Hmm" came from behind the boulder before the figure stepped out from behind it and towards them. The figure was a man whom looked to be in his late early forties. He was dressed in what looked to be a scientist like outfit with messy brown hair and broken eyeglasses that were currently lying around his neck.

He offered a slightly nervous smile as he introduced himself. "I'm Romano, sole inhabitant of this planet." He turned his attention to Arica. "And you are?"

"Arica Grievous," she said with a small wave.

Romano gave a nod and flipped a switch on the side of the boulder. The suspensions that were held below them disappeared, causing them to fall onto the device and than into the water below.

"Hey! Watch it!" Romano protested.

Anakin and Arica both picked themselves up groggily out of the water and onto the hard ground next to it.

"Sorry," Anakin apologized. "We've just fallen about four hours. We're a little clumsy."

"You weren't falling," Romano said with a mysterious smile. "It was an illusion."

Slightly confused, they looked up to see the mouth of the volcano not thirty feet above. Exchanging a glance they than looked over at the device they'd been suspended on a moment ago to find that it was actually a miniature volcano that looked strangely like the one they'd climbed up a few hours earlier. Around the volcano were landmasses, lush green areas, and yellow desert areas surrounded by a pool of water.

"What is this?" Anakin queried.

"It's a miniature of the planet," Romano answered.

"Impressive," Anakin said giving it a look of pure interest.

Romano seemed to swell at the compliment. "Well science is impressive, and fascinating."

Before anyone could say anything else though, an animalistic roar could be heard above them. This assessment told both Sith they were inside the volcano underground.

"Quickly! We must get somewhere safe!" Romano urged and darted up a set of stairs next to the boulder they hadn't even known was there. Shrugging at each other, Anakin and Arica followed him up.

The stairs they climbed led to a hallway that led to the inside of a mildly sun-filled room. The sight of the sun told them they were on ground level again, even if all the windows inside were covered by drapes that showed no access to the outside world.

"The creatures you're hearing," Romano said softly. "They're my experiments...run a muck."

"What happened?" Arica asked in awe.

Romano sighed and gestured for them to sit down at a nearby table. They complied though, he remained standing.

"I had this whole wonderful idea planned for kids who could, instead of going to a zoo to see animals, could actually have their own miniature zoos inside their homes."

"Really?" Both young people asked in interest.

Romano nodded and went over to a wooden cabinet box shelf that sitting nearby against a wall on the room's right side. He retrieved a box from the lowest shelf and placed it on the table before them.

"This is 'Romano's Zoo.'" As he continued he opened the door to the box that looked remarkably like a barn. "It has miniatures of all your usual intergalactic zoo animals: nerfs, banthas, reeks, shaaks, nexu, ackleys..."

As Romano spoke, the miniatures of each animal he named, plus others, came out of the box and walked onto the table. The pair of explorers gazed down at the tiny animals in awe and Arica even decided to take the miniature nexu into her hands and stroke its fur. The usually dangerous feline creature purred and gave a roar of delight.

"This is nice Romano," Anakin complimented, taking one of the ackleys in hand and fingering it. "I think my own kids, though small themselves, would love this."

"I did try samples on kids," Romano said, "and they did enjoy the zoo. But than I started to think, why not use my imagination to create an entirely different miniature zoo."

Romano returned to the wooden cabinet to retrieve the other box that was sitting on the lowest shelf and sat it on the table next to the first zoo.

"'Romano's Zoo II.' An entirely new miniature zoo."

Romano opened the barn door and various freaks of nature came out.

"Grazer-thranta?" Arica asked at the sight of a plumb grazer, native to Alderaan, with the wings and tail of a Thranta, also native to Alderaan.

"Deer-duck," Anakin said observing the native creatures of Alderaan and Naboo together in the form of a duck's head and deer's body.

"Blastail-monkey," both said at the sight of a spiked monkey, native to the outer rim system Yavin, with the body of a native to Kashyyyk, Blastail, a predatory feline that could be found on most levels of the planet's multilayered forests. The quizzical, yet amused looks given to Romano were answered with a shrug.

Turning their attention back to the mixed creatures, they saw a miniature of the creatures they were chased by earlier. It's snake half was that of the crystal snakes native to Yavin, though it was hard to tell what type of lizard was its bottom half.

"Slizard?" Arica asked.

"Yeah," Romano affirmed. "Be careful of them."

Just as the words were out of the scientist's mouth, the tiny slizard snapped its chomps up at Arica's wondering finger. She yanked it away quickly.

"We were chased by two of these earlier," Anakin commented taking it between his mechanical fingers and swinging it around by its neck.

"Anakin, stop it!" Arica protested to Anakin's smirking face. "Monstrous creature though it may be, still..."

"Don't you think it's interesting though," he commented, still swinging the slizard around. "Seeing a miniature version of the creature. It doesn't look nearly as..._monstrous_, as you say Arica."

With a wink, he finally put the slizard down.

Several more of the freaks of nature – Kybuck-Whisper bird, Grantaloupe-shaak, Katarn-Akk dog – were observed as Romano started to speak again.

"So than I started to think, what if I could make them all a wee bit bigger. For kids with meatier hands." He shook his head sadly. "That's when things went very wrong. I applied a growth serum, but they took to it all too much."

Anakin and Arica gave a nod of understanding.

"I've been locked up in here every since," he continued. "I'm afraid to go out there again. I created them-and yet they wish to eat me. Do you think the gods stay in heaven because they're afraid of what's been created here in the universe?"

Anakin and Arica exchanged a look that clearly said, 'Is this guy for real?'

Catching their look, Romano grew defensive. "Stop looking at me like that." He put his broken glasses back on his face. "I'm no loon."

"What I'm still trying to figure out is why when anything electrical comes onto this planet it stops working," Anakin said.

Romano shrugged. "Don't know. When my ship crashed here-"

"Your ship crashed here?!" Arica asked.

"Is that how you got here?" Anakin asked.

"When did this happen?" Arica wanted to know.

"Why were you out here to begin with?" Anakin added.

Romano gave them an amused smile. "The two of you are just full of questions, aren't you?"

Noticing their look of determination for answers, he sighed. "Well, sit down and I'll tell you."

They both did so and Romano began to explain.

"Some scientist buddies and I, for a while, had been wanting to discover the unknown secrets of the uncharted areas of space beyond the Outer Rim for years. There were myths saying that untold riches awaited all those who ventured into it. This was like a year or two ago. So while some of us wanted riches, most of us merely wanted the freedom to do experiments without negative interferences, like where to do them so other people wouldn't get hurt, how costly it'd be, and other such rubbish. We skipped over the first three planets because we didn't like them too much. Too dead for our tastes. But this planet, this was perfect. It was uninhabited at the time and a wonderful paradise. Sadly on our way down, the ship crashed into the other side of the volcano. All, with the exception of me, died."

"We're sorry to hear that," Anakin said.

Romano shrugged. "I've gotten over it. And I like it here, even if I can't go outside."

"But, why can't you?" Arica asked.

"My experiments! They'd eat me! Look at what they tried to do to you!"

"They didn't know who we were," Anakin reasoned. "That's probably why they attacked. Have you ever considered the possibility that if you were to go outside they wouldn't attack you since they were, after all, your experiments?"

Romano gave him a look of disbelief that was soon followed by a hoot of laughter. "Not in your life young man! No way am I going outside."

"Maybe if you just gave the creatures a chance they wouldn't be half bad," Anakin said with a shrug.

Romano continued to look disbelieving. "You're out of your mind!"

Again Anakin shrugged. "Maybe I am, but think of it this way: you've been hiding in this volcano for the past almost two years now. Surely you must be tired of being cooped up in here. You just gotta show those creatures whose boss. You brought them into this world, and you can just as well take them out."

The scientist appeared to ponder these words of advice a moment, though he still didn't look so sure.

"Just think about it, all right?" Anakin urged.

He shrugged. "All right, but I don't know what good it'll do."

"That's all I needed to know."

Anakin gave him what could be taken as friendly smile. And it was returned somewhat as Arica came out of the revive of thought she was in concerning this Force presence she continued to feel. Oddly, it was somehow a bit stronger now. Not much, but just slightly.

"And you're sure no one else besides you survived the crash?" she asked.

"No."

"Who all was on the ship that came out here, if I may ask? Any Jedi?"

"No, no Jedi." Romano gave a shrug. "Just a few buddies of mine. Oh and one of their daughters. Yeah, I remember that now. She was like 11 or 12 years old at the time."

"Making her 13 or 14 now," Arica mumbled.

Romano appeared not to have heard her, but Anakin did.

"But like everyone else," Romano continued, "she died too."

"You're sure?" Arica pressed.

"Well of course I'm sure." He now appeared somewhat agitated. "If one of them did survive, I'd be bound to know."

"How?" Anakin asked. "You're always in here hiding."

"For one, the planetary miniature you saw down below is more than just that," he explained. "It's also a diagram of the planet's entirety. It's how I keep track of my experiments' comings and goings. It's also how I found out when you two arrived. I saw it on the diagram and drove you towards me with the slizards. So you see, if there were any survivors walking around the planet, I'd know."

The two saw his point and nodded.

"Which leads to my first question," Romano continued. "What brings two young people such as yourselves all the way out here in the Unknown Regions? Explorers perhaps? Treasure hunters maybe?"

"Oh no, no," Anakin assured. "Nothing like that."

The duo proceeded to tell Romano about the empire, kidnapping of Anakin's children, and the search and rescue they were doing for them and also the traitors of the government.

Romano appeared thoughtful when they were done speaking. "That's interesting," he said at length. "I never thought the Jedi would turn against the New Republic like that. Oh well. That's what you get for staying out in the Unknown Regions for years at a time I guess. I doubt any fugitive Jedi are on the loose here though. Maybe in the other Unknown Region planets, but not here."

Both nodded at this. And even though Arica saw the unlikeliness of it, she still couldn't shake this Force sensitive presence she sensed on the planet. Finally pushing it aside as the Force playing tricks on her, she began to go over the dilemma of how they would get off the planet once done exploring it.

Anakin seemed to be thinking the same thing for he asked, "But how are we supposed to leave than? We can't just stay here forever, you know. We have duties back home. Plus, there are at least three more planets out there, maybe more, just waiting to be explored. And it's possible the Jedi maybe on them as well. We thank you for your hospitality Romano, but if there's no one here except you and your experiments, than we really should be going."

"You're welcome to come with us," Arica was quick to add and Anakin nodded.

"Oh no thank you," Romano objected. "I could never leave this world. It's too lovely. As for you, well..."

He seemed to hesitant a moment before continuing.

"...there is a way but-I don't know if it'll work or not. It didn't when I tried but...maybe since you both are, as you said Arica, 'Force sensitive beings' maybe you can do it."

He went back over to his wooden cabinet and retrieved what appeared to be old scrolls. Both Sith noticed how careful he was being with them all as he put the 'Romano's Zoos' on the floor next to the table and laid the two scrolls out in their place.

"Before I did my experiments, and they led to disaster, I did a lot of exploring around the planet," he explained. "In my explorations, I came across many extinct plants and insects along with some actual treasure guarded by a troop of ancient skeletons. It was in the cavern with the treasure that I came across these," he gestured down at the scrolls. "They speak of an ancient crystal of interestingly strong power. I know it probably sounds stupid to you, but according to the scrolls, it says that only a being that can wield some type of untamed mystical power can activate the crystal, thus restoring the power of the crystal back to the planet. You see, since the crystal's deactivated that's why everything of electrical current that comes onto the planet instantly shuts off."

Anakin allowed a small smirk. "I thought you said you didn't know why there was no power here?"

Romano's face flushed slightly. "Well I know I said that but, I wasn't sure who you were and what your purpose here was. I had to be sure I could trust you."

Arica forced herself to smile. "Well now that we've proven ourselves trustworthy, can you tell us where this crystal is located. I'm not admitting I think it has actual power, but it's worth a try."

"Yeah, I'm game," Anakin added.

"Okay." Romano rolled up one of the scrolls and handed it to Anakin. "That there map will tell you everything you need to know about the planet and how to get to the crystal. This scroll," he rolled up the other and handed it to Arica, "will tell you everything you need to know about the crystal and how to activate it. Good fortune. You both can start from the exit over there." He pointed to the left and gave a slight chuckle. "For I doubt you want to be lifted back into the volcano."

"Oh no," Anakin said while Arica shook her head.

"Well, the door's over here," Romano said heading over towards what appeared to be a door, only it was so heavily padlocked and chained that unless you took a really good look you may not of known what it was.

Amusedly watching him unlock the door, they waited a good two minutes before he was finally done.

With the door unlatched at last, Romano gestured them towards it, bid them "good fortune" once more and made to run off.

"But Romano," Arica called, not able to help the slight trace of amusement in her voice, "aren't you coming with us?"

"Yeah," Anakin joined in, "with us as protectors, your experiments wouldn't dare harm you. Besides, they can't all be bad. After all, what can a part Grantalope, part shaak or part Kybuck, part Whisper bird do to someone anyway?"

"I'm not going out there!" Romano exclaimed. "I'll be eaten!" He than dashed off and disappeared from sight.

Shaking their heads as they watched him go, Anakin and Arica couldn't help but share the same thought.

_What a bizarre man._

Shrugging, they proceeded out of the shack and into the still brightly shining sunshine. Using the Force to lock the door behind them, they looked around to see where they were. As they thought, they were just outside the volcano. The only reason they hadn't seen Romano's shack when they ran past it earlier it was for two reasons: 1) it was surrounded by bushes, and 2) they were too preoccupied with getting away from the slizards – whom were thankfully no longer at the base of the volcano – to notice anything else.

Slowly unrolling the scroll he was given, Anakin examined it, with Arica looking over his shoulder. From where they were at the volcano, they'd have to go a ways east through the rest of the jungle and back into the desert. Anakin gently folded the scroll back up once he was done with it.

Before starting their journey towards the crystal though, the pair decided to go around to the other side of the volcano and look at the crashed ship out of curiosity. There wasn't much left to be seen. Most of the wreckage was nothing more than scrap metal now and Anakin's thoughts about possibly repairing it were dashed. It was unsalvageable to the extreme. Shrugging, the two explorers left the crash site and headed Far East.

The duo journeyed for a length of four hours before finally halting at the site of a small waterfall. They sat in the grassy field at the base of it and ate a small meal to re-energize themselves. While eating, the two also laid out the two scrolls they were given and looked them over. According to the map, they were still approximately twelve miles off from the crystal temple. This was good considering they'd just walked the same amount in the last four hours, walking a distance of 3-miles per hour. Rolling the map back up, they brought their attention back towards the crystal scroll.

Though both scrolls were very old, it was obvious which one was more ancient. The crystal scroll had frayed edges and the writing on it was so worn you could barely see it, let alone read it. Plus, it was also in an old, uncommon tongue so it was impossible to read.

"Impossible Arica," Anakin said picking up on some of her thoughts. "No, no. Nothing is impossible. Stretch out with your feelings into the Force Arica," he instructed. "Concentrate on wanting to know what the scroll says. Allow the Force to help you see and understand."

Arica did as Anakin instructed, her eyes still glued to the scroll markings, and right before her eyes the unknown tongue of the paper began to become clear and she could read what it said.

_'__The Crystal of the planet Elderin is a jewel of blinding light and astonishing power. Many men whom wished to take the Crystal for themselves and their own personal gain have died in the process or been driven to the brick of insanity, blinded by the power of the beautiful gem._

_The Crystal originated at the birth of the world, however it isn't known how it got to be in the temple of Elderin. It was just there. As it is now, and as it always will be till the end of the world._

_Astonishing power though it possesses, the Crystal has not been in activation for over a thousand years. It was deactivated when a group of mystical Force-wielding explorers came to the planet and attempted to take the power of the Crystal with them by using their powers to disengage it from the ceiling of the temple._

_Though the Crystal remained firmly intact, it deactivated itself, awaiting the return of another of untamed mystical power to reactivate it again by means of sacrifice.'_

Below this, several pictures were drawn of inside the Elderin temple. From what they could make out, it appeared that the crystal hung above a pool of water.

"Than how are you supposed to get to the crystal?" Arica protested. "And once you get to it, how are you supposed to activate it? It doesn't even say. And what's this about a sacrifice?"

Turning the scroll over on its other side in hopes of seeing more writing, she was not surprised to see blank paper.

"I suppose we'll figure out what to do once we get there," Anakin reasoned.

Arica sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I just always usually like to know what I'm up against before the effect of doing it." She gave a dry laugh. "Call it the 'General' part of me."

Anakin chuckled. "That's where I'm different. I don't think about the coming danger beforehand, I simply charge in and deal with it as it's happening."

The two shared a laugh and Anakin picked up the scrolled map again, looking to see if any shortcuts existed.

"It's not that I don't mind going another four hours," he said to Arica's unsaid query, "but shortcuts are always nice."

After looking a good five minutes, Anakin did indeed find a shortcut that was located, strangely enough, right behind them in the waterfall! Jumping into the pool below would lead them to an underground cavern. Once out of the cavern, which led into the desert, you'd be within five-miles of the temple.

Relaying this information to Arica, they began to pack their things back into the tote bag. However, it was than that they heard the cry of a creature approaching. Fascinatingly enough, they hadn't met any creatures in their 4-hour walk through the jungle, though they were sure Romano had something to do with that and his miniature of the planet.

The cry was sounded again, but louder and nearer this time. A few seconds later a large, life-size version of the Blastail-monkey they'd seen earlier in Romano's shack appeared hissing sharply.

Though now that the two knew what the creatures really were and were no longer afraid, they still couldn't help but be a little wary of them as they slowly backed away from the approaching creature, towards the pool that led to the underground cavern.

"Maybe it's friendly," Anakin suggested.

The Blastail-monkey took that moment to let out a snarling roar and a dozen more of its kind arrived, eying the two in predatory mode.

"Maybe it's not," Arica said in response to Anakin's suggestion.

And without another thought on the matter, the two turned and jumped into the pool behind them, falling through a single sheet of water before than falling into a pool below the pool they'd just fallen through.

Breaking the surface of the water, they gave a few coughs and looked above.

As impossible as it seemed, the pool they'd fallen through above was no more than a single sheet of water simply suspended in mid-air while the pool they'd fallen into was a good 10-feet deep.

Continuing to cough up more water and catch their breaths, they climbed out of the pool and after silently changing into a fresh set of dry clothes proceeded forward into the dim cavern.

The hallway they began to walk in reminded them of a dim, dark tunnel. Practically all of it was dark; not so much that they needed their glow rods for as they continued on the slight glow of the sun could be seen vaguely ahead above some stairs. When they reached these, after about a half-hour, and climbed to the top they found themselves inside what appeared to be an ancient temple. Looking around, they found the sights of various olden sand crafted statues to be mildly interesting.

_Funny, this statue looks like a nerf dog,_ Anakin thought.

"_Yeah it does," _Arica responded.

Anakin turned his attention from the nerf dog like statue and back to her with an amused raised eyebrow.

"_Were you just eavesdropping on my thoughts, little girl?"_ he asked.

But though his mouth was moving no words came out. Arica heard them in her mind.

Realizing that no words came out of his mouth, Anakin clapped his hand over it in confusion.

"_Why can't we say anything in here?"_ Anakin mouthed, but again Arica picked up the question via thought.

"_I don't know,"_ she mouthed and thought at the same time. _"But I don't think we can communicate any other way except by thought here. Magic."_

"_I call it strange,"_ Anakin thought.

"_A little,"_ she agreed. _"And I do think this place is a little weird-I mean statues of nerf dogs?-Let's go up those stairs ahead."_

Arica pointed North East towards a small set of large horizontal stairs.

"_Good thinking,"_ Anakin agreed.

They proceeded up the stairs and went to their left since there was nothing but a dead end to their right. Going to their left, they walked a short distance that led to a narrow undoored doorway. Anakin let Arica go in first, and he followed.

Taking a quick glance around the room they blinked, obviously thinking their eyes were playing tricks on them. But they weren't. There before them was a room fit to burst with treasure, treasure, and even more treasure! Rubies, diamonds, crystals, gold, silver, gems...

_Wow!_ Anakin thought, his greedy eyes taking it all in.

Arica, on the other hand, could've cared less about the treasure. She merely showed mild interest in it; picking up a few of the things to take a closer look at and than putting them back where they came from.

Strangely enough, in the room along with the treasure were two dead skeletons that appeared to be in an endless battle over a ruby diamond necklace. Their backs were arched and hands were each clasping one end of the necklace.

Anakin looked thoughtfully at the ruby gem. _'This must have been a pretty exquisite diamond for them to die fighting over it. I wonder how much this would be worth in-'_

"_Put it back Anakin!"_

He stopped his reach for it at Arica's sharp tone and glare. She'd just been about to proceed into the hall when she'd heard his greedy thoughts.

"_This land is ancient and cursed,"_ she continued._ "If you take anything, you'll doom us both. Let's go!"_

All during her reprimand, Arica used various hand gestures to go with her words, and at "Let's go!" she jerked her thumb towards the hallway and with a swish of her black hair disappeared within it.

Anakin rolled his eyes, but made sure she was officially gone when he yanked the gem out of the skeletons' grasp, stuffing it in his pocket. Little did he know that as he than ran to catch up with Arica, the theft he'd just committed awakened a curse inside the temple.

"Come on!" Arica said a bit impatiently at the end of the hallway as Anakin was now jogging to catch up. They were at a fork in the path. One way went left; the other right.

"Which way do you think we should go?" she asked.

Not even mentioning the fact that they could speak with their voices again, Anakin said, "Oh I don't know, how about right."

Taking the right path turned out to be a mistake, as they quickly learned. It'd simply led them back into the main temple chambers with the statues inside.

"_What are we doing back in here?"_ Anakin wondered.

"_We're going in circles,"_ Arica thought. _"I know what we did wrong. Come on Anakin!"_

She than proceeded to run back up the stairs and into the treasure room. Anakin took the ruby diamond necklace out of his pocket and gave it wary look before darting after her.

"_We have to go left, that's what we did wrong,"_ she thought to him as he continued after her.

Once inside the treasure room again, while Arica kept going, Anakin stopped briefly.

'_Maybe I should put this back,'_ he thought, making to put the gem back where he found it. Only the skeletons were no longer there. He looked around the room in confusion, but they were no where in sight.

'_Where are the dead skeletons?!'_

Than out of nowhere, a high-pitched scream was sounded. He recognized the voice of the screamer instantly as Arica.

Whipping his sword off his back and unsheving it from its case, he ran out of the room, down the hall, made a left turn, and ran down another hall. By the time he got to the end of the growing in brightness hallway and was back outside in the bright sunlight, Anakin had to stop in shock at the sight before him.

Arica was being chased up a small high by about a dozen or so of (wait for it) skeletons. Actual live skeletons who were wielding swords in their bony hands. Upon reaching the top, she began to engage them all in battle with her own sword. Going as far as battling three at a time and using the sword case as a weapon also. The Force was also used to push the skeletons at bay, but they kept coming back at her, noises of anger admitting from their skeletal mouths.

Despite the shock of the situation, Anakin was immediately in action, running forward, sword at the ready and began hacking through the skeletons.

Heads, arms, and legs flew everywhere, but strangely enough the hacked up skeletons did not stop fighting or fall back at all. The ones that had been decapitated merely reached onto the ground for their fallen heads and placed it back on their shoulders before charging again, some still going for Arica, others for Anakin.

The ones that had their legs and arms sliced off simply did the same – simply reconnected their fallen parts and charged again.

This turn of events took the young Sith by surprise. The more they fought and more aggressive they became did nothing to slow down the skeletons. Though one thing Anakin was happy over was that most of them were now engaging him in battle while only a few stayed with Arica.

Two things happened an instant later: 1) Anakin used a Force-push to send most of the skeletons off the cliff of what turned out to be a high mountain, not a hill, and 2) a loud screech was heard overhead.

It was the same creature that knocked Arica into the volcano earlier, though neither had been able to get a good look at it: the life-size version of the Grazer-thranta. It lowered itself as it flew by ever so quickly and picked Arica up in its wake.

"Arica!" Anakin called after her.

The distraction was all the remaining skeletons needed. Just as Anakin yelled Arica's name, what looked to be the leader skeleton stepped forward, and with the aid of the few others, gave an almighty push. Anakin lost his footing and fell over the cliff. But before he could get too far, he grabbed onto one of the loose rock hedges at the edge of the cliff, dropping his sword into the valley of desert below in the process. But he didn't care about the sword. He could get another or call it back later. All he cared about was Arica and undoing the madness he'd just caused. For he knew that it had to do with the ruby diamond that the skeletons had come to life. They wanted it back, and would not stop fighting until they got it.

Slowly moving his slightly cut hands off the rock hedge, he called upon the Force and somersaulted through the air. He landed behind the skeletons. They quickly turned however when they saw him land and charged towards him angrily, their swords glistening in the sun.

"Stop!" he called out, hastily retrieving the ruby diamond from his pocket and throwing it at them.

They stopped their charge, dropped their swords, and like the savage vultures they were, scrambled onto the ground to grab a hold of the diamond.

Anakin walked a distance away from them as they continued to fight over it, gradually making their way back in the temple and disappearing from sight.

Heaving a deep sigh, he went to the ledge of the cliff and called his sword back in hand from the hundreds of feet it'd fallen below and called out to Arica in the Force, desperately trying to discover where she was taken.

"_Arica! Arica! Answer me!"_


	19. Andrea and the Crystal

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 19: Andrea and the Crystal

After being abducted by the Grazer-thranta, Arica was eventually dumped off, hard, into its nest while the creature, meanwhile, continued to fly on. Because of her distraught state, she did not hear Anakin trying to contact her via mental waves. And once she was dumped in the nest, Anakin became the least of her worries, for there sitting right in front of her was the Force sensitive being she'd sensed ever since arriving. It was the girl that supposedly died in the crash Romano was in. Her name was Andrea.

"Wow! For a moment there I thought I was the only human on this planet," the girl said. "Do you live here? What's your name?"

Arica smiled at the girl's over excitement to be among another human.

"Arica," she replied. "And no I don't live here. You're Andrea."

The girl – Andrea – appeared confused. "Yes, but-how did you know that?"

"You're thought to be dead," Arica explained. "Tell me, does the name Romano sound familiar to you?"

Andrea still looked confused, but answered nonetheless. "Well yes. He was one of my dad's friends. Is he still alive than?"

"Yes, we met him earlier."

Arica told Andrea of their arrival on the planet, everything that had happened to them since, and the reason they were in the Unknown Regions to begin with, which led to the explanation of how the New Republic was now an empire and that the Clone Wars had ended a little over a year ago. Andrea was very fascinated to learn that.

"Oh good. It was very dreadful and horrible when we left. That's another reason we came here – because of the war. Daddy wanted to get away from it, and me away from it. I overheard him talking to a friend one night. He said, 'with all the Jedi being killed off, he wanted me gone from known space as quickly as possible.' I never understood why though. The way he was saying it was as if someone was going to come and take me from him or something."

Arica nodded. "You're Force sensitive. I wonder if you were one of the children denied to the temple as an infant? It's possible you know. Not all Force sensitives are trained as Jedi...or Sith. Not all parents wish to part with their children."

If Andrea was confused before, she was even more now. "But-Force sensitive? I-no. I couldn't be Force sensitive. The only stuff I know about the Force is from books."

"Oh, but you are," Arica assured her. "I sensed you here as soon as we arrived. That's how I know your name. The Force told me." She gave a smile to the strange look on Andrea's face. "I'm sure this is probably somewhat disturbing to you, but it's true. You see this stick here?" Arica gestured towards a nearby stick lying next to her propped up arm. Andrea nodded. "Concentrate in your mind on lifting it up with the Force," she instructed. "And no this isn't a joke," she added.

Andrea looked a cross between impressed and mildly suspicious. "You're pretty good at that mind reading stuff."

Arica smiled. "Indeed I am."

Andrea shrugged. "Well okay. But no laughing," she warned with a raised finger.

"Why would I laugh at you Andrea?" Arica asked. "You still think this is a joke? (Andrea nodded) Well than prove to yourself that it isn't. Clear your mind and concentrate on the stick. If you are Force sensitive, it'll lift into the air at your thought. If you're not, than it won't. Ready?"

Andrea shrugged again. "I guess so."

"You guess so Andrea," Arica repeated. "No. You either are, or you're not."

Again Andrea shrugged. "Well I don't know. I still think this is weird. It's like something out of a holoflick."

Arica sighed tiredly. "Of course, of course. But you are Force sensitive Andrea. Know that. In time you'll discover it for yourself."

Andrea still looked unsure, so merely shrugged again. "If you say so."

"It's not because I say so Andrea, its because it's true. But enough of that. How did you survive the crash? And what have you been doing over the past two years if Romano didn't know you were here? Unless of course that was a lie, and he was simply doing it to protect you from us."

"Well I don't know what Romano knows, but obviously I was knocked into a coma when the crash happened. I remember how panicked everyone was when we started to go down, but after that my memory is blurred. All I can remember is that the ship made an extreme head-on collusion and than all went black. It seemed to go on forever, but than I suddenly woke up a few days ago. Though I didn't have the full functions of my limbs, I was all right nonetheless. Because of my non-functioning limbs, I had to wait a long while until they came back. I don't know how long it took – a day perhaps – I just know it took a while. Anyway, when they finally came back I climbed out of what was left of the wrecked ship. It was last night when I did this. I wasn't really sure what to do or where to go. I didn't think there were any other survivors, but I decided to look anyway. So I strolled around all last night, with the end result of nothing. Nothing but a lush forest and dry desert. Around sunrise however, I found various live things. Things that, as strange as it sounds, looked remotely like Katarn-Akk dogs, a Grantaloupe-shaak, and a nexu-nerf. Than all of a sudden, before I knew what was happening, I was being lifted into the air by this Grazer-thranta creature and dumped in here, where I've been ever since."

Arica nodded. "But don't you think we should get out of here?"

She got up, looked down out of the nest and gasped. The tree they were in was at least a hundred feet in the air.

"Oh," Arica commented, sitting back down.

Andrea hummed a nod.

The females sat in silence a good five minutes before Arica began to grow restless.

"I refuse to stay here any longer!" she abruptly declared.

Andrea, who was on the verge of falling asleep, sat up quickly at Arica's words.

"I'm calling for help," Arica declared. "Maybe Anakin can assist us somehow."

Closing her eyes, Arica began to concentrate, searching for Anakin's Force signature.

"_Anakin!"_ she called out to him. _"Anakin. Anakin!"_

"_Arica!"_ came Anakin's joyous reply at last. _"Finally! I've been trying to contact you and have been looking around all over for you. Where are you?"_

"_In the Grazer-thranta's nest with the Force sensitive girl I sensed earlier. She turns out to be Romano's friend's daughter. You know, the one whom supposedly died in the crash."_

"_Oh great! Nice to know she's alive after all and I'm glad you found the Force being you've been sensing since we arrived. So where is this nest? I presume in a tree."_

"_Yup."_

"_And where's the tree?"_

"_I haven't a clue."_

"_Right, well I'll just have to follow you and the girl's-"_

"_Her name is Andrea,"_ Arica sharply cut across him.

"_Sorry. You and Andrea's Force signatures to where you both are. Though I still can't sense Andrea's presence. Any ideas?"_

"_Yes actually."_

Briefly breaking out of her Force concentration, Arica opened her eyes to find Andrea watching her intently with interest.

"Andrea, take my hand," she requested.

Andrea did so.

Closing her eyes once more, Arica continued her conversation with Anakin. _"Now do you sense her?"_

After a moment, he responded. _"Yes. You're not that far from where I am. I'll see you and Andrea shortly. Tell her I said 'Hey!'"_

Opening her eyes once more, the connection broke.

Arica relayed Anakin's message to Andrea. "Though you'll have to keep holding my hand till he gets here. I hope you don't mind."

"No, I don't mind," Andrea said with a smile.

Arica smiled back and playfully swung their attached hands about, causing both to laugh lightly.

It was in this time that Arica actually took a good look at her new friend. She was pretty for her age, though not overly so like supermodel or actress beauty. She actually looked her age of 14. She had regular brown colored hair with the same color eyes. And though she wasn't standing, Arica figured she was about medium in height; 5'5' perhaps.

Suddenly, a loud screech was heard overhead, breaking Arica out of her musings of Andrea. Looking up showed them both that the Grazer-thranta was returning to its nest, but since it wasn't carrying anything they knew its intention was to land. If they were to stay where they were, they'd be sat upon by the creature, and neither of them wanted that.

Swiftly getting up, the two looked down. As impossible as the jump seemed it had to be done, so holding tightly onto Andrea's hand Arica jumped out of the nest and aimed their fall towards a nearby smaller jungle tree. Grabbing onto one of its vines they swung through the air, somersaulted and landed smack dab in front of Anakin, who took a surprised step back at their landing.

With a raised eyebrow, he glanced at them and than the hundred foot high tree they'd just jumped from. He whistled. "Impressive." He than glanced at Andrea. "Most impressive."

"Anakin, this is Andrea," Arica introduced. "Andrea, Anakin."

Anakin stuck out his hand. "Hi!"

Andrea accepted the hand over excitedly. "Wow hi! I can't believe this! I'm actually shaking hands with Anakin Skywalker!"

Anakin smirked. "Yes, it is a wondrous feeling, isn't it?"

Andrea nodded eagerly while Arica rolled her eyes.

Inviting Andrea to come along with them, they headed for the temple, which was just North West of their current position. Since the temple could be seen slightly in the distance, they no longer needed the map to guide them, and it only took a half-hour to get to since it was only 1 ½-miles from the Grazer-thranta's tree.

On the way, Anakin, oblivious to the fact that Arica had already told her, explained to Andrea the whole purpose of going to the temple to begin with. But once discovering she'd already been told, he pretty much asked the same questions Arica had concerning her survival of the crash and such. Like last time, Andrea gladly explained everything to the tie.

Funny enough, Anakin remembered her vaguely. They'd never met of course, but he remembered how she was refused to the temple right after her birth.

"This was right after I'd started my training," he explained. "I'd heard from-"

He paused abruptly. He was about to say 'Obi-Wan' but opted not to, refusing to say the old man's name.

"-my old master that a Force sensitive infant girl from Corellia had been denied the right to come to the temple because her father had just lost his wife and the baby was the only part of her he had left."

Andrea nodded at that. "Yeah, daddy took the death of my mom really hard. It's no wonder he was so protective of me growing up. He didn't want to lose me too..." she trailed off, her eyes going distant.

Anakin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know what it's like to lose a parent you're close to. Trust me."

The rest of the way to the temple was spent with Anakin explaining his relationship with his mother to Andrea and how she died. Afterwards, Andrea asked Arica about her own family life, but by than they'd made it to the temple so she was told to wait for "another time."

Glancing up at it, the threesome took a long look at the temple before proceeding forward. It was triangular in shape and reminded Arica of a pyramidal Sith Holocron, except that the entire bottom half of it was composed of stairs.

With Anakin in the lead, they went up the long flight of steps and than, after a brief pause, into the building. When they entered, they were in a room submerged in darkness, with the only light being behind them at the entranceway and a short distance ahead in a hallway that led to a slightly lighted chamber.

Cautiously moving forward they walked through the single person hallway and into the chamber. At a glance they knew instantly this was the room they were looking for.

The chamber was just as dark as the one before it with the exception of the Crystal of Elderin shining brightly in the center overhead, with pools of light shining off of it and onto the pool of water beneath it.

As they entered further into the chamber, the lights began to shine on them. The Crystal was searching for a being with untamed mystical power.

From looking at the scroll, Arica remembered that if the 'untamed mystical wielder' wasn't found the lights would revert to shine elsewhere. But if the 'untamed' person was found, the lights would become one, shining brightly on the person, beckoning them forward.

The lights in the chamber shined briefly on Anakin and Arica before reverting to Andrea. Immediately, they all became one and the Crystal overhead a great deal brighter. Andrea looked up into it. The Crystal was now so bright that it was nearly impossible to look up into it directly without squinting. Though there was Andrea, standing there looking up at the Crystal with wide eyes. Anakin and Arica noticed that her eyes had changed from their natural brown to blinding white.

As though in a trance, she stepped forward, away from them, and onto the crystal pool of endless water. Both Anakin and Arica gasped, for she was actually _walking on_ the water. Andrea continued on, the light following her every move, until she reached the center of the pool. There she opened her arms, seeming to be presenting herself to the Crystal. An almighty wind started and the Crystal seemed to shine even the more brighter. So bright that Anakin and Arica had to shield their eyes, and eventually close them. But still they could see the light behind their closed eyelids.

With a winding roar, the brightness of the light clapped onto Andrea vertically. All the brightness in the chamber vanished instantly, save the single, small light of the Crystal. The light began to lift Andrea into the air towards itself. Upon reaching it, and actually being lifted _inside _the Crystal, it began to spin rapidly. Faster and faster it spun when suddenly lights that Anakin and Arica hadn't even known existed in the temple came on all around them. They were beautiful, bright rainbows of colors. It was by this that they both knew the Crystal had activated again.

Strangely though, the Crystal continued to spin around with Andrea inside. Arica had thought that once the Crystal was activated, it would deposit of the being with untamed (raw) power. She was wrong. And it was at that moment, as she continued to watch the Crystal spin round and round, that Arica realized that the only way the Crystal would stay activated would be if Andrea stayed inside of it. Forever.

Arica quickly relayed this message to Anakin. "That's what the inscription meant by awaiting the return of another untamed mystical power to reactivate the Crystal by means of sacrifice. When Andrea went up there, rather she knew it or not, she just sacrificed herself to the Crystal's power. The only way it'll stay activated is if she stays inside it."

Arica looked up at the Crystal sadly. "She won't be coming back down from there."

Anakin, however, wouldn't accept that notion. "There has to be some kind of way," he said joining Arica in looking up at the Crystal.

Arica turned to him. "But if the Crystal deactivates, we won't be able to leave here. We'll be stuck here forever. I don't see any type of solution to this."

_Unless we leave without her,_ Anakin thought silently.

But not silent enough, for Arica heard and gave him a look of utmost disgusted disbelief. "No! We can't do that! We won't do that! We're not leaving her here! She is coming with us!"

'How though?' is the question they both silently asked themselves.

Anakin took to gazing at the rapidly spinning Crystal again. For a long while he looked up at it, his mind lost in thought. Gradually his eyes took on the same white light that had shined in Andrea's eyes before she became one with the Crystal.

"Go back to the ship Arica!" he suddenly commanded.

Arica looked to him in confusion. "What?!"

"Go back to the ship Arica!" he repeated.

"Why?" she asked in mild curiosity.

"Just do it Arica! Go back and get it into the air. Fly it over top the temple and fire two torpedoes into the volcano from there when I say to do so."

All the while he'd been speaking, it'd been in a robotic type tone. His eyes never once for a second left the Crystal. This concerned Arica a bit.

"Anakin, I-"

"Just do it Arica! Now!"

She was slightly taken aback by his harshness and simply looked at him, unmoving. But still he never looked, or so much as glanced at her. His eyes remained glued to the Crystal.

In a softer voice, he said, "You must go Arica, and you must do it now. Andrea may not last much longer."  
Being as Arica trusted Anakin, she trusted that he knew what he was doing and saying. So with a simple nod, she left the temple.

What surprised Arica when she exited the building was that it was suddenly dark out. The type of dark, star-filled sky you see in the middle of the night. This confused her being as ten minutes ago the sun had been out, shining quite brightly. She got the distant impression that this sudden darkness had to do with the Crystal being activated.

Deciding to give no further thought on the matter, Arica called upon the Force and used it to guide and direct her as she ran back to the ship. On and on she ran, but with the Force-enhanced speed of the dark side. She was able to cover 40-miles in an hour.

Finally, she made it back to the ship slightly winded and a bit exhausted, but other than that fine. Using the Force to lower the boarding ramp she entered _Vengeance_ to find that the power was indeed back on. Although she already knew it would be before she got there, knowing and seeing were entirely different things.

Going into the cockpit, Arica seated herself in the pilot's chair and started up the ship's thrusters. Once they were warmed, she started the ignition and rose the ship into the air. Flying east she headed towards the Crystal temple and flew above it just as Anakin had requested, making sure the nose was aimed at the volcano.

Readying the torpedo fire she sent to him, _"I'm here Anakin."_

But rather he heard her or not she never knew for he made no response.

He did hear her though, and whipping his lightsaber off his belt he ignited its crimson blade and shined the hint of it at the main light source of the Crystal, the heart of it. The Crystal shined even brighter at the lightsaber's contact and began to ricochet onto it, drawn to the Lava crystal of blood red inside the blade.

Calling upon all his strength in the Force, he ricocheted the Elderin Crystal off the lightsaber.

"_Fire now!"_ he commanded of Arica.

She did so.

Just as the torpedoes were shot towards the volcano, Anakin let go of his lightsaber and gave it an almighty Force-push. It flew into the Crystal at rapid speed, its coverings quickly coming off in the process so that by the time it reached the heart all that remained was the Lava crystal. Andrea and the Lava crystal were now twirling rapidly, side by side, as the Elderin Crystal made towards the roof of the temple.

Commanding Arica to move the ship away from the temple immediately, Anakin ran out of it just as the Crystal exploded through the ceiling of the temple, destroying the entirety of it in the process.

The light impact of the torpedoes firing into the volcano lightened up the darkened sky the same moment the Crystal broke through the temple. Because of this both lights met each other in mid-air and combined, causing the Crystal to light up even more brighter, spinning faster and faster by the second. The ultra brightness of the Crystal lit up the entire planet sky, making it seem that there was a bright sun of whiteness everywhere.

Moving away from the rubble of the destroyed temple, Anakin made towards underneath the Crystal. Seeing this, Arica made to land the ship, but Anakin was quick to stop her.

"_No Arica! Whatever you do, do not land or so much as lower that ship! Keep it in the air and take it up higher."_

Seeing that she did as told, Anakin continued his way towards the heart of the Crystal. Once underneath he looked up into it without so much as a blink. As his eyes took on the bright whiteness of the Crystal again, he saw Andrea still twirling around above, her arms still outstretched in a show of sacrifice. Only her Force presence was now fading rapidly.

Thus is how the sacrifice worked: an untamed mystical Force being must sacrifice themselves in death for the power to last efficient.

The Crystal was going to take Andrea's life to relive its own. Anakin wouldn't have that though. He reached out to her telepathically.

"_Andrea, can you hear me?"_

There was no response.

"_Andrea, answer me! You must tell me you're strong enough for what I'm about to try."_

After a moment, a brief, faint voice could be heard inside the Force.

"_Anakin?"_

"_Yes Andrea, it's me."_ She sounded drained of all energy. _"Andrea, I'm going to get you out of there but you'll have to do exactly as I say."_

Her voice was even weaker still and her presence continued to fade. _"Anakin, I-I'm sorry. I-I can't. The Crystal...I...must...sacrifice..."_

"_No Andrea, you don't have to sacrifice yourself to the crystal."_

"_Anakin, I...I must. Tell Arica...I said...goodby-"_

But she never finished her final request for at that moment the presence of her Force signature was just about to vanish. Before it could though, Anakin caught hold of it through the midi-chlorians and demanded that they stay inside her cells and not leave her body.

This was quite tiring to do however, taking all of Anakin's Force energy to keep her life sustained. Through this he began to call Andrea's body gradually out of the Crystal and down towards him on the ground. The Crystal however had other plans. It did not want its 'sacrifice' to go and so Anakin had to fight with its will to get her down out of its clutches.

He caught her limp, lifeless form in his arms and looked back up at the Crystal. Because it was now without a sacrifice, though it still had the Lava crystal of the Sith to suffice for the time being, the Crystal's light began to dissipate and go haywire. Anakin knew that the power wouldn't last much longer and because of this they needed to get off-planet as quickly as possible.

Running away from the heart of the Crystal, he called up to Arica to lower the ship's boarding ramp. Once this was done Anakin gave a Force-enhanced jump up to the ship, landing safely on the ramp. Closing it behind him with the Force, after he ran into the ship, he came face-to-face with Arica.

"Get us out of here now!"

Nodding, she ran back into the cockpit.

Anakin, meanwhile, took Andrea into a spare bedroom and laid her down onto the bed inside. After giving her pale face a brief look, he raced towards the cockpit. Halfway there however, the ship began to jerk roughly downwards. Anakin knew it was because the Crystal was losing its power. But unlike last time, it would not deactivate. It would disintegrate and explode. Anakin only hoped that the entire planet didn't go with it.

Finally making it into the cockpit, Arica turned to him frantically. "We're losing power and altitude again!"

Making a quick gesture for her to step aside, he jumped into the master pilot seat while Arica took the co-pilot.

Using a strong amount of Force energy to fight against the surges from the Crystal, they just barely made it off planet. Because the Crystal would explode any moment now, most likely taking the planet with it – it would seem Romano would be going to an early grave along with his experiments – Anakin decided to stir _Vengeance_ back the way they'd come into the Unknown Regions before going further in.

About a millisecond after this decision was decided, the planet erupted behind them, causing a strong surge of energy to push them rapidly forward a good distance.

They covered two days of travel – 20,000 miles – within five minutes time when they finally slowed to a stop, having them in orbit of the Planet of Darkness once more.

Letting out the breaths they didn't even know they were holding, Anakin and Arica glanced at one another and smiled, thankful that they'd made it through the ordeal unharmed.

Andrea, it turned out, was very sick and needed medical attention. If she didn't receive it soon, she'd probably die. It was because of this that Anakin decided to halt their hunt of the Unknown Regions and return to Coruscant.

"We can continue the hunt another time," Anakin said to Arica as they crawled into bed not long after setting a course to return home.

"Besides," he added in sarcasm, "the Emperor would probably want us to return soon anyway. We've been gone nearly two months – 57 days – and since lightspeed can't be used out here, it'll take another month or so before we reach real space again."

"I hope Andrea lasts that long," Arica said with worry.

Anakin took her into his arms and gently stroked her hair. "Have faith my love. I'm sure she'll be just fine."

Cuddling together, they fell into deep slumber.

* * *

Andrea remained out for days. Anakin and Arica did what they could to keep her life force sustained and stabilized, but despite their best efforts she slipped into a coma ten days after they left the now destroyed planet of Elderin. 

Twenty-three days after this, the day that marked three months since they'd left known galaxy, the Emperor contacted Vader via mental telepathy, demanding he and Arica return to known space immediately.

"_There are many tasks that need to be done,"_ he'd barked. _"The new cloning facility on Geonosis is now complete, as well as the various Imperial Academies across the galaxy. It's high time you both return."_

"_Of course master,"_ Vader said in a strange tone that sounded close to a sneer. _"We are returning right now as I speak, and have been for the past month now. But since you cannot make the jump to light speed in the Unknown Regions, you'll just have to wait a few days till we reach known space again."_

His irritation at the Emperor made him 'accidentally' forget to mention Andrea.

"_Very well. The fleet is in orbit around Mustafar. Report there as soon as you return. Governor Tarkin will be expecting you both."_

"_Very good my lord,"_ Vader said, and the Emperor's presence left his mind.


	20. Revelations Concerning the Sith of Old

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 20: Revelations Concerning the Sith of Old

Over the past three months since the Galactic Empire's first anniversary, various things had occurred within it. As the Emperor previously told his Executor, the cloning facility on Geonosis was finished being built. The day it was done, as expected, bounty hunter Boba Fett reported to the immense, 15-level structure and the first phase of the cloning began. After which, he returned to Coruscant to collect his other half of the five hundred million credits requested.

The numerous Imperial Academies had also finished production at that time on multiple worlds in every region of the known galaxy. By the end of the first day being opened, the schools were already fit to burst with hundreds of thousands of young minds craving knowledge from the New Order government.

The new Empress' Hand, Iolana Lestrange, also established herself a bit more during these months through extensive training with Her Highness and going on a diverse number of missions by herself. Padme was quickly discovering as time progressed that Iolana was becoming an even better Hand than the traitor Antellica could've ever been, though Force-sensitive she was not.

The Emperor, meanwhile, made a discovery of his own.

It'd been five months since the disappearance of Antellica, Obi-Wan, and Yoda's Force signatures. Yet because of his Imperial duties with the empire, the Sith emperor had not been able to do any research or meditation concerning the matter right away. But during a rare day of not many things to do, he did some meditating, and afterwards went to the private library in his Imperial quarters – located on the second highest level of the Palace, underneath only the throne room – to have a look through his collection of Sith Holocrons. There were one hundred total, though the emperor found that eight were missing. This didn't concern him much. He knew Vader had three and Zenevieva, two. But wait a second! That only added up to five! Where were the other three?

And than it hit him like a clap of thunder hits the ground. "Antellica!" he hissed. She'd still been borrowing them upon turning traitor. He hadn't given those Holocrons to her, but was merely letting her borrow them. And now that she was a treacherous Jedi again, he'd never get them back.

At that moment, Padme had walked into the large literacy chamber, asking what was wrong. She'd just sent Iolana off on another mission and had finished her Empress duties for the day.

With a growl, he told her. She was just as furious over the missing Holocrons as he was, if not more. However, her suggestion of what to do concerning the matter took him somewhat by surprise. "Perhaps you should contact the Sith spirit of Darth Bane for guidance as to where the Jedi are."

After a surprised blink, the emperor composed himself and sniffed. "I don't need a dead man's help or assistance Lady Baynetta. No. We shall find the Jedi ourselves."

* * *

Darths Vader and Zenevieva arrived in orbit around Mustafar five days after the Emperor commanded their return. As their master had said, the entire Imperial fleet was there, all in orbit around the Emperor's still-in-production pet project, _Death Star._

They'd exited the Unknown Regions earlier that day, and despite the fact of enjoying their time there, both were eager to get back to their duties in the empire _and_ get the still comatose Andrea to a medical center. Which is why as soon as _Vengeance_ arrived around the fleet, Vader commanded that a medical crew be readied so that by the time they landed inside _Executor's_ docking bay, the crew of medical staff was there waiting for them.

As Andrea was rushed off to the star destroyer's medical wing, Moff Tarkin greeted Vader and Zenevieva. From him they learned that the fleet was to make for Coruscant immediately after the two arrived. Because of this, Zenevieva left _Executor_ via her ship, _Jeweled Dolphin,_ and boarded her own star destroyer, _Executrix._

Once the order was made for the fleet to return to the capital – with the exception of the squadron of ships that would stay with Tarkin at Mustafar – the navy's leading commanders reported to the Emperor about their time in the Unknown Regions via a 3-way line transmitter.

He wasn't at all surprised that the first three planets the duo encountered were desolate, but was greatly interested when they told him about the fourth planet and the scan readings of three others. He was very curious of their happenings on the planet, and even more intrigued about the Crystal and Andrea.

Strangely enough, it turns out the emperor had already known about the Elderin Crystal. For the group of mystical Force-wielding explorers that had attempted to steal, yet ended up deactivating, the Crystal a thousand years previous were some of his fellow Sith during the Sith Empire era.

A group of five – two masters, a knight, and two apprentices – left for the Unknown Regions about a decade previous to the Great Sith War. Outwardly, they said their reason for going was to discover the secrets of the Unknown Regions of space. But in private, they met and discussed an ancient Crystal of astonishing power and how they wished to capture and use it for their own personal gain: in the form of dethroning Darth Bane as Supreme Master of the Sith Empire.

The emperor knew about all this because he'd overheard them speaking about it. And the only reason he hadn't told anyone of it was because one of the apprentices was a longtime ally of he and his master, and he'd made him swear not to say anything. To this day, Sidious had been true to this promise, telling no one, not even Baynetta. The group of Sith never returned from the Unknown Regions. Search parties were sent out to look for them, but than they started vanishing as well so Darth Bane stopped sending people out. He figured it was a waste. And that was the end of it.

"I suppose the planet and Crystal were destroyed than?" the Sith master asked at the end of their tale.

Vader nodded. "The Crystal exploded, taking the planet with it. What else could be left?"

"Remnants of it," he supplied. "This is very interesting indeed," he added, appearing to be in deep thought. "Lady Zenevieva," he said abruptly, "I want you to turn around and go back to the Unknown Regions."

Zenevieva blinked at the holograph of her master in shock. "My Lord?"

"I want to know if there are any remnants of this Crystal left. Plus, I'd also like to know what the other three planets your ship's scanners picked up contain, and any other planets that may be out there."

Zenevieva was beyond shocked now; she was floored. "But-but my lord, you wish for me to take the entire half of my fleet with me?"

"But of course. Now that I know the reason the Sith vanished into the Unknown Regions, I'm not so hesitate to send anyone within it."

"But-" Zenevieva wasn't entirely sure what to think of this. She'd thought she'd be going back to Coruscant with Vader and the rest of the fleet, not back into the Unknown Regions. She didn't want to go back now. Perhaps later on, but not now. "But my lord, Andrea-"

"-Will be perfectly well taken care of once she reaches the capital. You need not worry yourself with her, child."

Zenevieva still didn't know what to say to this. The prospect of her returning to the Unknown Regions while Vader went back to Coruscant wasn't something she was too happy about. And one glance at his holoform told her all she needed to know. He felt the same.

"But-but surely-"

"You dare to defy a direct order, Hand?" the emperor hissed angrily.

"No!" she quickly said. "Of course not. Forgive me master. I will alert my crew at once to turn about."

"Very well Lady Zenevieva," he said. "You are dismissed."

With a bow, the form of Darth Zenevieva vanished. This left Vader and the emperor alone. They conversed about Andrea somewhat more and the Sith master expressed how he wanted the girl to be trained in the ways of the Sith.

"Once she awakens from the coma, I want you to begin training her immediately," he said to his apprentice.

"I would have it no other way my master," Vader said with a slight bow of his head.

"Very well than. I will see you within a weeks' time."

And with that the transmission ended.

"Yes, _my master_," Vader said mockingly to the now deactivated holo-comm unit.

While Vader had been conversing with the Emperor alone, Zenevieva left her private quarters and alerted the crew of her ship to disengage the hyperdrive and inform the other ships in her fleet to do the same. She than called a meeting with all her commanding officers on _Executrix_ to inform them of the change in plans.

Most of them didn't like the idea of venturing out that far into space – "Well I'm afraid that's not your decision to make," Arica snarled when a few of the officers voiced this. "What the Emperor says goes. And what I say goes. Rather or not any of you like it." – while others thought the idea intriguing, and others fascinated.

But despite that, none of them liked or believed the idea of not being able to jump to hyperspace in the Unknown Regions.

"It doesn't make any sense," one of them said.

"I do think I should know what I'm talking about," she heatedly said. "Myself and Lord Vader did after all spend the past three months out there."

At this Arica noticed a few of the officers exchanging knowing glances and smirks. This caused her eyes to flash yellow in rage. With a wave of the Force, she struck four of the wise guy officers to the hard floor in unconsciousness. The surrounding officers in the room gasped and looked down at their fellows before glancing back up at their Commander-in-chief.

She smirked in a twisted manner. "They'll be all right." Strolling over to the unconscious forms, she gave them each slight kicks. "They should be awake in a couple of hours." She than addressed the room at large again. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. This meeting is adjourned."

Stalking superiorly out of the conference hall, Arica returned to her quarters and contacted Anakin through their growing mental bond. He'd just finished his conversation with the Emperor when she did this.

"_Anakin, my love?"_

"_Arica darling."_

"_Oh Anakin,"_ Arica sighed.

Neither of the two needed to say any more than that. They both knew what the other was thinking and how they felt concerning the matter.

"_I don't know when I'll see you again or how long I'll be gone,"_ Arica continued. _"When Andrea wakes, tell her where I am and that I hope to see her soon."_

"_I will."_

Anakin than proceeded to tell her about the Emperor's demand for her to be trained.

"_This will work to our advantage Arica,"_ he said when he was done explaining. _"With Andrea as my apprentice and you by my side, we have a much better chance or dethroning Palpatine and his daughter from their Imperial high seats."_

"_Yes, I suppose we would,"_ Arica thought with a smirk._"But patience we must have my love. We will rule the galaxy side by side one day. Just not now."_

"_I know my love."_

"_Until we meet again, farewell by future Emperor. I will miss you."_

"_As I you my future Empress."_

"_Goodbye."_

"_Bye my love."_

And with that, the mental connection between them broke.


	21. The Apprentice Becomes the Master

Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long. I've been keeping busy writing and recently got into some great television programs like 24 and American Idol. It also snowed here for the first time this winter to much disappointment from me as I was enjoying the spring like weather we've been enduring. Oh well.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 21: The Apprentice Becomes the Master

It took a week for the Supreme Commander and his fleet to reach the capital from the Outer Rim. During which time, Andrea still had not awaken. Anakin visited the girl every day in the medical wing, a few times attempting to either break her out of the coma via the Force or speak to her telepathically. Alas, neither of the two worked so he merely found himself in the wing with her, holding one of her clammy, pale hands and telling himself she'd wake eventually.

As soon as the _Executor_ arrived in orbit around Coruscant, Anakin, with the comatose Andrea in tow, took a shuttle down onto the planet. Andrea was immediately transferred to Hospital Plaza, an area of the Senate District, and the Galactic Senate Medcenter, located near the Imperial Senate Building and IEB. The Emperor met them there. However, after Andrea was connected to an I.V. and Anakin received assurance that she would be treated well, he and the Empire's supreme ruler left the facility for the Imperial Palace upon the emperor's insistence that his apprentice see it.

Anakin had to admit he was amazingly impressed with the acropolis, and more than ever couldn't help thinking about how wonderful it would be to live inside these walls once he himself was emperor. Though these thoughts were kept shielded from Palpatine, for it was Anakin's wish to take the old man by surprise with his betrayal.

As the palace was far too large to view all in one tour, Anakin only saw the main points of interest it had to offer – the Grand Corridor, the Senate Chamber, the Emperor's Guest Floor, the Royal Residential Levels, and the Emperor's throne room to name a few. Their final stop was in the lookalike to the Grand Corridor, the Empress' throne room, complete with a magnificent golden, yet cushion seated throne that H.R.H was presently sitting atop, where the two found an audience of Palpatine's inner circle – assistants and loyalists to the Empire, which included the Empress' Hand Iolana and a great many Moffs – loosely discussing with the empress how it'd been nearly six months since the rebels had done any known activity in the empire.

The Emperor's presence within the vast and majestic room was greeted with bows all round, while Vader's was with that of respectful nods. It didn't take long before they were joining the present conversation.

Zeltron Senator Gael Cauron's death, following the Senate meeting announcement of what was known galaxy-wide as the "Polis Massa Massacre", didn't start nearly as much an uproar as the Emperor may have hoped. Though it was known by the general public that his death had been assassination, nothing was found concerning who the killer could've been, and after two months the case was dropped and the Senator buried. The Emperor than choose a successor to Zeltron's political post and that was the end of it.

In fact, the only recent news among the rebels of late was that Senator Organa and his wife Queen Breha had adopted an infant Human female from an underprivileged orphanage in a backwater planet of the Outer Rim. Leia, the girl's name, was crowned Alderaan's Royal Princess upon adoption and heir to its throne.

The Emperor knew quite well about the Organas difficulties in producing a child and heir. The Queen had endured at least two miscarriages, the last of which being three years previous during the Clone War's second year, and learned after this from her doctors that another attempt to conceive a child could kill her. It was because of this that he, nor anyone else for that matter, wasn't the slightest bit surprised or suspicious over the Alderaanians adopting an infant child.

All was quiet with the rebels, but that would soon change. The emperor was seeing to this personally. A full-fledged plan was in the works and would be scheduled for launch sometime within the year. Its main purpose being to lure the secret opposition against his government out of hiding.

The Human High Culture Policy, otherwise known as the No Alien Act – a law that would be passed directly by he and the empress, instead of through the Senate. It would state that no non-Humans would be allowed to work in Imperial worlds or even exist inside the Galactic Empire's reign of the galaxy. Through this act, chaos would be spread once more across the galaxy. Alien inhabited planets and systems would declare their independence of the Empire, and as such they would be slaughtered for their perfidy. The democracy loving rebels wouldn't like any of this violence, and so would reveal themselves, walking straight into the empire's outstretched claws.

As twisted as this 'No Alien Act' sounded, Anakin couldn't help but be impressed by it. It was a great plan.

As the Emperor continued to explain how he and the empress would present this act to congress, Anakin abruptly felt a strong surge in the Force. And before he could think anything of it, his comlink suddenly started to beep loudly within his robes.

Most of those present, standing at attention before the Empress' throne and the Emperor whom stood next to it, turned sharply to see what the noise was, but in genuine curiosity. The empress however was far was curious, but irritated, though said nothing as Anakin excused himself and darted to a side corner of the room, near the several pillars that lined it, to take the call.

Retrieving the device from his robes, he clicked it on and said into it from his distant spot, "Vader here."

"_Lord Vader hello, this is Nurse Aida,"_ the voice inside the comm said. "_I'm in charge of Andrea while she stays with us at the Medcenter and I have wonderful news to share. Andrea's awake!"_

This comment seemed to transmit faster than it was actually said, for just as the words left the nurse's mouth via comm, the emperor's eyes a lightened with a strange kind of hunger next to his daughter's throne.

"_She woke up about a minute ago,"_ Nurse Aida continued. _"I was entering the room to refill her I.V. unit when she suddenly jerked into an upright position on the bed. That's where she's at now. You wished to be let known if something happened."_

"Thank you Nurse Aida," Anakin said, his voice full of happiness. "Tell Andrea I'll be there shortly."

"_Will do."_

"Vader out."

"We are in the middle of a meeting Vader," the empress snarled in disdain from the other side of the room, seated comfortably on her throne.

That whom was spoken to brought his eyes over towards her in a glare.

"You can not simply leave because some orphan girl you found in the Unknown Regions has awoken from a coma you probably put her in to begin with."

If Padme was expecting some sort of angered reaction to her comments, she would've been mildly surprised to see her ex-husband simply smiling at her. A twisted smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"I can and I will." He gave a mock bow. "Your highness."

Turning to the emperor, he said, "If you'll excuse me master, I really must be off."

"Of course my boy," the emperor said, his eyes still blazing with that strange hunger. "And I think I'll be coming with you. I'm very much interested in meeting this girl for myself."

"Of course," Vader said with a bow.

The emperor turned to his audience. "My fellows, that concludes tonight's meeting. It will be resumed at a later time. You shall be let known of its time sometime tomorrow."

Leaving his daughter's side, the emperor made towards his apprentice and the two exited the room together, walking down the Grand Corridor and ultimately a private palace entrance. After a few moments they were alone. Just the two of them. Something the Sith master and apprentice hadn't had in some time.

As they continued on in silence, the emperor decided to break it.

"My Empire is flourishing quite wondrously Lord Vader," he said. "While you've been away in the Mid Rim and Unknown Regions much has happened."

Vader nodded. "Of that I am aware my master."

The emperor stared at a golden artifact they were passing that was shaped like a dragon before looking back up at Vader with a sly curl of his lips.

"So, what of you and Lady Zenevieva?" he asked. "Are you thinking about giving marriage another try?"

Vader simply looked at his master as he thought over a response.

Though he knew that it was on the emperor's orders that he and Padme had married, Vader never said anything to his master about it. It simply never came to mind when he was around him. Or if it did, he'd brush it off, telling himself Padme was feeding him lies about that. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time. The thought of Arica however...

Vader wasn't sure what Palpatine's true intentions were to knowing this information, but decided to go along with it and answer truthfully.

"Yes. Regularly. I do intend on building a family with her someday."

"Hmm." His master appeared to be in thought. "And what role, might I ask, would this family of yours play in the Empire?"

Vader's immediate response was "Heirs to my throne," but bit his tongue just in time to stop himself from saying this aloud. He merely shrugged. "It's can't be known at the present. But I'm sure some use could be found of them."

Another moment of silence went by as they exited the palace and boarded a Royal Guard infested shuttle that would take them to the medical facility.

"Do you ever think of overthrowing me and my empire?" the Emperor asked of his apprentice once they were both seated.

Again, Vader's immediate response would've been to lie but than thought against it, figuring what was the point?

"Yes," he said at length. "The idea has been entertained in my mind a number of times. Why wouldn't it? Every apprentice yearns to be the master when they're in the position of being in lesser power than their leader." He gave a chuckle. "Why, I'd be utterly shocked if your daughter didn't entertain the idea at times as well. Empress though she may be."

"Yes. I'm quite sure Padme has entertained the idea on occasion," the emperor confirmed. "All minions do. They crave the power of the almighty. But just as Darth Bane, during the times of the legendary Sith Empire, I will not stand for such atrocity. You have been fairly warned Lord Vader. Do not attempt to throw away your life so rationally."

At that moment, a part of Vader wished to strike down the arrogant old man from where he sat. But he didn't. He merely looked over at him with a twisted smile and said, "Of course Lord Sidious."

The remainder of the short journey to the Galactic Senate Medcenter was spent with the emperor speaking of various things among the empire, preferably the matter of the present, not as effective, stormtroopers.

Vader sat in silence as he spoke, hardly even paying attention to what he was saying. His main thought through all this was seeing Andrea again. Awake and well.

Once arriving at the facility, Vader proceeded in at a brisk walk, nodding in acknowledgment to the various doctors who glanced at him.

He was halfway down the white-walled entrance hall, across from the first level gift shop, heading towards its termination point where the elevator laid when Nurse Aida suddenly came strolling out of the shop just as Vader was passing it. He slowed to a normal pace when she spotted him.

"Lord Vader, hello. Andrea will be most pleased when I come back up with you. She sent me down to buy her some things." She lifted the large bag and shook it in emphasis.

Vader gave an amused nod and Nurse Aida than acknowledged the Emperor and his guards with an overly done bow. She than, forgetting about the emperor, continued to chatter about how Andrea was doing as they rode the elevator to the crown level of fifteen where Andrea was located.

The special thing about the top level was that it was VIP-only. Only people of importance were allowed to be treated and come up here. Because of this, there were no other patients on this level besides Andrea.

Heading to the spacious room on their third left, Vader went in to find Andrea sitting up in bed watching a shockboxing match on the HV screen that hung above her bed. Just as he was entering, Andrea yelled, "Punch him harder than that! What's the matter with you?!" at the top of her voice. He couldn't help but allow an enormous grin at the sight of her clutching a pillow as if it were a stuffed toy to her chest.

It was than that she noticed she had an audience. "Anakin!" Andrea beamed. "It's about damn time you showed up. I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten about me."

She made to get out of the bed and meet him halfway, but he was quick to stop her. Just as the words, "Andrea, no!" left his mouth, she'd gotten out of the bed, only to fall hard onto the floor.

Anakin was quickly by her side. He knelt down and helped her to her feet before placing her back on the bed. He than waved a reproving finger in her face.

"Shame on you. You could've broken your legs or something. You've been in a coma for heaven's sake. Give your body a chance to get back to normal."

Andrea gave an irritated huff. "You sound just like Nurse Aida." She looked around the room. "Where is she anyway?"

Spotting her, she added, "Ah, there she is. Give me the bag Aida. I want my goodies."

Nurse Aida did as instructed and than bowed herself out of the room.

As Andrea began to ravage through her bag, Anakin laid the blankets back on top of her and gave her a pat on the head. She gave no notice of this though. She was far too occupied with her bag of delicacies.

"Wonderful! Blob candy! Namana! Doughtnuts! Oh my! Blah, what's this? Peanut Dew Cake! Yuck! I hate it!" She tossed the small, unopened package of delicious bread away.

Before it could reach the trash can however, Anakin caught them with the Force and, after opening the parcel, began to eat some of it.

Andrea raised an eyebrow. "Like it ah? Than you can have the bag of peanuts too." She tossed them and he caught the package in hand. "I'm allergic to peanuts. But even before I was, I didn't like 'em. Taste strange."

"I'm not so sure I like the idea of you eating junk food so soon after waking from your coma," Anakin said.

"Oh come on!" she complained. "I haven't eaten in like," she stopped a moment to think before her eyes widened, "two years! Because when I woke from my two year coma on Elderin I didn't eat anything."

She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You and Arica didn't offer me anything. And not long after that, that stupid crystal put me in yet another coma. I deserve to eat whatever I want. Where is Arica anyway?"

She looked around the room once more and Anakin ignored her question about Arica to continue his point.

"But that's just what I mean Andrea. Your body hasn't taken in any real food for the past two and a half years. You've got to eat something more productive than junk food. You there!" He turned to one of the Emperor's Royal guards. "Go tell Nurse Aida to bring some _real_ food in here for this patient."

With a nod of its helmeted head, the guard left the room.

Andrea gave a brief glance at the Emperor and his entourage before looking back at Anakin. "But this is real food," she protested. "I absolutely refuse to eat that disgusting trash Nurse Aida was trying to shove at me earlier. And where's Arica? You never answered."

"Arica's not here Andrea," Anakin started.

"Well I can see that," Andrea said with an eye roll. "But where is she?"

"She went back to the Unknown Regions to retrieve any remnants of the crystal that might be left after it exploded."

"Exploded?! This must have happened after the sacrifice. But why did it explode? And why did Arica return there to retrieve any remnants of it? It's just a stupid, lying crystal that'll stop at nothing to get what it wants from its so-called 'sacrifice."

"What do you mean, Andrea?" Anakin asked. He than sat down next to her on the bed. "What happened when the crystal took you up within it?"

And so she explained.

"When we entered the temple chamber, I really didn't know what to expect. I mean, I'd known what you and Arica had told me about the crystal but still I wasn't sure what to think of it all. As we neared the glowing lights, after they flashed over you and Arica they fell onto me. A lot of it was a blur after that. I remember the light crystal calling to me, telling me to present myself. It took over my mind; I didn't have a choice. I lost my will. I attempted to fight it but it didn't work. It was far too powerful to be fought off by a mere girl. It began to tell me it'd show me my mother and father again, but at the bargain that I must sacrifice myself. I reluctantly agreed, but than I really didn't have a choice to begin with. It would've taken me rather I wanted to go or not. As I proceeded forward, onto the water, all the crystal continued to tell me was seeing my parents again and sacrificing myself. As I was lifted into the air and became one with the Crystal, that's all that ran through my mind. The Crystal, the Crystal, the Crystal. I was inside it I don't know how long when suddenly I felt like I was being pulled away from it. All became dark. It was the same dark isolation I'd experienced while in my first coma. Over the time in the second coma, I heard voices." She looked Anakin in the eye at this. "Yours and Arica's voices. Trying, unsuccessfully, to break me out of the coma. I woke up here about an hour ago. Nurse Aida was coming in at the time. I asked her where I was and where you and Arica were. And that's it," she ended dramatically.

While Andrea had been talking, Nurse Aida and the guard returned. While the guard took up its previous position at the door, Nurse Aida came inside, delivered a tray of hot 'real' food before Andrea on the bed, and bowed herself out again.

So once Andrea finished talking, she turned her attention downwards, towards the food. Her once smiling face turned to disgust at the sight of it. On the tray below her was dried liver meat, what appeared to be rice though it was slightly burnt, and a green mixture of vegetables that reminded Andrea of spinach and green peas. A small jug of fruit juice also sat on the tray along with an equally small carton of nerfmilk pudding.

Andrea's face brightened instantly when she saw the pudding and made a quick grab for it. But not quick enough, for just as she was about to grasp it Anakin snatched it away with a semi-serious reprimand.

"Now, now Andrea. Everyone knows that when pudding is placed with a meal, the person eating is supposed to eat the meal first, and pudding later.

Andrea gave Anakin a playful glare, but than shrugged as she glanced down at the tray again. Picking up the plastic fork that came with it, she began to pick away the mass of green, eating the spinach, but leaving behind the peas. Once done, she looked up again expectantly at the carton of pudding Anakin was still holding.

"The rest of the food Andrea," he instructed. "Eat it."

"This is garbage!" she pronounced. "I hate liver and this rice looks like it's been through a war."

"And the peas?" he asked.

"Don't like them either," she replied.

"I've eaten worse," he commented.

With a sigh, he picked up Andrea's abandoned fork and began to force-feed her the trays contents. All the trays contents. Andrea protested, but Anakin gave a death ear to them.

Once the tray was empty of all food, he handed the carton of pudding to the still sulking teenager. She snatched the carton out of his hands and within ten seconds had eaten all its fillings.

"Happy now?" Anakin teased.

"Yes quite," Andrea replied.

"I'll take you out to dinner tomorrow or the next day, depending on when you're released," he said. "It'll be a little 'all you can eat' treat from me."

"Splendid!" Andrea exclaimed before than turning her attention over to the silent, seated form of Emperor Palpatine. She knew it was him, for she recognized him slightly. In spite of the fact that he looked at least a hundred years older from the last time she'd seen him on television 2 ½ years ago during the war.

His gaze was set of her and she abruptly became overcome with embarrassment at the fact that he'd been sitting there as long as Anakin had and she hadn't shown so much as a nod to his acknowledgment.

Curtsying as much as she could on the bed, Andrea bowed her head to him. "Forgive me your majesty for not acknowledging you sooner. I guess I was too caught up in seeing Anakin again. I know that's no excuse but..."

"Say no more child," he said in a much eerier voice than Andrea even remembered him having. "I quite understand."

"Andrea this is Emperor Palpatine," Anakin introduced. "Emperor Palpatine this is Andrea-" He abruptly stopped and looked to her questioningly. "What is your last name?"

"Cavallaria," Andrea responded. "Andrea Cavallaria."

She held her hand out to the slowly rising emperor. He accepted it once fully risen and she said, "It's an honor to meet you sir."

"The honor is mine child," he said with what looked to be a twisted smile. "I have heard so much about you from Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva. I'd expect I practically know you already."

Andrea appeared confused. "'Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva? Who are they?"

"Anakin and Arica's official names within the Empire," the emperor explained. "Not may refer to them as Anakin or Arica anymore."

"But you may continue calling us that," Anakin quickly added. "We don't mind."

"Well okay," Andrea said a bit hesitantly. "If you're sure. I don't want to call you something that makes you feel uncomfortable."

"No, no," Anakin assured. "I don't mind being called 'Anakin' by you. The others in the empire however refer to me as Lord Vader."

Andrea nodded, but looked confused again. "So than are all Jedi referred to as Lords and Ladies now instead of Generals?"

The Emperor's eyes flashed briefly at the mention of the Jedi and Anakin was quick to set her straight.

"There are no longer any Jedi in existence Andrea...with the exception of a few anyway."

Andrea looked shocked. "No more Jedi! But-I don't understand. You are a Jedi! Anakin Skywalker – "The Hero with No Fear." You and your master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were quite the heroes during the war."

Anakin offered a wry smile. "Well, that was during the war. Things...change. And have drastically since you've been away in the Unknown Regions."

The explanation Arica gave Andrea about how the New Republic became an Empire hadn't been a fully detailed version. The explanation she'd given her left out the parts concerning the Jedi and Siths' involvement in the war. She'd deliberately left those parts out, in fear that Andrea may not trust them right away if she'd known they were Sith, and as such helped to obviate an entire order of peacemakers.

However, when Andrea received the whole truth of the Republic's transformation she did not distrust them. Though shocked at first, she applauded them for eliminating an order of murdering beasts.

"I'm glad my dad denied me to the temple when I was a baby," Andrea stated. "They would've turned me into a monster. But hopefully I would've seen the light before everything went to worst."

"Yes, hopefully you would've," the emperor drawled. "But that then leads to the matter of your training."

Again Andrea looked confused. "Training?"

"But of course." The emperor spoke as if it were quite obvious. "You have great potential child. You are an untrained 14-year-old Force sensitive with raw ability who, once your powers are honed correctly, will become a great Sith. Is that something you'd want Andrea?"

"Well, yeah. Okay. Sure." Andrea had hesitated at first, but than figured what the heck?

"Than meet your new master," the emperor said, gesturing towards Anakin. "You are now Lord Vader's apprentice. Kneel child."

Andrea did so, lying the front of herself down on the bed.

"Do you, Andrea Cavallaria, swear everlasting loyalty, now and forever, to the elite Order of the Sith?"

"I do," she answered without hesitation.

"And do you swear upon death and grave that never, ever will you turn your back on it? Even if a time came that opposers rose again and attempted to make the galaxy the way it once was with corrupt leaders and ruthless Jedi, that you Andrea Cavallaria would remain true forever and always to the ways of the Sith?"

"Yes master," Andrea said.

"Than rise Darth Lady Da-xia. You are now one of us. Your training will commence as soon as you're released from this facility."

And indeed it did. Two days later, Nurse Aida deemed Andrea ready to go. After Anakin fulfilled his promise of taking her, his apprentice, out to dinner and allow her to eat to her heart's content, after which they went shopping for clothing that fit her now, Andrea's training began.

It was a wonderful feeling having an apprentice of his own, Vader mused. But at the same time, it also brought back memories of Antellica and his semi-apprenticeship with her.

He even told Andrea about Antellica one day, but forbade her from ever saying anything to Arica about it. Anakin didn't know how Arica felt about her deceased sister. It's a subject she absolutely refused to speak of. But Anakin sensed she missed her, as he did also.


	22. The Return to the Unknown Regions

Author's Note: Today's update is the first of five I will do continuously every day, one chapter a day, for the next five days. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for the reviews.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 22: The Return to the Unknown Regions

It took Commander-in-chief Grievous' forces, now dubbed _Night Squadron, _two hours to arrive at the edge of the Unknown Regions once they reversed course from Coruscant. At the dark entrance base, all one hundred ships in the fleet slowed to a lengthy stop, awaiting their leader's further orders.

In the bridge of the _Executrix,_ Arica stood holding a microphone that was connected to a central comm system the entirety of her fleet contained. That way every person on every one of the hundred ships could hear what she was saying as she spoke into it.

"Here we are gentlemen. At the entrance of the Unknown Regions. I'm sure some of you may be scared, hesitant, or even enraged to be entering within it for the fear that you'll never return out from it. But remember this as your minds continue to tell you ridiculous and foolish nonsense: Lord Vader and myself are perfect examples of what goes in must come out again. We will be experiencing a long duration of dark space before we encounter our first planet, so I hope you boys have some things to keep yourselves occupied with."

She laughed dryly at her own joke and than gave the order for the fleet to proceed forward into the blackness of space.

Being as the navy consisted of much larger ships than Anakin's _Vengeance,_ Arica estimated it wouldn't take as long for them to reach the fourth planet of the Unknown Regions than it had in his ship. And once doing some research on the ships' capability settings and speeds, this estimate was confirmed. It'd only take half the time – 22 ½ days – to get there, compared to the original 45 days.

Her crew and some of the other commanding officers were quite pleased by this fact when she told them, for most of them were still ticked about the idea of not being able to make the jump to light speed in this part of space. Arica had let them try for her own amusement, but as she'd said, it was impossible to do.

Sixteen days after flying in darkness, they passed by the first planet – 'Dryland' is what Arica called it. She told the few officers and crew members whom were interested about the dead world upon their asking, and did the same when they passed by the second and third planet days after the other. Once again, since the ships of _Night Squadron_ were larger than _Vengeance,_ there was only a near day difference between the planets instead of two days.

The_ Night Squadron_ came in orbit of where the fourth world of the Unknown Regions had once been right on schedule. Nothing now remained of the beautiful planet and Arica found herself cursing the crystal for taking away something so lovely and enchanted.

Fascinatingly enough, it turned out that indeed some slight remnants of the crystal did remain. Scans showed that a single gem of light hovered right in the core of where the planet once laid.

Glancing out the front viewport of the _Executrix's_ bridge showed Arica what was left of the crystal. What was surprising about it was that the crystal no longer remained its natural blue color. It was currently a mixture of blue and red. She guessed this was because of the Lava crystal of Anakin's previous lightsaber that he'd thrown into the Elderin Crystal to attempt at saving Andrea. He'd told her all about this on the return journey back to real space while he constructed himself a new lightsaber. Arica, however, would've naturally assumed that the Lava crystal was destroyed when the Elderin crystal exploded, but there it still lay, floating entwined with the Elderin Crystal like it'd always been there.

The interesting part of this mission would be getting the crystal out of orbit of the core of the destroyed world. An escape pod or any other space craft thought of couldn't collect it. Someone would have to go out and manually bring it in.

Making her decision, Arica decided she'd lead a group of clones out into space and collect it herself.

Donning herself in a spacesuit and helmet, the commander and her team of ten clones applied rocket packs to their backs and headed for the hanger of the ship. Once there, crew members opened the _Executrix's_ release hatch to allow them access out into space.

Activating their rocket packs, Arica and her troop flew out into the darkness of space towards the crystal. Instantly, an almost unbearable wave of coldness swept over them. Space was cold yes, but nothing could've prepared Arica for the freezing cold winds that blew past her and her fellows. She, more than others, could comment about the coldness of real space; she'd experienced it first hand upon being blown out of her former CIS command ship, _Invisible Hand,_ at the end of the Clone Wars.

As the team became nearer still to the crystal, the hurricane of space became almost too much for them and Arica noticed that a few of the clones were being blown off course; the heavy winds destroying their rocket packs. But Arica could careless about them; all she cared about was obtaining the crystal and flying back into her warm ship.

Using the Force to keep herself on track, the Emperor's Hand made it finally to the crystal. Not entirely sure if it would hurt her hands if she touched it, she simply called it to herself and had it hover a few inches in front of her. Whipping around strongly despite the increasingly powerful winds, Arica stretched her arms forward and made back towards her ship.

Only two of the ten clones were still around and they were having a hard time against the heavy winds, but again Arica didn't care about them. Once she made it back to the hanger and threw the crystal onto the floor, she ordered the crew to close the release hatch doors immediately. They protested somewhat because of the two clones that were still out in space, and one was even making towards the ship as they spoke.

"I don't care!" Arica roared through her helmet. "Close the doors now!"

They did so, if yet so still hesitantly.

The moment the doors closed the sound of a helmet clanging against it sounded and than the hollers of a clone; yelling for them to let him in. Arica merely laughed as she took off her helmet and shook out her dark hair. The yells of the clone continued to get louder and more panicky by the second.

"Come on guys! Don't do this! Let me in! I don't wanna die out here! I wanna live! I don't wanna die!"

Arica continued her stride down the hall of the hanger, giving a death ear to the yells. Crouching down next to where she'd thrown the crystal, she simply examined it a moment. Now that it was out of space and its world, it looked strangely out of place here in the ship's hanger bay. The light of the crystal was now slightly dimmer than it'd been out in space, but Arica shrugged this off since all of its surroundings had been darkness.

Asking the Force if it was okay to touch the crystal with her hands she did so, taking her gloves off in the process. The crystal felt cold, yet powerful in her hands. A raw essence.

Standing up again, she returned to her quarters and took off her spacesuit. She than informed the emperor via transmission that her mission was a success. She held the crystal in her hands as she did this, allowing him to gaze upon it. He was quite pleased.

"_You have done well Hand,"_ he said.

"Thank you master," she replied with a bowed head.

"_What of the other three planets you and Lord Vader spoke of?"_ he asked. "_The ones you hadn't gotten to yet? Did the Executrix's scanners pick up any other systems or planets besides them?"_

"Yes, they did actually," Arica said. "When we did the scans yesterday, they picked up not three, but six other planets. Though our estimates show that the last four, unlike the first two, are very far off. It could take weeks to reach each of them. If you wished of it, we could gladly explore the worlds, to see what's on them and what else is out there. The only downfall is that _Night Squadron_ could be gone for months. And than it would take a while for us to get back. I don't know if that's what you want. If so, I would be happy to continue on. If not, I have no problem coming back. The choice is up to you."  
Sidious gave a mockery of a smile. _"Though I sense that if I asked you to come back, you'd be somewhat disappointed that you had the chance to explore these unknown worlds and were denied that right."_

Arica gave a playful smile. "Perhaps a little. But I'll gladly come back if that's what you want."

"_No, no Hand. By all means, I wish for you to continue on. And alert me when you reach each planet."_

"Of course my master. But what of the crystal? Do you wish for me to send it back to you with a task force or simply leave it here in my quarters under lock and key?"

"_Keep it with you child. I wouldn't trust any non-Force sensitive person with such power. You can deliver it to me yourself when you return."_

"Are you sure? We may be out here a while. Sure you can wait that long?" she added with a trace of playfulness.

The emperor took her child-likeness in stride. _"Yes, I believe I can wait that long. And don't worry about how long you're gone. The Empire isn't really up to much these days. I've made sure of that personally. The brief calm before the storm. I'll give the people of the galaxy the peace they've always craved only to than take it from them with chaos."_

"The No Alien Act," Arica stated.

"_Indeed. But not to worry Arica, I will not pass this law while you're away. You will have plenty part of it."_

"Excellent. If that is all, I will go alert my forces to continue further into the Unknown Regions. I will inform you as soon as we reach the next planet."

"_I'll be looking forward to it..."_

Informing _Night Squadron's_ head commanders that they would be continuing on in the Unknown Regions and could be here for months on end was like informing a cat that it was about to be run over by a moving train. Most were shocked, others furious, while others genuinely interested. The furious ones, of course, were quickly made examples out of by being struck with Force lightning, choked to death, or Force-slammed into walls. Arica would not take any of their nonsense. These fools were meant to serve her and the Empire. Not their own selfish agendas.

The Unknown Regions' fifth world was came upon two days later. As promised, Arica alerted the emperor before and she and a task force of officers and stormtroopers went down onto the planet via two Gunship bombers and corvettes.

The scans showed that the planet was lush, jungle like, and had massive life forms living within it. This naturally reminded Arica of the previous planet. She could only hope a repeat of it didn't occur here. But she needn't have worried. Nothing of the sort happened while there. This was indeed a lot like the previous one, but it had a certain element about it that set it apart from the other. 1) This jungle was more lively and colorful, and 2) It was a prehistoric jungle.

Dinosaurs and many other wild beasts long thought to be extinct could be found roaming among the trees and in large clearings, around waterholes and hunting for food.

Because Arica had the Force with her, none of the animals bothered or even attempted to harm them. She and her troops spent an entire day exploring the planet before going back up to the fleet in space.

As the _Night Squadron_ left orbit of the "Prehistoric world", Arica alerted the emperor of it, and their time there. As expected, he wasn't at all interested and cut her off halfway through the report saying he had a meeting to be at.

Arica's squadron arrived in orbit around the sixth planet two days after their prehistoric jungle exploration. Once again the emperor was alerted.

The interesting thing about this planet was that the scans showed that the entirety of it was filled with water. Lifeforms also resided inside though, but Arica simply assumed they were fish or other such water mammals. She made the decision that instead of going down via corvette and gunship, they'd finally be able to put to use a new type of strike frigate, built by the Sienar Fleet Systems, that were similar to submarines in that they were given the capability of functioning underwater if the need presented itself.

Most of the crew didn't understand what purpose there would be to go onto a planet totally submerged in water, but it was the Commander-in-chief's orders so...

On the way down, on board the lead frigate that Arica took to calling _Waterway_, she stripped of her regular clothes and donned a swimsuit and scuba diving gear. For it was her intention to not just fly around in the water, but actually go outside within it to look around and see if anything of interest could be found.

For the first five hours there was nothing but water and sea creatures, but as they got further down they began to see shiny things far down into the water's abyss. Proceeding to go down further still, the brightness of the shiny items below began to grow brighter and brighter by the second.

At seven meters above the golden glow of light, they were finally able to make out what it was, and it caused them all to gasp. Lying at the ocean bottom of the planet was a cluster of jewels, gems, diamonds, rubies, gold and silver of all types. They were just lying there waiting to be captured.

Turning to one of the commanding officers that'd made a stink about coming onto a water filled planet, Arica had since returned to _Waterway_, she smirked. "And you said we shouldn't have come down here because it was a waste."

She snorted and gestured towards the unknown amount of riches. "Some waste this is."

The officer – a man in his early 30s whose name was Captain Bokins – merely put his head down and walked off.

The next two days were spent with most of the fleet going about the planet in numerous strike frigates collecting all the precious jewels that were found. At the end of this period, they were all brought on board the _Executrix_ and stored inside a large spacious room not far from Arica's quarters.

When the Emperor was alerted of the treasure he was quite pleased. Now that the treasure was on board her ship he seemed to careless about the crystal. Though he didn't say that, it was implied. To not have the crew and officers fall into the temptation of attempt theft of any of the precious metals, Arica Force-locked the room that contained them shut and put an electrical force field at 20-meters around it.


	23. Exploration and Treachery

Author's Note: Here's the second of the five chapters in what I'm calling my end of January marathon. The title in itself calls for interest and there is some amount of action in this. As I may not be able to update tomorrow, I'm giving it to you now (several hours after the previous update).

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 23: Exploration and Treachery

Since the remaining four planets were much farther out and separated by large sections of space, it didn't at all surprise Arica that it took fifteen days till they reached the seventh planet. But in that time period between the sixth and seventh planets, the Emperor's Hand celebrated a quiet eighteenth birthday. She mused that it would've taken a month if they'd come out this far in Anakin's _Vengeance_, and was quite glad she and Anakin hadn't decided to explore the entire Unknown Regions by themselves on his ship. It would've taken forever. There wasn't anything special about this planet. It was snow inhabited with flora that included polar bears, wolves, and penguins as its hosts.

The _Night Squadron's _arrival outside the eighth planet took place seventeen days after this. Now this planet was interesting. It was a desolate world that appeared to have once had some sort of life on it. The cities inside, or what was left of them, were in ruins. All the buildings were crumbled, some half standing, others totally collapsed. The rivers that had once surrounded the cities were all dried up and the sun that continued to shine over the ruined planet appeared a blood red color with hints of black here and there, as if it were close to dying out entirely. The aura of the planet spooked many of the officers and a few of them claimed to have seen ghosts flying around. Because of this, Arica choose to look around the planet herself.

Despite the dark aura that surrounded it as she looked around it she thought she could see this place as it once was, beautiful and in glory. She figured this must have been some type of kingdom before it was destroyed. But as to how it was destroyed, she had no clue. The Force wouldn't tell her. It was sad really, walking in the ruins of what Arica was sure was once a beautiful and great kingdom in its prime.

Arica left the planet with her troops later that day after successfully searching it and finding nothing.

If she had stayed longer and looked more thoroughly around the destroyed royal palace of the planet however, she would've found answers to her questions but alas she didn't as she wasn't aware of this.

The ninth planet they came upon sixteen days after this was nothing short of lovely. It had grassy fields of light green with flowers and trees to applaud them. Birds and butterflies could be found fluttering about and the rivers and streams gushed down snow topped mountains into larger bays.

Funny enough, with the exception of small animals, birds, and insects, no other lifeforms lived on this planet, which was strange because it really would be a great place for anyone to live once some houses were built of course.

Because of the planet's loveliness, Arica decided they'd make a mid-journey hiatus for a few days. During which time the ships would be refueled and the fleet could take a long overdue rest. Originally, Arica was only going to stay two days, but once those days came to an end she decided to extend it to four.

The time spent on the planet Arica mostly kept to herself, taking strolls in the grassy fields, swimming in the ice cold rivers, and camping at night at the edge of the mountains. It was during this time that Arica more than ever thought of Anakin. He'd love it here she knew, and hoped to share this place with him one day. All too soon the fourth day arrived and the fleet made preparations to leave. They were back in space within three hours.

Ten days later they came to the tenth and final planet. At first, they'd thought it was just like the sixth planet, covered entirely in water, but as they got closer the scans picked up five small land masses located in a circle around another larger land mass. It looked as if it could've been once one large island that broke apart overtime.

Going down in a few corvettes and strike frigates, Arica ordered the crew with the strike frigates to go underwater and see if they came across anything. The three corvettes that came down with Arica landed on the central island in the middle of the other five. The outer most part of this island consisted of sand while the center of it composed of lush flowery grass. The five surrounding islands were basically the same. While these islands only consisted of about two acres of land each, the main central island consisted of about ten acres.

No lifeforms, besides the sea creatures in the oceans, lived on the planet.

After spending about five hours on the planet and getting confirmations from the strike frigate troops that nothing and no one was below the sea save fish, whales, and sharks, they left.

Now that there were no other planets left most of the crew requested they turn back, but Arica didn't want that. And neither did the emperor. He, like her, wanted them to continue on in the blackness. As the emperor had said there was sure to be something else out there. And so they continued on.

Ten days went by: nothing.

Twenty days went by: nothing.

On the thirtieth day, however, they came across an asteroid field that stretched the length of ten days. In this time, a few of _Night Squadron's_ ships were destroyed by the impact of some of the asteroids crashing into or crushing them. The loose of these few caused outrage among the officers. All of them demanded that the fleet turn back and return to real space immediately. But Arica wasn't about to be bossed around by a bunch of insignificant men dressed in gray Imperial suits. They did not turn back. She had no intention for them to turn back until, and unless, she said so.

As more and more ships were lost to the asteroids though, and Arica demanded that they continue on anyway, the officers decided to take matters into their own hands. The night of the fifth day into the asteroid field while Arica was asleep all the leading commanding officers of the squadron met in the _Executrix's_ conference room and came to the decision to turn the fleet about despite their commander's wishes.

Since this entire section of the Unknown Regions looked the same, how was Arica to know if they were continuing forward or going back?

Most agreed to this but a few voiced that Arica wasn't stupid and would find out eventually. What would they do than? They'd have to face her wrath. But a few of the officers had already figured out what they'd do when that happened. They'd just have to eliminate her.

"I don't know about you men," Colonel Ryans said when this pronouncement was met by gasps, "but I grow tired of being under a female commanding leader. And a teenager at that. It's like me taking orders from my daughter. Preposterous!"

And so, despite the fact that many among the crew were uneasy about going against Arica's orders, the fleet was successfully turned about.

When Arica woke the next morning, as always, she went to the bridge. Uneasiness is what she sensed among the crew. They all gave her nervous smiles and greeted her in an exaggerated cheery manner. The commanding officers however were a different story. They all seemed quite pleased with themselves about something though they always tried to hide it whenever Arica was around.

This unorthodox behavior of her squadron made Arica quite suspicious and she pulled aside a few of the officers questioning their sudden chipper behavior.

One claimed to have woke up happy – "I just have this feeling that something marvelous is going to happen today." – while another said that he'd received news that his pregnant wife had given birth to a baby boy.

"And just when exactly did you receive this news?" Arica asked with a suspicious raised eyebrow.

"Last night," was his unhesitating reply.

That wasn't possible. The only communications usage they had this far out in the Unknown Regions was through Arica's own personal line and that transmission communicator was located inside her private quarters.

When she said this to the officer, his face flushed and he began to stutter, trying to think of what to say. Arica stalked away from the fool before he could embarrass himself any further. Something was up. That she was sure of.

She was just about to pull aside another officer when a lieutenant rookie in training came up to her, looking nervous.

"Commander-in-chief," he said in a rush, "I know you're a busy person, but there's something you need to know concerning our course in the Unknown Regions. It was switched last night while you were asleep, miss. We're no longer going forward any more, but back the way we came."

Arica blinked in shock at this pronouncement. She noticed that the bridge had gone deathly silent. Everyone had heard what the young rookie trainee had just said to her. The uneasiness among them was even more evident. A lot of the crew were squirming uncomfortably in their seats and a few of the commanding officers sighed heavily, holding their faces in their hands, or staring determinedly at the polished floor. Colonel Ryans however simply held his head high and grinned as he approached Arica and the nervous trainee.

As Ryans got closer to them he turned his attention to the young trainee. And though he continued to grin there was something menacing about it that scared the kid. He made to run away but Arica stopped him by grabbing his arm. When he looked over at her questionably, she merely gave him a slight smile and shook her head slowly.

Turning back to the grinning fool Ryans, she instantly whipped out her newly constructed crimson bladed lightsaber – it was an eighteenth birthday present to herself – and decapitated him in one simple stroke.

As the fallen colonel's head clattered noisily to the floor, Arica looked up at the rest of her crew, her eyes blazing their Sithly yellow. Most were at a loose of what to do or say though she noticed a few of the officers nod to each other. Their blasters were out almost instantly, and just as instantly Arica snatched them out of their hands with the Force. As they flew towards her she sliced them both in half. But it was during that second that more officers entered the bridge and opened fire upon her.

Pushing the trainee kid down with the Force, she began deflecting bolts of fire with expert's ease back at the person who fired them. All of this happened in only a few seconds. The ten officers that had dared to challenge her were now dead along with Ryans.

Her lightsaber still activated in an arch over her head she glared at the rest of her crew, daring them to challenge her as well. No one stepped forward though. Fear was what consumed them all now. Without giving the order, Arica felt the _Executrix_ begin to turn about.

Deactivating her lightsaber, Admiral Henderscheid stepped forward with a hasty bow. "Commander-in-chief, the order has been put out. The entire fleet is now turning in our regular scheduled course of travel."

"Very good Admiral. See to it that it stays in that direction of travel despite what anyone has to say on the matter."

He gave another hasty bow and was off.

Clipping her lightsaber back onto her belt, Arica noticed the trainee kid attempting to make a quick escape away from her. Another quick grab on the arm though stopped him.

Arica took a good look at this trainee kid. He couldn't have been much older than herself. "What's your name, kid?"

"Firmus," he stammered out. "Firmus Piett."

Arica continued to study the nervous young man. "Well Firmus Piett, I thank you for informing me of the crew's treachery. You will be highly rewarded for this. I am hereby promoting you to the rake of Commander since our other Commander is...well dead now."

Commander Cosner was one of the officers that had opened fire on her.

"Um, thank you miss," Piett stammered, than seemed to pull himself together by standing upright and saluting. "I will attempt at being worthy of my post."

"Attempt?" Arica queried. "You will either be worthy of the post, or you won't."

Piett's face flushed slightly, but tried to keep it from showing as he continued to salute. "I will be worthy of my post," he said firmly, "or die in the attempt."

Arica chuckled and gave the kid a clap on the back. "You'll be fine kid. You'll be just fine."

Motioning towards a few nearby stormtroopers, Arica had them take away and dispose of the dead officers. She than returned to her quarters to tell the emperor of that day's happenings.


	24. The Power of the Crystal

Author's Note: More action ensures and the foreshadowing of our first major death is danced around. Also, my friend Zak, otherwise known as SithMaster2019, is an incredible author of a SW series called Unknown Son. It centers around Vader finding Luke with the Lars, taking him as an apprentice, and together overthrowing Palpatine to have the empire as their own. Mara Jade, Admiral Daala, and Grand Admiral Thrawn are also in it. Anyway, it's an amazing trilogy. Only thing is, no one seems to be reading it. If anyone here is interested, go and check them out. You won't be disappointed with how well written they are.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 24: The Power of the Crystal

Due to the fleet being turned about against Arica's orders, an entire day had been lost in the time of going back and than forward again. As the days of asteroid filled space continued more and more ships were destroyed, but Arica defiantly held to her orders from the emperor to continue on no matter how many ships were destroyed. As the Emperor himself had said, "Ships and officers can be easily replaced; unknown secrets in the deep reaches of space cannot."

Not surprisingly, not everyone felt this way, but unlike last time, they simply kept their comments to themselves. Well, almost everyone.

On the tenth day of voyaging in the asteroid field, one of the small _Victory_-class Star Destroyers decided to attempt at slipping away unnoticed. And they almost were successful at it too had Arica not suddenly glanced at the fleet's position in space. She did this every so often to see how many ships were still around and which ones had been destroyed. Of course, Arica could careless about any of the ships being destroyed besides her own. But the _Executrix_ was a Super Star Destroyer with many protective shields. It'd take more than a mere asteroid to destroy her.

Glancing down at the fleet's position chart showed her the star destroyer _Courage_ making a quick getaway back the way they'd come. Grabbing the microphone she used to address the fleet as a whole, Arica demanded of _Courage's_ Captain, "What the blazes do you think you're doing?!"

She got no reply to this.

Again and again she commanded _Courage's_ crew to answer her calls and turn their ship around. They either heard her and didn't care what she said, or turned the communicator off in defiance in the middle of her ravings.

Arica was not one to take defiance lying down. An example had to be made out of them.

Ordering the rest of the fleet to continue forward, she ordered her own crew to turn the _Executrix_ around and ready the ship's turbo lasers. If any of the officers were confused by these orders they didn't voice them, simply nodding and going forth with their tasks.

Once the _Executrix_ was fully turned about they gave chase after the small fleeing form of _Courage_. Pushing the turbo lasers gunner out of the way, Arica took his seat and gave _Courage_ the fair warning that if they did not turn about an example would be made out of them.

As before, no response was made.

Arica's mind was set. Hitting down repeatedly on the turbo laser's cannons, she proceeded to blast the escaping star destroyer out of the sky and watched the remains of the smoldering ruins with a satisfied smirk before then commanding the gunner to recharge the turbo laser batteries.

Returning to the bridge, she commanded the ship be turned back in its regular course and spoke to the surviving ships of her fleet over the microphone.

"Let _Courage's_ destruction be an example to the rest of you. Attempt to flee and you will be destroyed. If not by the asteroids, by me."

Arica's threat went down very well with the fleet. No one else attempted, or even thought, of going back. Death was just something they would have to accept.

"We're all going to die eventually," she'd later said. "No one knows when or how, so you'll just have to accept it when it comes."

A welcome surprise came the next day. The seemingly everlasting asteroid field they were in finally began to dissipate and by mid-day they had successfully exited it. The fleet now consisted of twenty ships out of the original hundred but Arica wasn't thinking about that as her mind was now occupied with something else. What was strange about exiting the asteroid field was that instead of them being in continued darkness there was a dim, distant light ahead that seemed to be thousands upon thousands of miles away, yet at the same time it didn't seem that far. And as the days continued to go by, it got brighter and brighter the closer they came to it.

Arica had the fleet do scans to decipher what it was, but all that ever came up was that it was a strong collectrial shield of light. Not fully believing the scan reports, Arica decided to do some meditating on the matter. Calling onto the Force for guidance told her that the light ahead was the Core Sun of the galaxy center. This was impossible being as the Core Sun was located not only in real space, but the center of the galaxy. The Core Sun was the same sun that shined upon Coruscant and some of the worlds of the rarely visited Deep Core. It was than in her confusion that she was shown a diagram of the entire galaxy in her mind.

In this galaxy, for there were bound to be others, it was mainly straight north to south and circular in length from the Core to the Outer Rim but once you reached the Unknown Regions you looped around in a circular motion that led back to the Core.

This information both surprised and intrigued Arica for they would not have to go back the distance traveled, through the Unknown Regions and the length of the entire galaxy, to return to the Core. Despite her happiness on the matter, she choose to keep it to herself and not share it with the crew or anyone.

Ten days after leaving the asteroid field, they finally came upon the bright light of the Core Sun. The problem was how to get through the light, for there was no getting around it. Whenever a ship would approach it, the shields that covered the sun would send a wave of energy, throwing the ship back a bit.

Looking into the Force for guidance again, it told her to retrieve the crystal.

Confused as to what the crystal could do about their situation, Arica collected it all the same. Bringing it onto the bridge she, ignoring the stares of the crew, held it up before the light and gasped as it floated out of her hand. It twirled around faster and faster until suddenly it burst through the _Executrix's_ forward viewport and straight through the Core Sun.

For a moment, the light of the sun went out, causing what Arica knew would be a solar ellipse on Coruscant, but than just as suddenly it was aglow again. The crystal was now burning a path through the core of the sun. Once the path was successfully burnt through, Coruscant could be seen distantly ahead. But just for a moment. This moment quickly vanished when the Core Sun and the crystal began to twirl together in a blinding hot light that could be seen from miles around.

Abruptly, the crystal than left the sun at an arch so another path was being burnt, but at the far side of the sun. This path though, unlike the other, remained as the crystal continued to fly, twirling, back to the _Executrix._

What happened next Arica only remembered vaguely afterwards: The crystal flew through the hole it'd made in the _Executrix's_ forward viewport and struck her to the floor in a sharp wave of power. She collapsed to the bridge floor unconscious immediately.

* * *

The five months Emperor's Hand Arica Grievous spent in the Unknown Regions was a relatively quiet time in the Empire. With the small exception of a few pirate attacks Vader and his _Death Squadron_ put a rest to, all was well in peace. It was during this time that Vader began training his apprentice, Darth Lady Da-xia aka Andrea Cavallaria in the path of the Sith.

Besides also overseeing the far behind production of the _Death Star,_ Vader and his apprentice went to several different Imperial Academies in the Mid and Inner Rims to look over the school's new recruits.

The Emperor and Empress, meanwhile, kept busy making more extensive plans concerning the No Alien Act. The Empress also returned to Naboo sometime to keep up with her duties there.

It was the day that Arica and her remaining fleet arrived in orbit around the Core Sun that the emperor was on the capital planet in his throne room going over star charts concerning several disturbances the Hutts had been making in Imperial space. Being as Padme was on Naboo, Vader and Da-xia in the Mid Rim, and Zenevieva in the Unknown Regions, he decided to send Iolana there to see about the matter. She was here in the Entertainment District of Galactic City as of the present, doing a photo shoot for Hot Stuff Magazine.

As capable a Hand as Iolana was, she was slipping a bit now when it came to her duties. As early as three months ago, she seemed far more interested in being famous and a party girl. She went out to clubs almost every night and had become the staple of holotabs over her party girl ways and numerous hookups and breakups. She was one of the most famous people in the galaxy. Everyone knew her name. A beautiful socialite whom everyone wanted to be.

The emperor had spoken to his daughter various times concerning her Hand and knew she felt the same way he did on the matter. Although it was a good promotion of the Empire among young people, Iolana's party ways and public life had started to make a disruption on some of her jobs.

One time for example, she'd been hunting down a traitorous Senator who was rumored to be passing inside information to rebel spies for money. She was supposed to slip into the cantina he was in, disguised and unnoticed, and than lure him outside ever so much before she made the kill. Sadly, this easy task was not accomplished. She claimed she tried to slip in unnoticed, but was recognized and instantly surrounded by autograph seekers and paparazzi.

"And it's not like I'm going to ignore my fans," she'd said. "I love them too much 'cause they think I'm cool."

To make matters even worse, she decided not to wear her disguise and simply bound into the cantina, up to the Senator and demand that he kiss her right there and than. He eagerly did so and while the others around them were too involved in their own kissing sessions, she stabbed him in the neck with a knife and than left through a back door.

Iolana, though she hadn't done the job exactly as she'd been told, was very proud of herself for the way the it'd turned out. "It was fun!" she exclaimed.

The Emperor and Empress exchanged a glance at that, but didn't say anything, merely giving Iolana another job to do with the sharp command to do it exactly as she was told or else. But again she did not go through with the mission as commanded. Instead of overseeing the transfer of explosives from one Imperial ship to another she was too busy flirting with a non-Human worker. While this was going on, pirates hijacked some of the explosives, killing the crew of the ships in the process.

This act of disobedience had not set well with either Imperial rulers. After sending Vader out after the pirates, the empress struck Iolana down repeatedly with Force lightning. As for the emperor, he sent her to his personal prison block beneath the Imperial Senate Building, where she remained, guarded of course, for two months. He'd just set her free the previous night and already she was back to her partying ways. There was only so much of Iolana's behavior he was going to take before he ordered Padme to eliminate her and find a new Hand. He sent word over to the magazine studio that Iolana "finish up quickly and report to him immediately afterwards."

It was right after he'd done this that the sky above Coruscant abruptly darkened and the sun went out. Just as suddenly though the light returned, but brighter and more glowing like.

Glancing upwards from his throne, the emperor gazed out the prismatic skylight directly above him and up into the suddenly brighter light of the sun. The sun had gone from bright yellow to vivid white and was so bright it could blind anyone who even squinted at it. But the emperor was far from ordinary and could look up wide-eyed into the sun without blinking for however long he wished.

Strangely, a path appeared to be being made in the sun by a crystal of light. When it finished, the crystal disappeared from view and suddenly the Sith master felt a disturbance in the Force. It was Arica. She was...no not dead, but unconscious, close to slipping into a coma.

Immediately, without another glance at the sky, the emperor made for his communications room to contact the _Executrix._

* * *

Vader was on the Mid rim world of Kashyyyk when he felt the disturbance of Arica in the Force. 

During her time in the Unknown Regions, the couple kept in contact via email. She told him all about the happenings out there and the planets, and seemed to be doing just fine, which was why her disturbance came as a slight surprise to him.

He tried contacting her telepathically, but all he got in response was nothingness. This gave him a cold sense of dread. What could've happened? Was she hurt? Was she all right?

"Master? Are you okay?"

Opening his eyes, Vader glanced to his right to see Da-xia looking at him in concern.

Currently, the duo were en route to the Kashyyyk city of Kepitenochan, to oversee the destruction of the village there.

Since Kashyyyk's native tribe of wookies had become slaves of the Empire about a year ago there had never really been any time to fully contaminate the planet of its village houses and wookie nonsense, as Vader called it. So here he and Da-xia were leading a battalion of clones around the planet to do all this.

When Vader had sensed Arica's disturbance, he'd stopped walking and closed his eyes. Da-xia had been walking beside him, but when she saw him stop she also did so, motioning for the clones to continue on without them. They saluted and did so.

When it was just the two of them, she asked if he was okay.

For a while he gave no response, simply looking at her a moment and sighing. He than adopted what she knew he expected her to think was a regular smile. She didn't buy it though, because the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes Da-xia," he finally said. "I-I'm fine."

She wasn't convinced, but didn't want to push it. After a moment though she said, "You felt it too. The disturbance."

In the time Vader had trained her, she'd grown very well in her Force abilities. He knew she would make into a great Sith someday.

Vader turned to his apprentice slowly, this time offering a real genuine smile. He clapped her on the shoulder. "Let's not worry ourselves with the matter of others. Arica is...I'm sure just fine."

He said this mainly to assure himself and not Da-xia and she knew it.

With a slight bow of her head she said, "Of course master." And they continued on.

* * *

When the Commander-in-chief collapsed to the bridge floor, Commander Piett rushed over to see if she was all right. Though the crystal had struck her down, it'd landed beside her on the floor. Quickly checking her pulse assured the young Commander that she was alive, but unconscious. 

Giving word for the fleet to make through the new path that'd been made by the crystal, Piett took Arica into his arms and was about to take her back to her quarters with the prospect of contacting the emperor when a few officers stopped him.

They didn't want to go through the path, for fear of what it would lead to.

"And besides," Admiral Henderscheid added, "Who are you to bark out orders here?"

"I believe the Commander-in-chief would want us to go through the path," Piett argued. "Why else do you think she brought the crystal out? So it'd make a path for us to go through. And it has, so let's go."

"No one's going anywhere except back!" Henderscheid roared. "This whole expedition of us venturing into the Unknown Regions was a waste of time. We are not going forward any more. We are going back!"

The two continued to argue back and forth a few minutes when suddenly the main comm communicator in the bridge began to beep with an oncoming message. This shocked them all being as the only communicator on the ship that worked this far out into space was the one in Arica's private quarters because it had advanced capabilities the bridge communication center didn't.

Captain Bokins stepped forward quickly to read who it was from. He gulped slightly when he did so, but also felt a sense of relief. He addressed the Commander and Admiral. "It's the Emperor."

Everyone in the bridge went deathly pale and silent at this pronouncement, except Piett. He offered a curt nod to Henderscheid. "Well I'm sure he can give us some insight in this matter."

Stepping forward with Arica still in his arms, he commanded for the Captain to accept the oncoming message. He did so and instantly a life-size holoform of the Emperor appeared. Everyone was immediately on their knees.

"My lord," Piett started, but Henderscheid cut him off. "Your highness, we-"

"Silence fool," the Emperor hissed and the Admiral was instantly knocked to the floor via a Force-push. He turned back to Piett. "Continue Commander."

Piett proceeded to explain their situation and all that had happened with the crystal.

When he finished, the Emperor seemed to go over the information a few moments before speaking. "Yes Commander. You were correct to order the fleet through the path that was made. It will lead you back to Coruscant."

At the looks of shock on everyone's faces the Emperor allowed a cackle. "Why else do you think Arica used the crystal to make a path through the Core Sun of the galaxy? She knew it would lead to the capital, she simply, I suppose, choose not to say anything about it. Have her taken to the medical wing at once and make through the path immediately. You should reach Coruscant within a week's time. Maybe more, maybe less."

And with that the transmission ended.

As commanded by the Emperor, _Night Squadron_ made throughthe path in the Core Sun and Arica was taken to the medical wing. It turned out that the young woman was on the verge of slipping into a coma. Yet during the ten-day voyage it took to reach the capital, she never did fall into it fully.

When the fleet came in orbit about Coruscant, a shuttle was instantly sent down onto the planet with Arica and Commander Piett on board. The commander had sent word ahead to the Emperor and he'd said to bring Arica and the crystal to the Imperial Palace.

His Royal Highness met Piett in the Grand Corridor and accepted the still unconscious form of Arica into his arms. Piett than presented him with the crystal, drawing his attention away from his Hand for the moment.

Loosening his grip on Arica ever so slightly, he accepted the powerful gem into his hand and examined it.

So...this was the powerful Crystal of Elderin. Powerful enough to destroy an entire planet and burn a path through an extremely hot substance like the Core Sun, thus enabling another route to the Unknown Regions.

Giving it one last look he placed it inside his robes and dismissed Piett by telling him to have the crew of the _Executrix_ move all the gold and precious metals from the ship and into the Palace.

The Emperor carried Arica up to his private quarters and, once inside, placed her on the bed inside his sleeping chambers. Than, retrieving the crystal from his pocket, placed it up onto a mantle he'd prepared especially for it.

Appraising it briefly a moment longer, he looked back over to the still unconscious form of his Hand. Lying there as still as death, though her chest did rise and fall softly every few moments so it'd be obvious to anyone she was still alive. And fighting to reenter consciousness. Her face now showed various signs of knowing she was no longer aboard the _Executrix_ and in the presence of her master. The emperor could easily reawaken her from unconsciousness with a wave of his hand, but thought it better that Arica come out of this on her own.

In her mind Arica continued to fight against the blackness that was enfolding her mind. Using the Force as a way to bat it away, it began to dissipate more and more but not enough.

Growing impatient with watching Arica fight against the crystal's power over her, the emperor said a simple word.

"Hand!"

Arica instantly jolted up into a sitting position on the bed, her eyes opening as she did so. She looked around the room briefly before she spotted him.

"Master." She bowed her head, face down onto the bed.

"Rise Lady Zenevieva."

She did so, making to get off the bed, but he quickly stopped her. "Despite the fact of being in a coma for ten days, you need your rest. Especially if you are to be up and active for the welcome back gala later on tonight. Lord Vader will be there. As will Da-xia. But as for the present, sleep."

And before Arica could protest, she was falling into a deep, peaceful slumber.

While his Hand slept, the emperor played overseer to the gems and precious metals being brought into the Palace. He'd already set aside a room in the second floor of the Royal Residential Levels for them to be stored in.

The welcome back gala previously mentioned was to be thrown in her honor for discovering the unknown secrets of the Unknown Regions of space. It was not mandatory for everyone to attend, but the emperor received a confirmation that a good amount of people were attending. One of the people, as he'd told Arica, was Lord Vader.

When his apprentice reported a week ago on how the decimation of Kashyyyk had been a success, the emperor made sure to let it slip that Arica was in a near-comatose state. As expected, the young Sith went into a frenzy of worry, wanting to know how it happened and when and why he wasn't told sooner. The older Sith calmly answered these questions before giving Vader his next assignment. Vader, however, didn't want to do it. He wanted to return to Coruscant and be there when _Night Squadron_ returned, but the emperor sharply said no to this. Vader would do the task that was set before him and than when he finished he may return, but only once he was finished.

The mission the emperor gave him was to oversee the production of the new fleet vessels for the Imperial Navy on Kessel. He deliberately gave him this because he knew it would take a while to do. He wanted Vader's mind off Arica, as much as possible, for the time being. He wanted to torture Vader, knowing that his beloved was hurt but not being able to do anything about it. Call him cruel, but he rather enjoyed the look of worry on the young man's face when he was told about Arica and how he couldn't see her.

Vader alerted the Emperor earlier that day, 1200, via prerecorded message that he had successfully finished his mission – the new fleet vehicles that he helped design would be ready within a few weeks – and that he was now returning to the capital rather the emperor liked it or not.

Sidious had smirked at the defiant yet determined look on his apprentice's face in the message and Arica was brought to the Palace twenty minutes later.


	25. A Reunion and a Proposal

Author's Note: The title's somewhat revealing as one can take a random guess as to what it refers to.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 25: A Reunion and a Proposal

Arica Grievous' 'Welcome Back Gala' started promptly at 1900 that night in the Imperial Palace ballroom. The guest of honor awoke a half-hour prior and was showered and clothed in a gown of navy blue flowers by a handful of the Emperor and Empress' Palace servants. Her hair, upon request, was placed in elegant curls with a matching navy blue scarf to go through it.

The gala started with the emperor introducing the Commander-in-chief, though she needed no intro as everyone knew who she was, to the crowd of guests. Applause sounded as she stepped onto the podium next to his Royal Highness and after thanking everyone for their warm welcome, gave a speech about her time in the Unknown Regions and answered many questions from the audience and press about her time and experiences out there. Once this was over, the food and dancing began.

The empress arrived not long after this with her Hand Iolana Lestrange, to which much fanfare was given, but Arica mainly ignored them, continuing her conversation with Moff Jovovich. The Senator was telling her about Iolana's latest galaxy-wide scandal. The Empress' Hand had somehow gotten in the middle of a romance triangle with a married holostar couple. The actress wife, Elisha Edwards, claimed that she caught her actor husband, Lance Jordan, in bed with Iolana after a night of partying. Both Iolana and Lance denied these claims, saying the only reason Iolana had come home with Lance after the party was because they wanted to get to know each other more, for Iolana was in the talks to appear in a film alongside him.

The scandal was so full of _he said_, _she said_ that no one knew what to believe, which is probably why the press were currently surrounding Iolana, shoving microphones in her face. But Iolana did not tell them to go away; she merely smiled sweetly and answered all their questions.

On the contrary, Arica got the sense from her cousin that she was rather enjoying herself. This disgusted Arica to no end. She began to wonder if Iolana deliberately got herself in these situations as a way to keep herself in the spotlight at all times.

In fact, Arica was so caught up in these thoughts that she didn't notice Jovovich grin knowingly at something behind her, walk away, and than someone else sneaking up behind her. Arica was just wondering how to get those reporters to stop hovering around a pleased Iolana and smug Padme and get them to come back over to her – it was her party after all – when suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms envelope themselves around her waist and she was being swept off her feet. She knew instantly who it was.

"Anakin!" she cried happily as he proceeded to twirl her around in his arms.

Once she was placed back on the floor, the lovers tightly held one another, never wanting to let go. Eventually they did though and gazed into one another's eyes. Anakin's showed relief, happiness, and love, she noted.

"Oh Arica," he whispered softly. "My darling Arica. I was so worried about you."

"Anakin-" Arica started, but he cut her off.

"I was so afraid I'd lost you."

"Oh Anakin." She gave him a bright smile. "It'll take more than a stupid crystal to stop me."

Anakin chuckled lightly and kissed her gently, yet deeply. When they broke apart, they hugged each other once more.

Planting a kiss on her forehead, he smiled. "As much as I'd like to keep you all myself, there is someone else who wants to see you again."

Stepping aside revealed the fit to burst with excitement figure of... "Andrea!" Arica exclaimed with open arms.

Andrea gave a squeal of delight and raced into her arms. They embraced warmly while Anakin laughed. Instant conversation sprang between the three of them as they made their way over to the buffet table. Jovovich, much to the surprise of Arica, soon joined them but one glance at Iolana and Padme showed why. They were still surrounded by reporters, but not as many now that most of them were eating.

Once the foursome finished their own meal, Anakin asked Arica for a dance and they did so. And quite well at that. It seemed that whatever the two of them did together they were perfect at it. It was as if they were made for each other. They were perfectly in sync and harmony about everything. The Force simply glowed around them, that's how in love they were. And it was at last that they were finally the center of attention at the party, not Iolana and Padme, who looked disappointed and ticked off. And also disgusted in the empress' case.

It was at that moment, once a slow ballad ended, that Anakin surprised not just Arica, but the entire audience at the gala. Before the next song could begin playing, he called for the attention of everyone on him. Once this was established he took Arica's right hand into his left and addressed the crowd at large.

"As I'm sure you all here know, Miss Grievous and myself have been together for the past year and two months now. Though due to our jobs in the navy, we've only been able to see each other three times during that period. Tonight included. Despite the fact of not being able to see each other often, we manage with our relationship just fine. Now you're probably asking yourselves right now, 'What's this got to do with anything?' Well...as you all also know, I've been married once before. And had the pleasure of having children with our dear empress, may she live forever!"

This last pronouncement by Anakin was said in sarcasm, as could be expected. A few in the audience coughed out laughs, other smirked, and others, due to the fact of not knowing what to say or think, simply remained expressionless. Padme however scowled.

"Being the young and foolish idiot I was at the time, I'd thought that I was in love with her. And she with me. And that we'd spend the rest of our lives together. Well...sadly that did not happen. But you know what, I'm glad it didn't. For if it had, I wouldn't be able to ask this beautiful young woman here what I'm about to ask her."

Knowing what was coming many in the crowd gasped, Arica included. Reporters hurriedly clicked their cameras on and aimed them at the young couple. Anakin patiently waited for them to settle down before continuing. He knelt before the brightly smiling, too excited to speak Arica, and took a small box out of his right hand pocket.

While on Kessel, in its capital of Kessendra, Anakin, with Andrea in tow, went to a high society jeweler to have an engagement/wedding ring set made for Arica. Andrea helped him design them along with a matching necklace, bracelet, and watch to go with it. Arica didn't wear earrings so he didn't bother with any of them. Not that her ears weren't pierced, she simply wasn't one for jewelry. Rarely would you see her wear anything besides her watch. But Anakin knew she'd love his gifts for her and wear them out of love.

Flicking the small box open revealed a beautiful and expensive gold banded ruby sapphire diamond ring. But what was nice about the sapphire was that unlike other expensive ones, it wasn't overly large in the sense that it'd be too heavy to wear. It was a nice medium-sized ruby sapphire surrounded by two small crystal diamonds on a golden band.

Glancing up at his beloved Arica, who was still too overcome with happy emotions to speak, Anakin looked deep into her eyes and spoke the words he'd been so longing to say ever since they'd first gotten together back when Padme broke his heart.

"Arica Nicholai Olivia Grievous, will you marry me?"

A gasp went up over the crowd but Anakin and Arica did not hear it. Their eyes were locked only on each other as they continued to gaze into each other's eyes.

"Yes!" Arica screeched. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She threw herself into Anakin's arms.

As he rose and twirled her around, applause went up over the crowd. The couple held each other tightly and tenderly kissed before than smiling happily at the assembled crowd and photographers who were now clicking away.

Gazing tenderly at his fiancée, Anakin took the gold-banded engagement ring out of its small box and slipped it onto Arica's left ring finger. She gave a gasped smile down at it and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately.

When they were done, they posed for even more photos, Arica happily and proudly showing off her engagement ring in them. Afterwards, the couple answered questions from the press concerning when and where the wedding would be.

"The where I haven't decided yet," Anakin said. "But as for the when, I hope within the next month or so. We'll start putting together plans for the wedding tomorrow."

"We definitely want a big wedding," Arica added.

Anakin nodded and gave a sly smirk over Arica's shoulder. "Definitely," he echoed, defiantly looking at his ex-wife, daring her to send curses his way.

She didn't though, at least not aloud. She simply flipped her hair angrily over her shoulder and stalked out of the ballroom. Anakin and Arica merely shrugged and returned to answering more questions from the press.

The rest of the gala was spent with the newly-engaged couple being congratulated on their engagement, more dancing, eating, and conversation.

When at last the gala was called to an end at 2330 everyone began to leave, going on their merry way. Anakin and Arica stayed however. They were waiting for everyone to leave so they could speak with the emperor alone.

When at last the only people that remained in the ballroom were the three of them – Jovovich was nice enough to suggest that Andrea stay with her for the night so the couple could have their apartment to themselves; as Andrea began residing in their Holiday Towers apartment at the start of her training – Anakin, after sharing a brief glance with Arica, stepped forward towards his master, his fiancée by his side, and spoke.

"I meant what I said about wanting the wedding within the next month or so. Because of that, the both of us are taking leave from the navy for the rest of the year (aka four months)." He paused slightly, letting this information sink in, before continuing. "And that's just the way it's going to be. Master," he added almost as an afterthought and with a slight bow to show his 'respect'.

If Vader was expecting the emperor to deny this request, he would be surprised to see the Sith Master give he and Lady Zenevieva a mockery of a smile.

"Of course Lord Vader," he said. "I respect your and Lady Zenevieva's wishes. I did intend on holding off on the 'No Alien Act' until the Empire's second anniversary anyway. I'll have Lestrange return to Kessel to oversee the final stages of the new fleet ships, and congratulations once more to the both of you. I can't say I was surprised by this, though I wish you both the best nonetheless."

Once Anakin and Arica finished up with the emperor, they returned to their apartment and, after Anakin gave Arica the matching necklace, bracelet, and watch that went with her ring, they celebrated their engagement more intimately, happy to back in one another's arms.


	26. Vader's Revenge

Author's Note: Short, but necessary. I also decided to display my response to Thrawn716 publicly as I'm sure many of you were probably thinking the same: Though somewhat confusing, chapter 24 will be fully explained in a later episode as it's later revealed that the entirety of the URs wasn't completely explored as originally thought. And as for the Chiss, I must've forgotten to make myself clear that they will not, I repeat, will not be in this. And neither will Thrawn. I'm sorry, but I don't go by the Expanded Universe too much as most of its garbage anyway. Also, war starts in the next chapter.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 26: Vader's Revenge

The next day, the planning stage for Anakin Skywalker and Arica Grievous' wedding began. Getting a wedding planner was easy since practically everyone wanted to have some part of it. Because of this, they choose several planners, having each one in charge of separate things.

Costume design: Arica hired a famous fashion designer to make all the gowns and tuxedos;

Food: Numerous restaurants were catering and the cake was being made by a galaxy-famous chef, who would also thrown in a few other "surprise dishes" as he called them;

Location: The wedding was to be held at the Central International Church of Galactic City, due to it being one of the largest buildings on Coruscant. Not only was it very large and spacious, but very elegant as well in design in architecture.

When Anakin and Arica met with the Pastor to get the okay, he jumped at the chance and said his congregation would gladly help with anything should they need it.

The young couple took this offered help when it came to decorations. Under the watchful eye and guidance of one of the wedding planners, the members of the church both helped and picked out the decor, setting it up when the time came for it.

The wedding of Anakin Skywalker and Arica Grievous was the talk of the entire galaxy. The date that was set would mark the 2-month anniversary of the engagement and everyone wanted to come. The couple gladly applauded this saying, "the more the merrier."

It was quite obvious the young couple was enjoying the publicity buzz surrounding their impending nuptials for they even let various media outlets come on the set of some of their planning meetings and rehearsals.

Arica thought the fascination over it was "satisfying that there was more to talk about than Lestrange", and while Anakin thought the same, he was mainly enjoying it over the aspect of revenge against Padme. He wanted to rub his happiness in her face as a way to say, "You may have broken my heart, and I may have been sad about it at the time, but I've moved on and am quite happy over the fact that you can't go anyway without hearing or seeing something about it."

And indeed, despite the fact of the empress attempting to make herself scarce during the fiasco and close herself up away from all the nonsense, it always found her. She'd given a few terse interviews, saying how "happy she was that Lord Vader had finally moved on and found happiness again."

These comments, of course, were hinted with sarcasm and disgust. And indeed she was disgusted by it all. Vader was doing an awfully good job at parading his happy love life in her face. You couldn't flick to any channel on the HoloNet without some reference to the wedding being mentioned. Padme grew so disgusted with all of it that she fled the capital for Naboo a month into it.

When it came to the matter of participants in the wedding, the couple choose to have the emperor give the bride away. As for Maid of Honor and Best Man however, Anakin and Arica weren't too sure at first. The bride's first and only choice was Andrea but...

As ridiculous as it sounded now, Arica had always envisioned that if she ever were to marry, Antellica would be her Maid of Honor, and the same thing switched back in Antellica's case. Alas, Antellica was dead and gone, despite what Anakin said about her still being alive somewhere. Antellica was her twin, her other half. She would know rather she was dead or alive. Besides, Antellica had gotten married without Arica, and now Arica was to get married without Antellica.

The night before she asked Andrea to be Maid of Honor, after assuring that she was in the apartment alone – Anakin had gone out to buy dinner while she was in the shower and Andrea was out – Arica cried silently over the fact that her sister and best friend would not be able to share with her day of happiness. And also because she'd always kept herself so busy that she never gave herself time to grieve. Whenever her mind reverted to her sister, she'd force it to think of something else.

While she wept, Anakin snuck into the apartment quietly, his presence cloaked, wanting to surprise Arica with a set of chocolates and flowers. Though, picking up on her sad mood as he entered their bedroom, his presence was quickly uncloaked and he made towards her.

Feeling Anakin suddenly in the room with her, Arica hastily made to wipe away her tears. But she wasn't fast enough. Anakin, noticing her tears, quickly scooped her into his arms and held her, asking what was wrong. At first, she didn't want to tell him. She thought he'd think her weak, but after much prodding Anakin finally got her to tell him.

He did not find her weak. On the contrary, he was upset she'd even think that and was glad she was finally mourning her sister and not keeping it bottled up inside. He even shared with her something that surprised her somewhat. He told her back when he married Padme, he'd wanted so much for Obi-Wan to be there and share in his happiness, but alas that did not happen and never would.

After some prodding of her own, Arica discovered that in a perfect world, the only candidate Anakin would have for Best Man in their wedding would be Obi-Wan.

"Despite the fact that he and that frog stole my children I...I don't know. This sounds ridiculous to you, I'm sure." He than adopted a playful smile. "You see what you've done to me Arica? You have me turning all soft here."

The young couple shared a laugh and love-filled kiss before proceeding forward with dinner in silence, both of their thoughts wondering over Antellica, Obi-Wan, their son Alexander, and the twins.

Halfway through eating Anakin abruptly said, "I just can't help but think...what if I never see them again."

Arica didn't need to ask to know who he was talking about. "Oh Anakin, don't say things like that." She reached her hand over across herself to lift his sinking head. "Of course you'll see them again. We all will. Don't give up hope. And who knows," her smile went slightly sly, "if they're good maybe we'll give them some playmates."

Anakin smirked across from her and leaned over to kiss her deeply. "Do you want children, Arica?" he asked softly.

Her eyes a lit with delight. "Oh yes! I want so many! Maybe five or six, but I don't think any more than that. And not all at once."

This caused Anakin to laugh.

The rest of the meal was spent in much happier spirits with both talking about their future offspring and what measures they should take to ensure a repeat of the twins' kidnapping didn't occur.

Eventually, Anakin decided to have the emperor serve as Best Man in addition to giving Arica away. Both Andrea and the emperor were pleased and honored to be apart of their wedding and everyone was happy. Except Iolana that is. For some reason, she'd assumed that Arica would make her Maid of Honor since they were cousins. When Iolana told her this, Arica scoffed. "As if! You aren't drawing attention to yourself at my wedding. You may very well come, but you'll have no part of it."

Iolana was hurt by Arica's harshness, but she didn't really care. Arica was losing her liking of Iolana. She had been thinking about making her a bridesmaid, but quickly changed her mind at her arrogant assumption. Jovovich was made a bridesmaid though, something she took with a smile and thanks.


	27. The Wedding Before the Outbreak of War

Author's Note: A new month, a new chapter. I also thought I'd let you know that it's my hope to do be done this episode by the month's end.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 27: The Wedding Before the Outbreak of War

And so after two months of preparations, the day of Anakin Skywalker and Arica Grievous' wedding finally came to pass. It was nothing short of marvelous and a very public event. Correspondents from every major media outlet were allowed to attend and the wedding aired live on a great many HoloNet channels. The number of people that attended was far too many for the church to hold so legions were forced to watch the ceremony via Holovisions set up outside in numerous areas all across the city.

For Arica, the day of her marriage to Anakin was the best day of her life. This day, in Arica's eyes, could only be topped by the day she became pregnant with her husbands' child.

For Anakin, the day of his marriage to Arica was so full of happiness and love. Finally, he and his love were bound together for life. Nothing would ever come between them. Anakin would rather die first than see something happen to his beautiful wife.

The traditional vows were exchanged between the two, though for the ring exchange Anakin gave Arica the platinum, single white diamond ring he'd personally designed himself with no help from Andrea, and Arica gave Anakin the gold band she'd also personally designed with the help of a jeweler about a month previous.

At the hour and a half ceremony's end, wedding guests were swept off to the elegant dining area of the church for the reception, which went wondrously with the exception of one thing...

In an act of boldness, the empress had the nerve to return to Coruscant and attend not only the wedding, but the reception as well, in spite the fact of not being invited. The newly wedded couple noticed her early on during the ceremony, though for a moment thought they were hallucinating. Though, when it soon became apparent they weren't, instead of growing angry both choose to ignore her. During the reception however, they had no choice but to acknowledge her presence as she pulled off one of the most cruelest schemes to embarrass the bride.

When it came to the cutting of the cake, Anakin gave Arica the honors of doing so first. Only at the moment the knife Arica was wielding cut into it, the cake exploded into the newly married woman's face by means of a small bomb that was baked into the cake from scratch. Arica was horrified at the display of cake splattered all across her white dressed form and enraged when the empress than commented loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "That's my wedding gift to our happy couple; bomb cake in the face. I hope you both enjoyed it."

Far from it. Anakin was also angered greatly, but had enough sense not to return the favor by striking his ex down with Force lightning in front of everyone present. After making sure Arica was alright, he walked up to the empress and pulled her aside to talk.

"This is a happy day for myself and Arica," he growled only loud enough for himself and whom he was addressing to hear. "Don't attempt at spoiling it for us as further. I wouldn't want to do something the church would lose their religion over."

Though humored by the warning, Padme left soon after, and there on the reception continued fantastically with the couple receiving many gifts, but the most valuable one of all was from the emperor. He split the amount of treasure Arica found in the Unknown Regions, giving them half while he and the empress kept the rest.

Following the reception, the young couple left for their honeymoon in the Unknown Regions via Anakin's _Vengeance_. Due to the new path in the Core Sun, they didn't have to travel the length of the galaxy to reach it. The two-month honeymoon was spent with Arica showing Anakin the other newly discovered planets. Though due to their love of the ninth and tenth, they spent most of their time there.

At the end of this two-month period, they returned to the capital just in time for the Galactic Empire's second anniversary celebration. Once more, as much as the two enjoyed spending time together, they both also missed their work in the navy and were glad to be getting back to it once a certain announcement was made during the festivities. This annunciation, of course, had to do with the 'No Alien Act'.

During the Emperor's annual speech on _Empire Day_ this declaration was made. The Act stated that "no non-humans were allowed to work, be apart of, or even live in Imperial worlds. It was time for the domination of Humans to rule the galaxy."

As expected, instant uproar and chaos ensured.

In the next day's Senate meeting, thousands of alien inhabited planets left the empire, stating this Act proved that the emperor and empress were prejudiced against non-humans. This group of alien inhabited systems bonded together to form their own system of government – The Galactic Alien Only Society – with the outer rim world of Mon Calamari as their home base.

Many Senators representing human inhabited and mixed worlds also voiced their objections saying, "if this is the way the empire's going to rule things, we're not so sure we want to be apart of it anymore."

But due to the fact that the aliens were grouping together by themselves and would not take any help from the humans who opposed this Act, the human and mixed planets who left the empire were forced to make themselves independent systems under no source of government except their own planetary jurisdiction.

And so the emperor and empress watched all this in an unmoved manner.

Notwithstanding the fact that a large amount of the Empire opposed the No Alien Act, a good amount accepted and agreed with it wholeheartedly saying, "they were shocked Palpatine hadn't done it sooner."

By the week's end of the Act's announcement, fifty-five percent of all Imperial systems in the galaxy were on opposition, while forty-five percent remained loyal.

These stats did not surprise the emperor. On the contrary, he was mildly surprised there weren't more against the act. But there in laid the dilemma. Some of the systems that claimed they were still loyal to the Empire actually weren't. They were loyal outwardly, but opposed it secretly. It was systems like Bormea, home of Chandrila, and Alderaan that fit into this category. But these systems, naturally, were active members of the alliance against the empire, and so would be dealt with when they eventually decided to show their true colors.

Despite what genuine loyalists of the Empire said, the Emperor was not going to do anything concerning The Galactic Alien Only Society or the independent human and mixed inhabited planets if they didn't do anything concerning the Empire. If these systems no longer wished to be apart of the Empire that was their wish. As long as the transition from the Empire to their own groups was peaceful nothing would be done.

But this "nothing being done" period didn't last long due to the other part of the emperor's divine plan. The Dark Lord put it into the minds of the opposers telepathically that if they assassinated the empire's supreme rulers this act could be gotten rid of, bringing peace back to the galaxy. After all, new government rulers could always be appointed at a later time.

And so the night after this was done the following events happened: assassination attempts were made against the Emperor and Empress in the Imperial Palace. They were done by a group of about twenty bounty hunters naturally. But once they were taken down to palace's underground torture prison and revealed whom had hired them and why, the following day the Emperor proclaimed war against both independent groups.

Battalions of stormtroopers were sent out at once to many of the rebellious worlds – Duro, Rodia, and Caamas to name a few. Lord Vader, Lady Zenevieva, Lady Da-xia, and Iolana led some of the troops while other Imperial officers, Commander Piett and Admiral Gilad Pellaeon among the many, led the rest.

Being that most of these planets had no planetary defense systems, the battles on these worlds could better be described as massacres. Thousands upon thousands of lives were terminated by the end of the second week, but the Emperor was far from caring. For it was as he saw it, "If one alien or a few are willing and capable of wanting the Emperor and Empress dead, all of them must be eliminated!"

As this conflict raged on another month with the Empire continuing to be victorious, it was than that the rebellion finally revealed themselves fully. They came to the Galactic Alien Only Societies' aid on Mon Calamari when Lord Vader was there leading his troops to massacre the entire planet. Their boldness to stand up against the Empire and fight back excited the Executor. It made the war more interesting to have it two-sided instead of only being one way.

As the Rebellion continued its war effort, more and more systems left the Empire; Bormea and Alderaan among them. But this time, the Emperor was ready. As soon as these Senators resigned from their posts in the Senate and made to exit the arena, stormtroopers were there waiting to arrest them. And once this was done, they were taken to the planetary jail to await trial. This act of power struck fear into many within the Senate. Almost immediately, Senators were apologizing for their words against the Empire and begging to be let back in. Others defiantly held their ground, not caring what happened to them. The ones who begged and pleaded for mercy were given it and let back into the Senate, but only after serving six months imprisonment. The others who defiantly remained unmoved were tried for their crimes and sentenced to death, as the Emperor again said, "Once a rebel, always a rebel!"

The day these traitors were supposed to be killed, however, rebel forces intervened, being able to capture some of their fellows in a battle that took place downtown Galactic City outside the jail. This battle soon led to Coruscant's central transport center where, while some were killed, a small group of rebels hijacked a transport ship and fled the planet with the navy hot on their tail. Lady Da-xia was leading this mission.

The rebel ship jumped to light speed, heading for the now desolate Colonies world of Neimoidia strangely enough. It turns out that the planet had become the rebel's new headquarters once Arica discovered their original hideout at Arbra.

Exiting hyperspace after the rebels, the Star Destroyer Da-xia was Commander of, _Nightwing,_ opened fire upon their transport ship. They were able to damage the forward engine of the ship enough that it crash-landed into an old capital building in one of Neimoidia's cities, Koto-Si. Despite the building's extreme damage to the ship there were still a few survivors inside, Bail Organa included.

As _Nightwing_ docked in a nearby city street, the bridge crew observed Bail and three others running down a deserted side road towards another immense capital building that Da-xia instantly recognized as their headquarters.

With a large group of stormtroopers in tow, the teenage Sith Apprentice ran after the retreating backs of the four as they entered within at a run. The building appeared to have once been an elegant palace of some type. Da-xia recognized it from a history holo as the former estate of Viceroy Nute Gunray.

Having her troops blast down the front door of the immense castle, they charged inside to be met by about thirty uniformed officers with blasters raised. They opened fire the moment Da-xia and her forces entered and the empire fired back.

Little did Da-xia know that this was merely a diversion, for outside at the rear most of the rebels were making a getaway. So although the thirty officers in the entrance hall and then ten others in the back waiting by another escape ship were easily killed, most of the rebels escaped successfully.

In-between the violence of war, many disputes occurred over the emperor's _Death Star_ project. The outer structure of it had finally been completed, but many design disputes had since arisen over the inside structure of the space station and the fire power capability.

Because of the war however, the emperor didn't much wish to be bothered about the project. His mind was on much more important things, like the new batch of clones that were ready on Geonosis. He went there personally to see to them.

The armor the clones of Boba Fett bore was slightly different from that of the current stormtroopers. Whereas the armor of their brothers was an off-white color with different lines of color (red, blue or gold) on their helmets to signify their rake in command, the new clones donned white and black only armor that allowed them to move around more freely.

The new Imperial stormtroopers were a big help to the war effect. Not that the Empire wasn't winning the war to begin with, but now they had more of a monopoly over the galaxy. Large groups of troops could be on hundreds of planets at a time.

The great thing that signified the difference between the new and old stormtroopers was that the new were much more elite than the others. They took orders without any thought or question on the matter and had much better military training.

As the war progressed with more and more innocent non-Human and Human lives being slaughtered, the rebellion continued to do what they could to stop the madness. But what with the Empire's never ending hunt and pursuit of them across the galaxy, their numbers continued to dwindle, not just from deaths, but from people continuing to pull out of the organization, running back to the Empire pleading mercy.

Despite the fact that they knew they could never win this battle with the Empire's increasing numbers, they fought on anyway, for the sake of justice.


	28. Scandal That Leads to Death

Author's Note: The Mid Rim world Avaris mentioned is, like Labore, purely a creation of moi. Just so you know.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 28: Scandal That Leads to Death

A curious thing happened eight months into the war. Iolana Lestrange somehow managed to get the focus of everyone's attention off the war and back onto herself, if only for one last time, by getting wrapped up in another one of her infamous scandals. This time it was a scandal surrounding a sex tape she, Prince Vandurelle of the Mid Rim world Avaris, and four politician's kids – two males, two females, all teenagers and Human – had made the night after they all met at the Empire's First Anniversary gala. Somehow it'd found its way on the HoloNet.

When questioned by the press, finally after a week of "no comment", Vandurelle admitted that he'd sent the tape to a buddy of his to prove that he hooked up with the Empress' Hand. His buddy thought it'd be funny to post the holovid on the HoloNet as a way to show Iolana Lestrange for the sick person she truly was. He didn't care about how it'd make the others look; all he cared about was humiliating Iolana. And in that he succeeded. Iolana was in tears upon discovering the tape's public release. She'd just returned from a mission in the Outer Rim to see to the annihilation of Troiken when this happened. The press were at the Imperial Palace to meet and question her upon arrival about the tape and what type of example she was trying to set for herself. Iolana was at a loose of what to say. The almost twenty-three year old was hurt and humiliated. She and the others had made the tape for fun. Never was it supposed to go public.

Not long after finding herself in a mob of reporters however, she was suddenly being pulled away. At first she didn't know by whom, but once out the crowd Iolana saw that it was Moff Jovovich. Her stride inside the palace and along the Grand Corridor was so fast that Iolana had to practically run to keep up with the Senator.

"Hey! What's the hurry?" she wanted to know.

Jovovich stopped sharply, causing Iolana to fall to the golden floor. The dark haired woman did not even attempt to offer in helping her up. She simply glared down at the younger woman coldly.

"The Emperor and Empress wish to speak with you Lestrange." Her voice was as equally as cold as her expression. "And this time...let's just say they're not very pleased about your latest scandal."

Grabbing a wad of blonde hair, Jovovich pulled Iolana to her feet and dragged her to the Empress' throne room.

Charlotte's definition of the Emperor and Empress not being pleased about Iolana's latest scandal was an understatement. They were livid and disgusted by it. The Emperor told his daughter that no longer would he put up with her Hand's nonsense. This was the final straw. Padme need eliminate her and find a new, more capable Hand. The Empress agreed absolutely to this, but choose not to do the killing herself. She'd be real sly about it. Padme placed a large bounty on Iolana's head earlier that morning through Black Sun for fifty million credits, so every bounty hunter in the galaxy was going to be after her. Iolana's next, and final, mission would be to the Twi'lek home planet of Ryloth in the Outer Rim. She had it set up that Iolana would go onto the planet first, alone, with orders to eliminate only the planet's Senator and immediate family before than alerting a fleet of stormtroopers to join her on world to eliminate the rest of it. That time, however, would never come, as the empress had also hired twenty of Black Sun King Zarcar's most deadly assassins to be on the planet waiting for her when she arrived. Once Iolana eliminated the Senator and family, the assassins would gang up on her and kill her, but not before telling her who'd hired them to begin with. Padme wanted Iolana to know who wanted her dead before it was done.

So it was through all this, despite the fact of being disgusted with the girl, as Iolana entered the throne room being manhandled by Jovovich she couldn't help but smirk with satisfaction at the sight of her, knowing she'd be dead within the next 24 hours. For even if Iolana evaded the twenty assassins on Ryloth, there were still the rest of the hunters across the galaxy. Oh yes, this pathetic young woman would be dead soon.

On threshold of the Empress' throne, Charlotte threw Iolana to her knees before their Imperial Majesties – the Empress seated on her throne; the Emperor, standing at attention beside her. This earned a smirk from both rulers, but besides that silence engulfed the room. With a small bow the Moff saw herself out to leave Iolana to whatever fate their Imperial Highnesses had in store for her.

For a while the silence in the throne room continued. Iolana remained face down on the floor in fear of her mistress' wrath. This clear display of fear disgusted Padme even more. In a loud ringing voice she commanded, "Stand Lestrange!"

Iolana did so, slowly and swallowed as she met the empress' eyes.

"Well Miss Lestrange," Padme hissed out, "what have you to say for yourself?"

Iolana swallowed again and spoke in a leveled, yet nervous tone. "I want to say how sorry I am over this. But-but you know it wasn't entirely my fault." By now her voice had grown back to its normal tone. "How was I supposed to know Vandurelle would turn out to be a total jerk by having his 'friend' post it on the HoloNet. I hate him! And the next time I see him, I'll kill him!"

Padme exchanged a glance with her father and they silently turned back to Iolana.

"And what of the other participants in this tape?" Padme asked.

The blonde woman shrugged. "What of them?"

"Do you not realize that because of your tape these politician's children have practically ruined their parent's careers, leaving their entire families and planets they represent in disgrace?" The empress made sure to keep her voice completely neutral through all this.

Again Iolana shrugged. "It's not my fault. I'm not the one you should be mad at. It's Vandurelle and his friend. Those are the ones who need to be punished."

"Punished?" Padme repeated. "For what reason? For having sex on tape and posting it for all to see and, in the process, revealing you as the slut you really are to the public. Why does a person deserve punishment for that?"

Iolana looked confused for a moment. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. Eventually, she did speak though. "As I said before, I'm sorry for whatever trouble I may have caused. Trouble that was caused collectively by the tape. I am willing to forgo whatever punishment you have for me."

"Punishment?" the empress repeated. "Oh no Iolana. I'm not going to punish you. After all, it's as you yourself said, 'it's not your fault this tape was released to the public and an uproar was started over it. Oh no, it was Vandurelle and his friend's fault.' As such, why should you be punished?"

Iolana continued to look confused and glanced over at the Emperor. He remained as silent as ever, his scarred face hidden in shadow beneath the hood of his black robes. Glancing back at the still neutral Padme, she offered her a smile.

It wasn't immediately returned but after a moment or so the empress offered what could be taken as a cross between a sneer and a smirk. She than spoke again. "Very well Lestrange. Let us speak of your next assignment. It is on the Outer Rim world Ryloth. When you and your portion of the fleet arrive outside the planet, you will go down alone, kill Senator Bosa and his immediate family, and alert a squadron of stormtroopers to join you on world and storm it. You are to leave within the next twenty minutes. Go and prepare yourself."

"But-" Iolana did not look happy. "But, I thought I could-you know have some time off. At least for a day before going off again. I haven't seen my friends in what seems to be forever. I'd really like to have at least one day off before I leave again."

SLAP!

Iolana found herself on the floor again, but this time slapped down by Padme who'd risen from her throne in a flash to discipline her servant.

"I do not care if you wish to see your friends again. Your friends are not important. This war that's being fought is what's important. Do well to remember that. Now be off Lestrange! I look forward to our next meeting."

And as Iolana bowed respectively before her and the Emperor, she indeed could not wait for their next meeting. In which case Iolana would be on the ground of some dark place, screaming in pain and agony.

The Empress' plan for her Hand's death went exactly as planned the next day on Ryloth. After Iolana killed the Senator and his family at their house estate and informed her troopers to join her on world, the twenty assassins surrounded and ganged up on her. She'd put up a fight of course, but didn't last long.

The assassins sliced her arms and legs off while she screamed in pain. But before delivering the final blow to her throat, the leader pulled out a comlink and told her who'd hired them to kill her. As expected, she didn't believe him so he turned the comlink on, typed in one of the private codes to the Empress' quarters in the Imperial Palace and switched on the holo feature. There standing before the slain form of Iolana, in all her arrogance, was the 1-foot holo presence of the empress herself.

"Hello Lestrange," she greeted in a jeer. "I see King Zarcar's assassins have done a fine job in slaughtering you. Just as I asked them to. Well done boys."

The assassins only responses were cackles of laughter and smirks.

If tears were falling from Iolana's eyes before, they were definitely falling from them now. She was looking up at the holo of Padme, her mentor and friend, in hurt and disbelief.

"Why?!" she cried out in an almost scream.

"Why?" Padme returned. "Because we don't need sluts as Imperial agents."

With that, she cut the transmission.

Iolana Lestrange died a second later by a blade slicing through her throat.

Despite the fact that the former Empress' Hand's body was hacked up, all of its parts were returned to the capital via some of the officers of the Star Destroyer Iolana had been leading. Some troops found her and thought it only fitting because of her high statue in the Empire that she be returned.

The news of Iolana's death came as a shock to everyone. Many were saddened by it and various memorial services were done in her honor on many Imperial worlds. Others, however, could've cared less about her death, such as the empress.

After making a terse statement that people die in war and that's just something people will have to accept, she made arrangements for Iolana's body to be sent back to Naboo and her family.

Though Padme was invited to the funeral she did not attend, saying she was too busy with the war. Shockingly Iolana's family also sent invites to Arica. But she, like Padme, could careless about her cousin's death. She never liked her much, plus she was also busy with the war and was not taking time off just to attend a funeral. Anakin, surprisingly, found Iolana's murder to be comical. For he knew it was Padme whom was behind it rather she wanted to admit to it or not. For some reason he found this funny. And while Jovovich shared the Executor's humor on the subject, Da-xia kept her comments about it to herself, saying what was important was continuing with the war. It was to this statement that the Emperor agreed with.

Eventually, the sex tape scandal died with Iolana. And though the parents of the others involved were still disgusted by it, nothing more was really spoken about it. The empress made sure that these politicians, though they'd been utterly disgraced by the tape, retained their jobs in the Empire as they were true supporters of the government. The websites that had posted the tape were taken down, and Vandurelle and his friend were sent to jail for six months. Everyone's attention was turned back to the war, where it belonged.


	29. The Empire Reigns Victorious

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 29: The Empire Reigns Victorious

The Alien War continued and the Rebel Alliance's small numbers continued to fight on fruitlessly against the winning Galactic Empire. At the start of the war, fifty-five percent of the galaxy left the empire while forty-five remained loyal. Now thirty-five of the fifty-five had returned while the other twenty continued to fight on. The Galactic Alien Only Society was now practically dead. Only a few leaders and planets remained; the rest had been ruthlessly slaughtered. The small amount of independent systems that remained were struck down one by one as the rebels moved from planet to planet in an attempt to evade the Empire. Though they were able to keep this up for about four months, at the time of the government's third anniversary, the alliance was finally tracked down on Alderaan.

Lady Zenevieva and her forces invaded the Core world, putting all residents in camps and killing the remaining rebel leaders and officers there, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma included. Bail's wife, Queen Breha, however, managed to escape Alderaan in the confusion of battle with their two-year-old adopted daughter Leia, aka Leila Skywalker. Not entirely sure of where to go, the Queen fled to Dagabah.

The Empire didn't realize Breha was gone until she'd already left the planet. Arica had some of the fleet track the ship she escaped on, but they eventually lost it in the Outer Rim. Nonetheless, the Emperor ordered the entire fleet to search both the Outer Rim and Unknown Regions for the Alderaanian Queen. A bounty was also placed on her head, so that helped. She would not be able to go anywhere in the galaxy without being spotted.

Being that the Empire's attention was now set on the capture of the remaining rebel leader, Breha Organa, most of the fighting stopped. But this did not mean the war was over. Until Breha surrendered herself to the Empire would it end.

In the four months Breha and Leia spent in hiding on Dagabah with Jedi Master Yoda, the Galactic Alien Only Society was officially eliminated; the leaders and planets terminated. The remaining independent star systems surrendered themselves to the Empire; the political leaders being sent to jail while the planets were enslaved. The other aliens, whom somehow were able to evade Imperial assassination, fled to Outer Rim Hutt worlds like Tatooine. Yet at that point, the Emperor could careless. He gave an address over the HoloNet stating that non-Humans were more than welcome to roam certain Outer Rim worlds if they so wished it, but with the warning that if they stepped into Imperial space ever again – the Mid and Inner Rims, Colonies and Core regions – they would be shot down on site.

What made Alderaan's Queen finally leave Dagabah for Coruscant to give herself up, in such ending the war, after four months of hiding with her daughter, was a conversation she had with Yoda. The two of them decided it was time an end was brought to the rebellion against the empire. For the longer it lasted, the more innocent blood would be spilled. No one needed that. She would surrender herself and accept whatever fate the Empire deemed upon her. Leia, however, would remain on Dagabah with Yoda. For how long no one knew. It depended chiefly on whatever fate the Empire put on Breha. If she was killed, which she probably would be, Leia would remain until her Jedi training was complete. But if Breha was merely sent to prison, a possibility, Leia would remain until her release.

Giving her adoptive daughter one last hug and kiss, Breha boarded her ship and returned to the Core. She sent word ahead that she was coming and was commanded to dock at the Imperial Palace. Upon doing so and exiting the ship, she was immediately handcuffed and taken before the Emperor and Empress.

There she apologized for everything: the Rebel Alliance, the war, running away from Alderaan when it was invaded. Just everything expect anything to do with the Jedi of course. Nothing of that was mentioned.

When asked where she'd been the past four months she responded, "in hiding on the Hutt world, Nar Shaddaa."

Before leaving Dagabah, Yoda taught Breha a trick of mind where a non-Force sensitive person was able to lie to a strong Force sensitive person without them being the wiser. It'd been difficult at first, but she'd gone over this mind discipline so many times now that it was easy to do. So when she told the Emperor and Empress she'd been on Nar Shaddaa the past four months, they believed her.

They also believed her when she replied to their question as to where her adoptive daughter was, saying she didn't know. She'd searched the Palace for her but found her nowhere. She assumed Imperial forces had either captured or killed Leia, the main reason she fled the planet alone. The emperor and empress denied the claims of the toddler Princess being captured; as for killed they didn't know, though it was possible.

When asked what made her come back, she said she couldn't stand to live with herself in safe hiding while others suffer because of her. So she returned.

The interrogation session ended soon after and Breha was taken to the planetary jail to await trial. The trail was the next day and Breha was tried for her crimes against the Empire. The final decision was either death or ten years imprisonment. When the court voted, surprisingly, the majority was in favor of jail time instead of death. This was because most felt that there had been enough killing in the war. They didn't need anymore. In the time Breha was to be in prison, Alderaan's Regional Governor would rule and represent the planet in the Senate. And at her release, the title of 'Queen' would be restored to her, but the Regional Governor would still act as the planet's Senator.

Breha Antilles Organa's ten-year sentence of imprisonment ended the year and four month long Alien War, restoring peace once more to the galaxy.


	30. An Indecent Proposal

Author's Note: At first, I wasn't sure rather or not I was going to post because of the Super Bowl, but than figured what the heck. A very interesting development occurs in this chapter; something I don't think anyone could've expected.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 30: An Indecent Proposal

Despite peace being restored, the Emperor passed another Security Act which declared a battalion of stormtroopers being allowed to nest on each Imperial world in the galaxy at a base. This was being done as a way to protect its citizens from any possible danger that may arise in the aftermath of the war or whenever. All agreed and were in favor of this. And thankfully everyone cooperated. When all troops were split up across the galaxy, there were none remaining on Coruscant, save the old Republic clones. But the Emperor had no intention to keep these. Another batch of stormtroopers were ready on Geonosis. And like before, he went there personally to retrieve them. The entire fleet of one million old clones also came on board multiple Star Destroyers.

Once landing on the mountainous desert world, the Emperor entered the cloning facility to observe the new troops. Just as the last batch, they were nothing less than the best. Having the troops marched outside to the star destroyers, the old troopers were marched out of them and into the facility. Inside they would undergo a procedure of their elimination, designed by the emperor himself.

The old clone troopers would be assigned to the bottommost level of the facility for briefing on their next mission. Only the directions given to where they were to go would lead them in a vast, dark chamber, from which they would never come out again. Their helmets would than be removed via machinery from the ceiling and before they could realize what was happening, toxic gas would be sprayed down upon them in the airtight sealed auditorium. They would be dead within a minute and afterwards their bodies would be burned inside some of the planet's heating furnaces.

Once the killing procedure of the clones of the late bounty hunter Jango Fett was completed the Emperor, along with the new batch of stormtroopers, returned to the capital.

It was upon his return that he learned some very interesting news from Lord Vader: Lady Zenevieva was pregnant with twins. She'd just conceived the night before but Vader knew through the Force that she was. He could sense their tiny Force presences within her.

The Emperor expressed his congrats to Vader and asked where his Hand was at the present.

"In-between dancing around excitedly at home, she's setting up the party plans for tonight's announcement celebration," he explained with a smile. "That's the other reason I came here." He reached into his pocket and handed the emperor a sheet of elaborately decorated paper. "To give you this. It's an invite to the celebration. If you're interested, it's at 2000 tonight at the Holiday Lakes Hotel in the assembly arena."

The emperor almost smiled down at the invitation. It was decorated with baby banthas, balloons, and small babies holding rattles.

After looking at it a moment, he looked back up at his apprentice with a rare grin. "Yes Lord Vader. I am most interested in attending this party. Are guests required to bring anything?"

Vader shrugged. "Only if you want to. Though I'm sure that by the end of the night we'll have more gifts than can fit into our suite at Holiday Towers." He gave a dry laugh. "Which is one of the reasons we'll be moving out of there soon. I bought a large amount of property just on the city limits. Production on the house will start tomorrow."

"Well it seems you're doing wonderfully Lord Vader," the emperor said. "Once again, I express my congrats and shall see you later on tonight."

The young man gave a bow. "Of course my master."

As the emperor watched his apprentice stroll lively out of the throne room, he went over the news in his mind. So...Arica was finally pregnant. He had to admit he was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. But regardless, it'd finally happened. And twins at that. This didn't surprise him as Arica herself was a twin. To which led to his next query. It had been two and a half years exactly since Antellica Kenobi's Force signature disappeared within it. And as before, the Emperor still believed that somehow, somewhere she still lived with her husband, that blasted Obi-Wan, and their son. But whereas before her son's Force signature had been dim, now it was gone too just like his parents. But that was easily explained. The boy would probably be old enough now to cloak it himself if taught the proper way. Out of all the Emperor's continuous meditation, he still hadn't found any insight on the matter. The bounty he'd placed on Antellica two years, seven months ago was still going and had even gone up to a hundred million each person, but still they remained well hidden. No one finding so much as a trace of them.

The other matter was his presently three-year-old grandchildren. They too remained well hidden. Besides they and his daughter, he had no true heirs to the Imperial throne. With the birth of Vader's twins with Zenevieva, and any other children the two may have, along with Vader's apprentice Da-xia, Vader would begin to outnumber and set a monopoly over the Emperor. That would be his time to strike and attempt to overthrow him. He already voiced that he would one day. The questions were "When?" and "How?"

Now the Sith emperor did not fear being overthrown by his twenty-five year old apprentice. Of course not. Vader was not strong enough. Or was he?

As much as he wanted to deny it, Vader's power had far succeeded his own years ago. He was more than capable of taking the Empire as his own single-handedly against both it's supreme rulers. And yet he waited. He did not rush into it. He bided his time, waiting for the right opportunity. If Vader were to kill the Emperor and Empress right here today the Empire would immediately go to him, even if Luke and Leila were found it would still be his because they were only toddlers. But if the emperor were to have more heirs and make the mother of them third in line after his daughter, pushing Vader back to fourth or fifth, depending on how many heirs he had, there was a chance that his Empire would remain his through the life of his heirs. And Vader might very well back off if more heirs were established in the Imperial family. Than again he may not, but it was worth the risk.

Finding a woman to mother his heirs would not be hard. In fact, he already had someone in mind: Senator and Moff Charlotte Jovovich.

He and the Naboo politician shared a professional relationship that slowly, since during the war, began to change. A lot of times the Emperor would ask the young woman to stay behind at Senatorial and Governor meetings to simply talk with her about how she felt about different matters concerning the meetings and other things in the galaxy. These talking sessions began to become more fluent as time progressed. Charlotte would now come to the Palace whenever she could to converse with he and Padme, but preferably him. If his daughter noticed a change between the two, she said nothing about it aloud to either of them.

As the time the two spent together increased the attraction between them grew. For the emperor, of course, it was nothing more than physical attraction and for obvious reasons. Charlotte was quite the beautiful young woman, younger than Padme, with rich dark brown hair that alternated between shoulder length and long from time to time. Her chocolate color eyes went well with her hair tone. In fact, she did look a little bit like Padme, only she was taller and her hair was naturally straight. She was unmarried, though had been once to a childhood friend while in high school. But the marriage hadn't lasted because he was a party animal and was always out every night at cantinas or with girls she didn't know. Charlotte caught him boasting on a comline once to one of his friends, he thought she'd disconnected after he finished talking to her, that he was cheating on her with an ex-girlfriend he recently started hanging with again. That was all Charlotte needed to hear to dump him, annulling their marriage by citing it "fraud". She had not been in a relationship since, always keeping herself too busy with work and such. But she always said she wanted to marry again eventually and have children, though she wasn't going to give up her political career to do so. She loved it too much and would be happy balancing both.

_Well, this was her perfect opportunity,_ the emperor thought with a smirk.

Having his secretary call the young woman, who was on-world at the present, over to the Palace for lunch, he commanded servants to prepare a meal and make ready the Imperial Gardens by setting up a table and two chairs within it beautifulness.

The Imperial Gardens, located to the left side of the Palace at a back angle, was immense in both size and loveliness. Decorated with the most luxurious flowers and plants the galaxy could offer, it was definitely could be called something of a paradise.

After receiving word that Charlotte had accepted his invite, the emperor commanded his secretary to hold all calls for the next two hours. He than went to wait within the gardens for her arrival, non-interestedly gazing about at the variety of life around him.

Charlotte arrived fifteen minutes later. He rose from the small table set up to greet her. "Charlotte, my dear. How wonderful to see you."

"Thank you your highness," she said with a smile. "I was most honored to receive your request. I trust your mission on Geonosis went well."

"Quite well my dear. Quite well."

"Wonderful." She seated herself in the chair he motioned her to while he sat opposite her.

"So...to what do I deserve this dubious pleasure?" she asked. "The lunch, the flowers," she gestured towards the roses sitting in the middle of the table, "the setting," she gestured around gardens. "This is no ordinary meeting or chat session."

"Correct you are my dear." He admired her awareness. She was no idiot. "I have a proclamation to make."

Charlotte frowned somewhat. "Not another Act that'll cause war I hope."

He waved his hand dismissively. "Oh no. Nothing like that. This is more of a...personal matter."

The Moff appeared slightly confused and again frowned. "I see."

At that moment, two servants appeared to serve a lunch. The emperor did not continue speaking until they left the vicinity. Folding his hands before him on the table, ignoring his food for the moment, he expressed his fears of Vader overthrowing the Empire and his desire to have more heirs to his throne.

Charlotte listened silently, but tentatively as he spoke, all the while eating her food.

When he finished, she allowed a brief pause before speaking. Mainly to make sure he was through talking.

"And...what role do I play in all this?"

The Emperor's grin broadened. "Why my dear, it's you whom I wish to bare my heirs."

Charlotte had been drinking a sip of wine as he spoke the last three words of his sentence. Registering what they meant in her mind, she choked on the gulp that was about to go down her throat and coughed it back up. Reaching for a napkin she quickly wiped off her mouth and the spot on the table the wine had fallen on when she coughed it back up.

The emperor remained silent through all this, the only emotion being shown was that of slight humor.

For a moment, Charlotte simply looked at him, and he right back at her. He could easily sense her disbelief and surprise at these turn of events.

Finally, she seemed to find her voice. "You want me to...bare your heirs?"

The emperor smirked slightly, giving her a reaffirming nod.

For another moment she sat in shocked silence. "But-but why me?"

His smirk became more pronounced. "Why not you? You're beautiful, intelligent, and I know you'd make a great mother. So I repeat myself, why not you?"

"I simply wasn't aware that a Sith Lord of your power would be interested in a mere subordinate like me, in that way anyway."

"Don't get the wrong idea Charlotte," he cautioned. "I do not wish to be in," he gave a cough, "love with anyone. On the contrary, I'm too arrogant for that." She smirked. "I simply wish for a consort to bare by children."

"And you promise you won't kill me once you get what you want?" Charlotte asked.

The Emperor was affronted. "Certainly not! I have no intention of that. If you're referring to Princess Maratina with your question, that was a totally different situation altogether. Surely, you know that."

"Of course," she echoed. "I was simply wondering, that's all."

"So you're agreeing to bare my heirs?"

She allowed a smirk. "Do I really have much of a choice?"

The Emperor gave a smirk that matched her own. "No my dear. No, you really don't. Because you see there's no one else I'm interested in to do this."

"All right. You got yourself a deal."

"Excellent. Than you are aware that as of right now you are my wife."

The Moff blinked. "I thought I was just baring your heirs?"

"Yes my dear, but how do you think that would sound? The Emperor and a young Moff/Senator having children together unmarried."

"Well, I didn't know you were releasing it to the press or not who the mother of your children was."

The Emperor shrugged. "They'll want to know. No point in keeping it hidden. Unless of course you have a problem with that."

"Oh no I don't mind. So...now that I'm your wife does that mean-"

"You are Queen of the Galactic Empire, third in line to the throne. I would give you the rack of Empress, but I doubt Padme would want to give it up."

"Oh no. I don't want to take her throne away from her," Charlotte hastily said. "But as...Queen Charlotte...Palpatine," the Emperor smirked slightly at this, "I would still be able to keep my jobs as Senator and Regional Governor right?"

"Of course. Nothing in your career will change except being given the added title."

"So...what should I call you now that we're-"

"Sidious."

"Not _Lord_ Sidious?"

"No, Sidious will suffice. Which brings us to our next matter of discussion: the way you wish to conceive. There are two ways this can be done. I can either influence the midi-chlorians inside your cells with the Force to have you conceive or..." His smile went slightly sly. "There's always the traditional way. The choice is up to you."

Unless he saw wrong, it looked as though Charlotte had blushed lightly at the last assessment. However, perhaps it was mis see as her face showed no trace of a blush a moment later. "So the influence of the midi-chlorians, what does that involve?"

"I'd give you a Force suggestion to sleep and influence your cells via your mind."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

"Is that how Maratina became pregnant with Padme?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, very interesting." She than shifted a bit uncomfortable in her chair and lowered her gaze to the table. "Well, if you don't mind I'd like to conceive the regular way. It's much more natural."

When she looked up again it was to find the emperor smirking at her.

"Very well. Let us go to my quarters than."

Charlotte blinked. "You mean now! Right now?!"

"Why not now? Unless of course you have something better to do."

"No, of course not. I just thought you'd be busy."

"My secretary is holding my calls for the next two hours, a half-hour of which has been spent here. We still have time."

The emperor rose from his chair and held out his hand for her to take. Doing so, she also rose from her chair and the Sith Master led her inside and to his private quarters...


	31. A Sith Will Always Crave More Power

Author's Note: I was too busy to do an update yesterday. However, since the next chapter is so short, I may post it later on today depending on how many reviews I receive.  
Chapter 30 response for Twisted Words (): Of course it was obvious whom Iolana was loosely based on, but how did you figure Charlotte Jovovich was loosely designed after Sophia Bush among others?

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 31: A Sith Will Always Crave More Power

The Announcement Celebration Party of Anakin and Arica Grievous-Skywalker's future offspring commenced at its scheduled time of 2000 that night in the Holiday Lakes Hotel's assembly arena. This, save the war, was the most highly profiled event since the couple's wedding. Everyone was there and Anakin and Arica couldn't have been more thrilled about everyone sharing in their happiness. As Anakin predicted, they were loaded down with more gifts than they knew what to do with. The assembly arena was brightly decorated with balloons and stuffed toys. Guests could be found munching on small treats such as cookies, pudding cakes and donuts and drinking flavored nerfmilk.

Because of her pregnancy, Arica returned to her natural hair color of golden blonde. And though no one voiced it aloud, she knew that as more than a few of the guests gazed upon her, they couldn't help but think how much like her sister she presently looked, or her dead cousin Iolana for that matter. But Arica was unconcerned with this. She wasn't allowing thoughts of Antellica or Iolana to spoil her mood.

The party was a bit on the casual side, mainly filled with conversation and eating. The press was invited though, and after the young couple finished up with them, they gave a small speech about their happiness and plans for the future what with production on Skywalker Manor, the name chosen for their estate, to begin the next day and their children's future lives.

But it was nothing too serious. Anakin and Arica were happy, and everyone was happy for them. The party was going splendidly, until the emperor arrived and announced he had an announcement of his own to make that is. Everyone quieted down instantly as he made his way to the center of the room with, surprisingly, Senator/Moff Jovovich clutching his arm in a dress of violet flowers.

What he announced both floored and shocked everyone: Earlier that day he and Jovovich had married and she was pregnant with their first child, a son. Instantly everyone was talking at once. Microphones were being pushed in the direction of the Emperor and his new wife, who was apparently Queen of the Galactic Empire instead of Empress.

Anakin and Arica were quickly forgotten as the emperor proceeded to take over their party and turn it into a press conference. The young couple left in a huff as the emperor began to speak on about his desire to have heirs to ensure that his Empire is not taken away from him.

* * *

"_You shall never be Emperor. That rake of power shall never belong to you."_

Thus the words spoken by Padme Amidala to her ex-husband over three years ago not long after they'd-_he'd_-killed the Separatist leaders on Mustafar.

Vader remembered this conversation all too well. Like it'd been spoken yesterday...

_A volcanic explosion occurred in the distance on the equally volcanic world. The lone figures – a than married Anakin and Padme – could be seen observing it from an overhanging balcony. As well as the flow of Mustafar's primary lava river as it ran along a nearby mountain and than down into a pool of bubbly hot redness._

_Many things were running through Anakin's, err, Vader's mind concerning the Sith and his beloved Padme when he abruptly said, "It must be interesting having a person like Palpatine as a father."_

_Padme seemed a bit taken aback by the abruptness of the comment at first, but soon shrugged it off. "Yes, he is a great person."_

"_You know it's funny actually," he continued. "If it were any other way...I don't know what we would've done. But he'll help us and you won't die. I think if it were any different we would've had to run away together. But that's the wonderful thing." He turned to his wife in pure joy. "We don't have to runaway anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic."_

_Padme blinked. "You have?"_

_He nodded. "I am more powerful than your father. I can overthrow him."_

_Padme leveled him with a curious, yet disbelieving stare but he hardly noticed._

"_And together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be."_

"_Overthrow the Emperor-my father?!" Her tone didn't even attempt to hide the surprise she felt at his pronouncement. "Vader, you're talking treason. I love my father."_

"_But you also love me," he pressed with a slight edge to his voice. If only he'd known how wrong he truly was. "There's a time in one's life where you must choose between your family and your husband."_

"_Is that so?" Padme asked in what sounded close to a leer. "Say your mother was some elegant Empress before she died. If someone told you, me perhaps, they were going to try and overthrow her, killing her in the process, what would you say to that?"_

_His eyes grew cold and he growled, "I'd eliminate them."_

"_But of course you would, as you should. Just as I would do if someone tried to eliminate my father."_

_He openly scoffed at that pronouncement. "You'd eliminate them Padme?! No, I don't think so. You don't have it in you."_

"_Don't I?" she challenged. "Well you've been given the fair warning: try to bring any type of harm to my father and we are through. And you'll have no part of your children's lives."_

_This shocked him. "You can't mean that Padme!"_

"_I can and I do." She looked fiercely stern when she said this. "Besides, it's not like I won't have any say in the galaxy's rule. My father is the Emperor after all. Being as he doesn't have a wife, the next female in line is entitled to the throne as Empress. This is something I've been looking forward to practically my whole life. And no one, not even you, will take that from me."_

_Anakin desperately tried to show her his point of view. "But don't you see Padme, with me as Emperor-"_

"_You as Emperor?!" She opened mocked him with a laugh. "How could you be Emperor? You have no type of political background. You wouldn't know how to rule a planet, let alone a galaxy or anything for that matter even if the directions to do so did the Cha-Cha in front of your own eyes. No Vader, you're just going to have to deal with merely being the Empress' consort, because I'm sorry to say the rake of Emperor shall never be yours. You shall never be Emperor. That rake of power shall never belong to you."_

_Vader gave his wife a level, almost cold stare but soon turned away..._

Of course, Padme wasn't the only person who'd warned him about dethroning the emperor. Palpatine himself had also done so, about two years ago when he'd first returned from the Unknown Regions with Andrea. Saying he would not stand for such atrocity and that Vader should not throw away his life so rationally, implying that he would kill him if he attempted to dethrone him.

And yet years after this warning it still seemed that, despite the fact of Vader making no moves towards the throne, Sidious was still paranoid that his precious Empire would be taken from him. So he took Charlotte as his wife and impregnated her the very same day his apprentice told him of his own wife's pregnancy with their twin children. It was disgusting and sick.

Anakin had been overjoyed at the news of being a father again and wanted to let everyone know about it. He'd been laying next to Arica in bed when he found out. He'd woken up to find her cuddled up next to him and sensed the presence of two tiny Force signatures within her. Looking into the Force he'd instantly knew she was pregnant. Carrying a boy and girl. He'd than excitedly awaken Arica to tell her the good news and she'd been ecstatic.

They'd quickly began making plans for the party that night and other things. And through all that happiness, it was than snatched away from them because the emperor wanted the attention to be drawn back to him. Indeed Sidious was a power hungry old tyrant. But not too worry, Anakin kept telling himself, his time would come.

* * *

On the way home to their apartment, Anakin remained deathly silent, seething to himself over the recent turn of events, Arica knew. She was quite ticked off about them as well, but it was obvious Anakin was even hotter. Arica did not wish to interrupt him from his thoughts so also remained silent. 

Anakin choose to enter Holiday Towers through a back door. She guessed he didn't wish to be bothered by anyone at the front desk who would no doubt express their congratulations again.

After climbing up to the fifteenth level via the stairs, they entered their apartment in silence. Both headed for their bedroom though they did not speak.

While Anakin collapsed onto the bed with a growl of rage, Arica collected an animal print nightgown from one of her burrow drawers and entered the adjoining fresher. Stripping down from the festive dress she'd worn to the party, she than entered the shower and turned the water on, allowing its flowing current to soothe her aching muscles.

After about twenty minutes of this, Arica emerged and dried herself off. Slipping on her nightgown she exited the fresher to find the bedroom empty. Squinting in confusion she gave it another look around but soon shrugged and dumped her dress into the hamper.

Not sure if she should go and see what Anakin was doing or not, she stayed in the room and flicked the HV on. Surprisingly, the Emperor's press conference was still going on at the Holiday Lakes Hotel and airing live all over the HoloNet. Despite her disgust at the man, she was still interested in what he was saying. Turning the volume up she began to listen in:

"_...and that's another reason I feel the need to have heirs for my throne. Lord Vader is a very ambitious young man. Ambitious to the length of arrogance. He thinks of himself as this ultra powerful individual who wields tremendous force. He thinks he can take over my Empire whenever he wants. And now that I have taken a stand against him, he grows angry. That's why he and Lady Zenevieva left in a huff. Vader is under the illusion that his children with my Hand will be his heirs to the Imperial throne. Well I will have you know dear citizens, that will never happen. I can assure you of that. For if it did, the galaxy would once again be in uproar and chaos. A nice young man Lord Vader may be, but he wouldn't even know how to rule the Empire. Why-"_

But whatever else the Emperor said to sugarcoat his insults of her husband, Arica never knew. For right at that moment a growl was admitted and Force-lightning suddenly struck the HV screen. The moderate-sized flat screen unit fell off the wooden stand it was sitting on smoking.

Arica jumped briefly and looked in the room's doorway to see Anakin standing there in his black nightclothes, – _He must've changed when I was in the shower – _eyes flashing and face contorted in rage.

"Who the (beep) does he think he is?!" Anakin growled out. "I could strike him down right now this instant. In fact, I will strike him down this instant!"

He called his lightsaber to him from the nightstand on his side of the bed and stalked out of the room. But Arica was quickly jumping up and making to stop him. "Anakin, no. Anakin, no wait! Please Anakin, listen to me." She caught up to him and jumped in front of the entranceway of their suite, blocking him from leaving.

"Move out of the way Arica," he softly hissed, but she firmly stood her ground.

"No, Anakin-"

"Just because you're his Hand doesn't give you the right to side with him," he viciously spat. "I will be Emperor of the Galactic Empire and-"

"Yes Anakin you will," she said, desperately trying to calm him by running her fingers through his hair. "I have no doubt of that. Just be patient a little longer-"

"I am tired of being PATIENT!" Anakin roared, throwing Arica from him. This resulted in her being slammed up against the wall beside the door and crumbling to the floor in a heap.

It was at that moment that Anakin realized he'd let his anger go too far. As Arica's eyes began to tear softly and gaze up at him filled with hurt and clearly said, 'How could you do such a thing to me?', he reached down onto the floor to help her up, but she jerked away from him.

"Arica please," he said softly, "I'm-"

"Anakin, how could you?!" she screamed.

"Arica, I-"

"I am carrying your children!"

"I know, and I-"

"And this is how you treat me!"

"Arica please-"

"Shut up!" she suddenly bit out in an icy tone. "Just because you're mad at Sidious doesn't mean you need to take it out on me! Now you will apologize to me, right here right now or else I'm leaving!"

"Arica, no!" Anakin cried, pulling her into his arms. She did not pull away this time, but did not move into the embrace either. "I love you. And I'm so sorry about what I did. I had no right to take my anger out on you and I'm truly very sorry. Please don't leave me. I couldn't bear to have my heart broken again. I'd die."

"Oh Anakin." Arica finally moved into his embrace and held him tightly. Anakin sobbed into her shoulder as she whispered to him words of love.

Finally, when they broke apart, Arica wiped away his tears. "Come to bed my love," she whispered. "Let's not think about Sidious anymore tonight, but about ourselves for a while. How does that sound?"

Anakin gave her passionate kiss and smirked. "I like the sound of that..."

* * *

The emperor saw when Vader and Zenevieva left their party turned press conference in a huff and was overly pleased by it. He'd deliberately 'crashed' their party so to speak, bringing the attention onto himself as a way to anger them. A few others noticed the couple's abrupt exit as well wondering why, and he took this as an opportunity to whitewashedly trash Vader, alerting the public of the young Sith's intentions to dethrone him from power as a way to turn the public against him. While most thought the idea of Vader overthrowing him to be preposterous, others agreed and said it was only natural for him to feel this way. 

The press conference lasted about three hours, in which time many topics were discussed and everyone in the room was able to ask at least one question. When the conference ended a little after 0200, so did the party. Everyone left to go home. The emperor returned to the Palace with his wife, insisting that she stay the night with him instead of at her apartment alone.


	32. Children of the Sith

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, you guys. And welcome to the story dmitchell ()! In answer to your request, I'm really sorry, but Vader will be in the suit by this episode's end. It happens somewhat the same way, but there's a bit of a twist that follows concerning who survives the episode, and who doesn't.  
As previously stated, this is a short chapter. But on a happier note, the next will bring the return of Antellica, Obi-Wan, and their son Alexander on Tatooine.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 32: Children of the Sith

In the following weeks, Charlotte Jovovich-Palpatine was officially crowned Queen of the Galactic Empire and moved into the Imperial Palace out of her apartment in Five Hundred Imperialrica. Padme was overjoyed at the thought of having a younger brother and japed that since Charlotte was married to her father that made her the empress' stepmother, notwithstanding the fact of being four years younger then her. Peace continued to be ensured in the galaxy with only two major events happening before the birth of the Sith children:

Six months into this time of peace another problem arose concerning the Emperor's _Death Star_ project. This time in the inner structure of the space station. It was twenty-five percent from being done when, because of an extremely large design error, the entire station had to be redone all over again. There went three and a half years of hard work down the toilet.

The Emperor became so frustrated with the project, in fact, that production was halted on it altogether. He felt no need for it to be built anymore. The rebels had been wiped out and the few species of aliens that remained were cowering in the Hutt portion of space.

One month after this, Skywalker Manor was finished being built. Anakin and the seven-month pregnant Arica, along with Andrea, moved out of their suite in Holiday Towers and into their magnificent new home. Now, besides the Imperial Palace, Skywalker Manorwas the most exclusive place of residence on the planet. It dwarfed the Amidala Mansion far by comparison with its twenty elegantly designed levels, immense swimming bay, gardens, and medium-sized garage on the left side of the property.

An Opening Gala was held a week after it was finished, and despite the fact of the Emperor and Empress not getting an invite – the Skywalker couple didn't mind if Charlotte came; they still liked her – the pair defiantly came anyway.

The Executor's relationship with his master had changed drastically since the old Sith took Moff Jovovich as his consort. He only spoke to the Emperor unless spoken to first, and even then it was in a concise and forced civilized manner. Now more than ever he longed to strike the old man down, but did not because of his wife's urged patience.

Arica's relationship with the Emperor hadn't changed that much. As long as neither spoke of her husband or the three impending bundles of joy everything was fine. She wanted to give Sidious to false sense of illusion that her loyalties laid first and foremost with he and the Empire. So when the time finally came to strike, he may be mildly surprised by her turning against him.

Two months after Skywalker Manor's gala to the day, Anakin and Arica's twin children arrived.

Arica had been putting the final touches to their baby bantha walled, stuffed toyed decorated room when she sensed through the Force that it was time. Obviously Anakin had felt the same for he was by her side within seconds. She was taken to the Galactic Senate Medcenter and after being in labor for an hour bore first a girl, and than a boy. They were named Lacovia (pronounced La-cov-e-ah) Naeva Mischa and Hilton Lorenzo Raviv (pronounced Ra-ve) Grievous Skywalker.

Not two hours later, Charlotte was admitted to the hospital as well. She remained in labor for two and a half-hours before finally baring she and the Emperor's son by C-section. The new Imperial Prince was named Drake Palpatine.

The three new infants brought much happiness to not only their parents and families, but to the empire as a whole. Of course they were presented to the press eventually and baptized. The babies grew quickly and made their parents proud.

By six months they could all sit independently, pull themselves to stand, crawl up the stairs, wave goodbye, speak a few little words and attempt at walking. And by a year they could all walk well, understand about fifty words, become frustrated easily, and identify body parts.

It was around this time that the three began their training in the Force. While Drake was trained by his father and older sister, Lacovia and Hilton were trained by their parents. The three were quick learners, but it was obvious which would grow to be the stronger Sith: Lacovia and Hilton.


	33. The Years of Exile

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 33: The Years of Exile

For the past four and a half years, former Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi again, Antellica Grievous-Kenobi had been living on the Outer Rim world Tatooine with her husband, former Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their son, Alexander Kenobi. Their life in hiding, though far from glamorous, was a happy one. Instead of jet setting across the galaxy as Empress' Hand, Antellica now spent her time working at a small gift shop in the nearby town/spaceport of Anchorhead and raising her son.

Alexander, or Alex as he was usually called, was a wonderful little boy. Antellica and Obi-Wan couldn't have asked for a better son. He was extraordinarily bright, very funny, and quite gifted in the Force. They'd begun Alex's Force training when he was one year old and so far he was exceeding in it prodigiously. He was able to levitate medium-sized objects, could meditate on his own, and had even used a mind trick on his school teacher once to give him more candy. That, of course, he was punished for, and resulted in the transferring of him to another school because of it. But all in all, he was a good kid whom was eagerly anticipating his fifth birthday. In which time, he would be allowed to construct his own lightsaber, with help from his parents of course.

As much as Antellica wanted to keep her past life as an Imperial agent out of her current life as a wife and mother, it seemed that whenever she was least expecting it, it always popped back up again.

The first time it'd done this was when Alex was two months old. The family was fresh off of becoming accustomed to their life of exile. Everything was going great. Until one ordinary day that was close to being different from any other. Yet it wasn't. The turn to inordinate started as such:

A seventeen-year-old Antellica had just finished making a lunch of bantha and cheese sandwiches for herself and Obi-Wan while baby Alex quietly slept in his crib peacefully. Collecting the meal, she brought it out of their hut's small, raised kitchen and into its living room where Obi-Wan was sitting on one of the two couches and reading the local newspaper. Handing him his sandwich, he graciously accepted it and put the paper down.

"Anything new in there?" she asked, seating herself beside him and than taking a bite of her own sandwich.

He shook his head. "Not really. Except that the price of spice has gone up fifty percent. Oh, and the Empress has a new Hand," he added in a rush.

Antellica spat out the wad of food she'd been chewing and gave Obi-Wan a level stare. "Do you think I would _want_ to know that?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Antellica, I'm sorry. I just-"

"If you must read that Imperial junk, please keep it to yourself."

But that hadn't been the end of it.

Later that day, when the couple was preparing for bed, Obi-Wan brought up something that mildly surprised her.

"Antellica, I know you told me how your parents died in a fire that destroyed your home, but what of your other relatives? Couldn't you have stayed with one of them compared to living on the streets before the Palace?"

"We weren't on speaking terms with any of them," she explained. "A feud tore my parent's families apart before we were born. It was never resolved."

Obi-Wan nodded, appearing to be in thought.

"I'm really sorry you won't be able to meet them Obi-Wan," she said, thinking that's why he'd brought the matter of her family up, "but they don't like me. Or her. They've always felt that way. Because my father was black and mother was Caucasian, we are what is referred to as 'half-breeds'. Neither family wanted to socialize with such rift raft."

"Oh Antellica, I didn't know that," he said apologetically.

"It's all right," she said with a reassuring smile. "It's just that the matter of the Grievous and Starflare – my mother's family – families isn't something I enjoy talking about."

"I'm sorry Antellica," Obi-Wan repeated. "I didn't mean to bring up something that makes you feel uncomfortable, I simply..."

He glanced over at the newspaper that was presently sitting on his burrow.

"...read something about a person whom I believe is related to you."

He nodded at the paper.

Antellica was genuinely intrigued. "Oh?"

"Does the name Iolana Lestrange ring a bell to you?"

Antellica took her eyes away from the newspaper and turned them back to look at Obi-Wan strangely.

"Yes," she said at length. "She's one of my cousins. Our mothers were sisters. But how do you know that name? I've never mentioned it before."

Obi-Wan pointed to the newspaper. "She's the new Empress' Hand."

This information jolted her like lightning. "What?!" She instantly darted over to the burrow and collected the paper into her hands.

Obi-Wan chuckled lightly. "I thought you weren't interested in 'Imperial junk?'"

"Shut up," she bit as she began skimming through the paper to find the article. When she did, she stopped dead. There staring back at her from the paper was the picture of a young woman that looked so much like herself it didn't seem possible. And it wasn't Arica either because her hair was still black. But even if it hadn't been, she still would've known it wasn't her. First of all, this woman was lighter complected than Antellica and her twin; pure Caucasian, not part. Plus her eyes were green, not blue like Arica's or brown like Antellica's. But besides those features, she was the spitting image of the both of them.

Obi-Wan, obviously noticing her surprise over the photo, chuckled again as he walked towards her. "Remarkable isn't it? How much like you and your sister she looks." He glanced down at the photo and than back up at Antellica again. "She could be your and Arica's triplet. With the exception that she looks slightly younger than you both. Which is exceptionally odd, as the article says she's a few years _older_."

Antellica distantly nodded, having started reading the article that was under Iolana's photo. It basically explained how the Empress had come to find her Hand and some interesting facts about the famed Starflare sisters.

"I didn't know your mother was an holoactress," Obi-Wan commented.

"Yeah, she was. She and her older sisters – Valarie, Valencia, and Vanessa. They were the Starflare sisters, a famed sister act of a long time ago. When I was younger, I wanted to be a holoactress too."

"Really?" Obi-Wan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Me and Arica. We both wanted that. We wanted to make a sister act of our own." A pause went by before she continued. "And perhaps we did. Even if it was never the way we'd imagined it."

Obi-Wan moved closer to Antellica. "You miss your sister, don't you?"

She sighed heavily and moved away from him, heading for the bed.

Antellica went to bed that night without another word to him, her mind, though it didn't want to be, on her sister.

The second time her past occurred into the present had been nine months later. No longer seventeen but eighteen, she'd recently acquired a job at a small, but adequate-sized gift shop that carried a variety of things that ranged from fruit baskets to tea cups to all-occasion cards. She worked five days a week for a course of seven hours a day – 1000 to 1700 – and was paid a little above the average pay rate. Her boss, a female Twi'lek of middle age, Vida, was fair and trustworthy enough not to reveal whom Antellica truly was to the on-world Imperial authorities that rarely visited Anchorhead as it was. Her job, mainly, was in customer service and at the checkout counter, though occasionally she helped out with the import shipments the shop received once every few months. This type of work was what normal people her age usually did. However, she went from making herself enjoy it, to actually securely enjoying it pretty fast.

One day, after work, Antellica found that she was slightly hungry so went to a small nearby cafe to grab a quick bite before going home. After ordering a bowl of meat noodle soup, she found a table off on the side and began to eat. A Holovision was blaring next to the cash register. And though Antellica hadn't really paid much attention to it before, soon the Human male announcer on-screen was saying something that caught her notice.

"_...And in other news, last night was a glorious night for philosophers of the universe everywhere. Arica Grievous, after spending five long months in the Unknown Regions of space, is finally back among civilization once more and I might add, is looking as beautiful as ever. Especially after last night's big event; but more on that later. A welcome back gala was held at the Imperial Palace in Arica's honor and everyone who is anyone attended. Arica gave a speech about her time in the Unknown Regions and answered many questions from the press and audience. I, the lucky man that I am, was among some of the reporters she spoke with."_

All the while the twenty-something reporter had been speaking, scenes from the previous night's gala was screened. And when he finished, the scene on-screen than changed to one of him and Arica talking. Antellica had to admit her sister did look beautiful.

_"__So Arica, how are you tonight?" the reporter asked before putting his microphone under her mouth._

_"__Wondrously," Arica chirped. "Thank you for asking Kyle."_

_"__You're looking very beautiful as always," Kyle appraised, looking her up and down._

_"__Thank you Kyle. You are a gem." Arica bent forward and gave Kyle a peek on the cheek._

_Kyle blushed furiously, but tried to brush it off like it was no big deal. "Yeah, you know, that's me. Kyle O' Grady the gem."_

_Arica burst out laughing which caused Kyle to blush even more. He quickly changed the subject though. "So, what's this you're wearing? It's lovely."_

_Arica looked down at the dress a moment and than twirled around, giving the camera a great all around view of it. It was lush navy blue and decorated with a flower design. When Arica stopped twirling she gave a mock bow and Kyle, along with a few others nearby, clapped in applause._

_"__Lovely Arica," Kyle said still clapping. "Nothing less than lovely."_

_"__It's Diamore," Arica said._

_Kyle appeared confused._

_"__The dress," Arica clarified. "It's Diamore."_

_"__Oh, oh right. The dress. Yes, it is lovely."_

_"__I know it is, isn't it?" Arica said looking the dress over once more._

_"__And with you wearing it, it makes it even lovelier."_

_Arica simply rose an eyebrow, obviously growing tired of Kyle's flattery. "Of course."_

_"__Right, right, so did you come here alone tonight Arica? I don't seem to see Lord Vader here anywhere."_

_"__I did come alone because you know I just got back from the Unknown Regions a few hours ago. I haven't seen him yet. I'm beginning to wonder if he's even here."_

_"__I haven't seen him anywhere either," Kyle said. "But I'm sure he'll turn up eventually."_

_"__I hope so," Arica said continuing to scan the room._

The scene switched back to Kyle O' Grady speaking in the HoloNet Entertainment News Studio.

"_And indeed Lord Vader did turn up later._ _And what a surprise did he give us all, but most especially Arica. After giving a small speech about he and Arica's ever long distant relationship and getting his heart broken by the Empress Amidala – the poor guy – he got down on one knee in front of everyone and proposed right than and there."_

Antellica choked on the mouthful of juice she was about to swallow and spit it out into the now empty bowl of meat noodle soup. The waitress at the counter, a Rodian, hurried over to see if she was okay. Once assuring her she was fine and handing over the credits required for the meal, Antellica rose from the table and moved closer to the HV. The Rodian female took Antellica's dishes in the back to be washed.

"_I've never seen her so thrilled,"_ _Kyle was saying, obviously talking about Arica._

Antellica sat down on the stool in front of the HV and continued to listen and watch.

"_After posing for photos, the newly engaged couple spoke to our cameras about wanting a big wedding within the next month or so. This morning, actually, it was announced that it would be exactly two months from yesterday and held at the Central International Church of Galactic City. More details on the wedding will come as they arrive. Turning our attention over to the current sports season..."_

But Antellica wasn't listening anymore. Her mind was on Arica.

So, her sister was getting married. She had to admit, she wasn't overly shocked by the news. Arica had always had a crush on Anakin. But being as he'd been interested in Padme at the time, she did nothing on the matter. The moment Padme broke his heart however, their relationship changed. Anakin leaned on Arica the most to get through the heartbreak. And as he did so, their feelings for one another had grown.

When Antellica last saw the two, they'd still been friends, but she'd always known it would change eventually. And indeed it had. They were getting married. Antellica was happy that Anakin was giving marriage another try, and for the both of them for giving into the love they held for one another at last. But the happiness she had was also bittersweet. Bittersweet over the fact that her two best friends were getting married and she wouldn't be able to share in their happiness with them.

Over the following weeks, Antellica returned to the cafe almost every day after work to get updates on her sister's wedding. She knew she shouldn't, but just couldn't help it. As time continued to pass, she began to become more and more obsessed with it. Every waking hour it seemed that's all she was thinking about. She stayed lost in these thoughts all the time, not speaking much to her husband or son unless they spoke first, and even than it was in distraction. More than once Obi-Wan asked if she was all right, and again and again she told him she was fine and to stop worrying.

The day Anakin and Arica wed, Antellica was once again at the cafe. She'd become so much of a regular over the past two months that she knew all the workers inside by name. The female Rodian, Teri, was once again on duty that day.

After Antellica ordered the usual of meat noodle soup, she settled herself down at the table she usually sat at now – the one closet to the Holovision. Teri flicked the HV from the sports channel to the HoloNet News with a wink before attending to another customer.

Antellica blushed slightly at Teri's turned back. It was obvious to everyone that the only reason she continued to come into the cafe was to watch the HV. The meat noodle soup she always bought was merely an excuse to allow herself to sit in the cafe. But Antellica didn't care what anyone else thought; all she cared about was getting her daily dose of Anakin and Arica.

Once the commercial about dancing nerfs ended, the wedding began. It was beautiful. Arica looked gorgeous and Anakin was as handsome as ever. Antellica was so absorbed in the wedding in fact, that she didn't even notice when Obi-Wan entered the cafe with baby Alex on his hip.

She'd told him that she was going to be working late at the gift shop and not to wait up for her. This, naturally, was merely an excuse she'd made up as a way to give herself cover while she watched the who knew how long wedding at the cafe. She hated to lie to her husband, but wasn't sure how he may react upon finding out the only reason she'd be back late was because she was going to a cafe to see her sister's wedding.

Obi-Wan had decided to surprise Antellica at work and than have the three of them eat out at the cafe she always said she went to after work. However, when he got to the shop it was to find Vida closing up early due in fact that her always-traveling son had suddenly called saying he was in Mos Eisley waiting to see her. Because Vida was there by herself, and her son would only be in Mos Eisley for two hours before he had to leave again, she had no choice but to close up the shop.

Obi-Wan had confusedly asked about Antellica working late, but Vida hadn't known what he was talking about, and after giving Alex a chew toy and an affectionate pat on the head she breezed off.

Obi-Wan had been confused over why Antellica would lie to him and than thought back on the way she'd been acting over the past two months. Distancing herself from him and Alex, not speaking much. All of this had started when she began going to that cafe she always talked about.

Quickening his pace he'd made for the cafe at a jog. A quick look into the Force told him that she was indeed inside. Entering the cafe, slightly out of breath, Obi-Wan saw something that furthered his confusion. Antellica, unhurt and unharmed, was sitting at a small table not far from a Holovision sitting on the counter. The bowl of soup sitting in front of her long forgotten, her eyes were set fixedly on the HV screen.

Quickly giving Alex a Force-suggestion to sleep, Obi-Wan slowly approached Antellica's table. She did not look up once though the nearer he got. He sensed she didn't even know he was there. She was too wrapped up in what was going on on the HV screen. Taking his gaze off Antellica, he turned it onto the screen to see what was so captivating about it. What he saw nearly made him gasp.

An elaborate wedding of some type was taking place. But it wasn't the wedding per say that caught his eye, but the couple that was marrying that had. His former apprentice, Anakin, and Antellica's twin sister, Arica.

That explained it all. Antellica had obviously seen something on the HV about their engagement the first time she came in here, became interested, and kept coming back for more. The poor girl. As much as she loved him, she would always love her sister more. She missed her and yearned to be with her again.

Obi-Wan sighed. _If only things were different from the way they are._

Looking back at Antellica told him she still didn't know he was there. With one last glance at the Holovision screen – Anakin and Arica were being pronounced man and wife – Obi-Wan left the cafe to leave Antellica with her regrets that she could've been at the wedding with her sister.

When Antellica returned home that night it was to find both her husband and son already in bed sleep.

After tucking Alex in bed extra tight, she returned to her and Obi-Wan's bedroom, stripped, and went to take a shower.

Coming out in a purple top and bottom PJ set, she found Obi-Wan sitting up in bed waiting for her.

"Obi-Wan." She smiled, making her way over to him. "I thought you were sleep."

Collapsing down onto the bed, she moved into his arms. They kissed tenderly before he responded.

"I was asleep, but woke up at the sound of water running."

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay Antellica, really. I didn't mind."

Antellica settled herself more comfortably in Obi-Wan's arms and sighed happily.

"So how was work?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Just fine," she sighed out. "Nothing new. The usual, but uh...Obi-Wan?"

"Yes love?"

"I have a confession to make."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I-I know I told you I had to work late and so that's why I'd be back late but-the truth is-I lied."

Obi-Wan remained silent a moment. "I know."

Antellica moved her head out of Obi-Wan's neck and looked up at him in confusion. "You know?"

He nodded.

"How?"

He told her of his plans to surprise her at work and than eat at the cafe, yet found her not at the gift shop but already at the cafe watching her sister's wedding.

When Obi-Wan finished, Antellica looked close to tears. "Obi-Wan-"

"Antellica, it's all right. She is your sister after all. Even if she does go around killing people for a living," he muttered to himself. "But that's not the point. The point is-"

"The point is I shouldn't have lied to you," she cried. "I was scared Obi-Wan. Scared over what you would say if you knew I'd gone to a cafe to see my sister's wedding. I'm sorry. Really I am."

"Hush now love," Obi-Wan whispered. "It's all right."

Antellica fell asleep that night in her husband's arms.

The third time Antellica's past came up at her, she was still eighteen but two months older, at the start of the Alien War. How they'd found out about it was through Bail. But even if the Alderaanian Senator hadn't told them, there's no way they wouldn't have found out about it. This 'Alien War' was the subject of everyone's conversation.

When Antellica first learned of the war and what its purpose was, she'd almost had half a mind to jump into _Spiraled Avalanche,_ which was kept hidden in a cave at the base of the Dune Sea, and join the alliance in fighting right than and there without thinking. After Obi-Wan calmed her down though, she quickly banished these thoughts.

As the war went on, Bail kept them and Master Yoda, whom they still kept in contact with on occasion, up to date on everything. Until the fateful day when Alderaan was invaded. This happened exactly one year into the war. The rebels had been losing to the Empire the entire war as it was, but once Alderaan was conquered by Imperial forces the Empire had practically won it. All the remaining leaders and members of the alliance were killed, with the exception of one. Bail's wife Queen Breha escaped the planet in the confusion of battle with little Princess Leia – Leila – in tow. She fled to Dagabah for the safety of herself, as well as her daughter.

For a long time she stayed on the swamp planet with Master Yoda, not sure if she would ever return to civilization. But as long as Breha stayed in hiding, though the war was practically over, it would continue anyway until she turned herself in.

No longer wanting the war to continue on her account, she'd left Dagabah alone, leaving Leia behind with Yoda for no one knew how long.

Leia's Jedi training, which had begun briefly as a baby, would continue until she was fully trained. No matter what type of fate her adoptive mother was given, she was not to leave until Yoda deemed her ready.

Thankfully, Breha hadn't been killed, simply had her title of Queen revoked and was given a sentence of ten years imprisonment. The war officially ended when Breha was put behind bars.

And though peace had been restored to the galaxy once more, some interesting news was announced not long afterwards.

Not a day after Vader and Zenevieva announced they were to be parents to a twin boy and girl, the emperor announced his marriage to Senator/Regional Governor Charlotte Jovovich and that they were to be parents as well, but to a son.

Antellica found it awfully strange that the Emperor abruptly got married and decided to be a father again, but Obi-Wan didn't share this feeling. On the contrary, he said he'd expected something of this sort to happen ever since Vader and Zenevieva married.

"But why?" she'd asked.

"Don't you see Antellica," he explained. "Vader has an apprentice. He also has a wife and now two children on the way. He outnumbers the Emperor and Empress two to one. It's only natural that the Emperor would do something like this. He wants to assure that his Empire stays within his hands, and isn't overthrown. I'd be mildly surprised if that idea hadn't passed through Vader's mind on occasion. That may be one of the reasons he married Arica to begin with."

The peace remained in tack, the children were born, and that was that.

But as the peace continued on, Antellica knew it wouldn't be everlasting. Sooner or later something would stir up the galaxy again. But little did she know that she would, in fact, be in the center of it when it happened. The happy life she and her husband had built up with their son would soon come crashing down on them, changing the life of more than one person forever.


	34. A Strange Apparition

Author's Note: Hey all! The final eleven chapters (counting this-yes we're almost done here!) of Episode VI spread over the course of a few days and revolve in one conflict. Within them I can promise lots of action, a major betrayal, three deaths – two of which are of major characters, and much more. You'll love 'em!

Chapter 33 responses:

dmitchell: Thank you! I'm flattered! It's nice to hear appreciation for something you enjoy doing. And I enjoy writing this as much I enjoy sharing it with others. I'm glad you're enjoying. Sorry about the suit though. But it's necessary for a later plot line.

G-Anakin 13: That's okay. I know how life can be sometimes.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 34: A Strange Apparition

The fateful time that would end the Kenobis happy life of exile on Tatooine occurred a year and two months after the birth of the Imperial children – 5.2 IE.

The day was normal enough. Four-year old Alex was off at school, and Antellica and Obi-Wan were home by themselves since she had off from work that day. Because of this, she was donned only in a blue button down top that was open revealing a red push up bra and panties set underneath.

The nearly twenty-two year old was walking around the kitchen, wondering what she was going to make for dinner when suddenly, and completely out of the blue, she felt sick and threw up. Thankfully, she was able to prevent it from landing on her clothes, for as she jumped back it hit the floor.

As confused as Antellica was by this, her mind instantly went to the idea that perhaps she was pregnant again. It was possible. She and Obi-Wan had been trying for another, a girl they hoped, for a while now.

Grabbing a towel, Antellica cleaned up the mess and left the kitchen to find Obi-Wan in the living room reading a book. He glanced up from it, however, when she entered and smiled. This soon vanished when he noticed her sour expression.

"Antellica, are you all right?" he asked with concern.

Shaking her head no, she clasped down next to him on the sofa.

Putting his book on the coffee table in front of the sofa, Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around his sick wife. She cuddled into the embrace. "I threw up," she said abruptly.

Obi-Wan rose an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Antellica nodded. "And I don't feel so good."

"Well that's obvious," he said with dry humor. "People usually don't throw up when they're happy and full of life."

Antellica smiled and lightly kissed Obi-Wan's neck. She loved how even when she was sad, he always found a way to bring a smile back to her face.

"I better go pick up Alex from school than," he said into her hair.

She was mildly surprised. "Is it that late already?"

"Look at the time love, and tell me it isn't time to pick him up."

She glanced over at the cu-cu clock that hung above the HV – both of which had been acquired on Alex's third birthday last year; he'd been screaming about wanting them forever – and jumped. Indeed it read 1458.

Jumping off the sofa, she went into a frenzy. "What am I doing just sitting here? I've got to get dressed and go pick up Alex."

"Didn't you hear what I said Antellica?" Obi-Wan asked, clearly amused by her franticness. "I said, I'd go pick up Alex. You don't feel well, so you're staying home."

"I feel fine," she protested. "Just let me grab some clothes-"

"No," Obi-Wan said firmly. "You are staying home. I am more than capable of picking up Alex myself."

"Yeah but-"

"Yeah but nothing."

Antellica defiantly placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "I am fine I tell you. Fine. There is nothing wrong with me. I am not sick. And I'm going right now to put some clothes on."

Obi-Wan smirked lightly, looking her up and down. "Yes, you do that. I don't think I'd like the idea of our little boy suddenly wanting to take my beautiful wife from me."

Antellica laughed and kissed Obi-Wan tenderly. When they broke apart he spoke in a gentler voice. "Please love, just stay home. You don't feel well and I don't want you straining yourself."

Antellica looked into the loving eyes of her husband and sighed in defeat. "Oh all right. But only because you want me to."

"All right than." Obi-Wan gave a little wave and headed for the door.

"Bye, bye Obi-Wan," she called out, blowing him a kiss.

He turned and smiled, mimicking her blown kiss. She chuckled. "Goodbye Antellica. I promise I won't be long."

And with one last wave, he left.

Antellica went to her and Obi-Wan's bedroom and changed into a pair of white pants and a matching jacket to go over her red sleeveless top. After which, she put on a pair of boots and rose from the floor, only to find herself face-to-face with her sister Arica. She looked the same, only her hair had been returned to its natural blonde color. Antellica jumped back in shock and surprise, but not fear. She would never fear her sister.

As Arica approached forward, Antellica slowly backed away against the wall, all the while feeling around for a weapon. Never once did she take her eyes off the approaching, smirking Arica. Because despite the fact that Antellica would never fear her sister, no matter what she did, she did wish to be ready for a fight if that's what Arica wanted.

Taking one eye off her sister, Antellica reached forward her left hand towards the dresser and called her lightsaber to hand. Activating its orange blade she held it threatening towards Arica.

"Stay back little sister," Antellica said, speaking for the first time since Arica arrival. "I do not wish to hurt you."

A hysterical, almost unearthly, high-pitched laugh escaped Arica's mouth. It sounded a bit creepy to tell the truth.

"Oh? Little sister am I?" Arica cackled. She didn't even seem to give the lightsaber that was being held at her throat any acknowledgment. She just continued forward and Antellica tightened her grip on the lightsaber.

Just as Arica was practically upon her, Obi-Wan came into the room and Arica's presence suddenly vanished.

"Antellica?"

Antellica stood stock still against the wall for a moment, her lightsaber still activated, blinking at the spot Arica had just been in. It was than that she realized Arica had never been there to begin with. It was merely an apparition of her that had appeared. Yet still it seemed so real. Had it been sent to her perhaps? Could the Empire still possibly be looking for her after all this time?

Obi-Wan's voice calling her broke her out of her thoughts. The lightsaber deactivated, rather she or

Obi-Wan did it she never knew, and clattered to the floor. Antellica abruptly collapsed down next to it.

Overcome with sudden emotion, she cried embarrassed and scared tears. Obi-Wan reached down to her, in an attempt to hold her but she quickly jerked away. Running out of the room, she ignored Alex's "Hi mommy!" and went into the bathroom, locking herself inside.

Antellica stayed inside the bathroom for the rest of the day, not crying, but simply looking into the Force for answers. She needed to be alone to do this. No offense against Obi-Wan and Alex, but there was no way she could be able to tap into the Force's depths fully with either of two around.

Ever since she'd left the Empire her life had changed drastically of course, but her connection to the Force had also changed. She could not tap into it the way she once could as an active user. She wondered if this had something to do with Sidious. Being as it'd been he who'd given her these powers, was it possible that he could somehow manipulate them here in her time of exile to not have the Force flow around her the way it once had? Antellica didn't know, and probably never would.

Both Obi-Wan and Alex tried talking to her through the door, but she ignored them. She loved her life here with them on Tatooine and did not regret leaving the Empire, or so she tried to make herself believe.

Mostly she truly was happy with her life, but there were times when her mind would wonder. She would think about her sister, about Anakin and now since they were married and had twins together, them as well. She wondered if she would ever get to meet them, and if Arica would ever tell them about her. She doubted it though. Her sister most likely hated her and would probably kill her on site. The same with Anakin.

This led her mind to think about Anakin's other children. His other set of twins with the Empress. She knew where they both were – Luke with his aunt and uncle (she'd met him a few times since he and Alex went to school together) and Leila on Dagabah with Yoda, training to be a Jedi.

As she expressed before, she still thought the idea of turning Anakin's first born children against him to be...well uncalled for. But Yoda and Obi-Wan both stood by their word, saying it would be for the better of the galaxy as a whole, not just among a few people.

When the birth of Anakin and Arica's twins had been announced along with the Emperor's son, Antellica sarcastically asked if he and Yoda had any plans to kidnap them as well. Obi-Wan quickly said no to this saying it'd be too risky this time because they'd all be waiting for something of the sort to happen again.

There were times in Antellica's life, such as now, when she felt truly lost. Not knowing where she belonged. She loved her husband and son dearly, but she also missed her sister and jetting across the galaxy. Antellica had never been one to sit in one place for long. She was always moving. It had taken some time, but she felt that she'd finally adjusted to life on Tatooine.

Getting no answers from the Force through meditation, Antellica finally gave up and left the bathroom around 2100 that night. She knew by than Alex would be in bed and Obi-Wan in their room meditating. It's something he did every night before going to sleep.

Quietly opening the door, Antellica stepped into the hall and just as quietly shut it behind her. She was just about to make for Alex's room to peep in on him when she heard a creek come from the dark living room. A normal person may have been instantly scared, thinking that perhaps a burglar had broken in and was lurking in the dark ready to strike, but Antellica knew better, for she had the Force. Even if it didn't work as effectively as it once had she could still identify Force signatures just fine.

Reaching for the light switch on the wall, she flicked it on to see just as she'd excepted: little Alex standing in front of the sofa, clutching a stuffed veermok to his front, his eyes showed confusion, hurt and hesitation.

The look nearly broke Antellica's heart. "Oh Alex. I'm so sorry I ignored you earlier. I was..."

How did you explain something like this to a 4-year old? She sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry. Please forgive me my little one. I couldn't bear the thought of you being mad at me."

On the last two sentences, Antellica reverted to her baby voice that she still used on occasion. Her voice had finished maturing yes, but her baby voice still remained as well. She simply used it now to be funny. Alex always liked it when she used it. It always brought a smile to his face, as it did now.

Bursting out laughing, Alex bounded to her. She opened her arms wide and accepted him into her embrace, which knocked her to the floor in the process. They were both now laughing and rolling around on the floor; Antellica was tickling Alex all over while he protested in-between laughter.

Eventually this stopped and they both calmed down. Antellica attempted at smoothing out Alex's dirty blonde hair that was presently all over the place atop his head. He protested to this though by waving her hands away.

"No, no mommy. I like my hair wild. It makes me look and feel cool."

Antellica burst out laughing and Alex started rocking out, pretending his stuffed veermok was a guitar.

As Alex continued making noises that were supposed to sound like a guitar, Antellica got up off the floor and started dancing around.

Alex, who had had his eyes closed while strumming his veermok, opened them at the sound of his mother dancing around. He began jumping up and down, screaming the lyrics of some rock song he'd heard on HV at the top of his lungs.

"Coreilla! That's where I want to be! Livin' in Coreilla!"

"Alex, Alex please," Antellica said quickly covering his mouth with a hand. "Not so loud dear. Your father's trying to sleep."

"As you two should be as well."

Antellica and Alex both whipped around to see Obi-Wan leaning against the wall in the hallway looking purely amused.

Alex suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry daddy, did I wake you? I didn't mean to if I did."

"No, no Alex. You didn't wake me," Obi-Wan assured. "I was simply meditating when I heard raised voices. But uh-shouldn't you be in bed young man? I seem to recall tucking you in about ten minutes ago."

"Oh." Alex suddenly looked embarrassed. "Well..." His eyes were downcast and he was toeing the floor with his socked foot. "I just wanted to see mommy again. I missed her today."

"Aww." Antellica bent down to give Alex a hug. "I missed you too baby, but I just needed sometime alone, that's all. I'm all better now."

"Promise?" Alex asked holding out a pinkie.

"Promise," Antellica replied, hooking his pinkie with her own and swinging it around.

"All right kids, it's time for bed," Obi-Wan announced.

"Aww, do I have to?!" Alex asked.

Obi-Wan tilted his head and grinned. "Now do you really expect me to answer that question?"

Alex shook his head and returned the grin. "No!"

"Well than, let us be on our way," Obi-Wan said. "March!" he added playfully, yet stern.

Alex saluted. "Aye, aye sir!"

After successfully putting Alex to bed, Antellica and Obi-Wan returned to their bedroom in silence. Upon entering, Antellica retrieved some nightclothes from her burrow and began to change into them. She felt Obi-Wan's silent, intent gaze on her the entire time. He was concerned, she knew. Probably for her sanity. Holding an ignited lightsaber at a non-present enemy had to look quite disturbing.

Sighing, she turned to look at him. He was sitting on the bed merely watching her; the concern obvious in his eyes.

"Look Obi-Wan, about earlier...that must've looked really strange but...I assure you there is a decent explanation for it."

Obi-Wan did not say anything, though his silent gaze urged her to continue. Taking a deep breath she did so. Telling him everything.

When she finished Obi-Wan continued his stance of silence, though now he looked thoughtful, not concerned.

"I think I'm going crazy," Antellica abruptly said.

This statement seemed to pull Obi-Wan out of his revive a bit. His eyes returned to her and a moment later he seemed to register what she'd just said. A small smile spread across his face and he chuckled lightly. "You're not going crazy Antellica."

"Then how would you explain what happened then?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "An apparition that was sent to you, perhaps?"

"Do you really think they're still looking for me?" she asked. "It's been four and a half years now."

Again Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't think you should worry about it too much Antellica."

"Oh, so now you're saying I'm hallucinating?" she snapped.

"No Antellica, I didn't say that and you'll never hear me say that."

When she continued to look worried, Obi-Wan rose from the bed and cupped her face in his hands, drawing her eyes to his. "Listen Antellica, let's not worry about it anymore, all right?"

"But what if this continues to happen?" Antellica asked. "And the apparitions change from not just Arica but Vader, Sidious, or Baynetta instead."

"We'll worry about that when and if it happens."

When Antellica still looked unsure, Obi-Wan wrapped her into his arms. At first she was tense, but as he began to massage her shoulders she loosened up and melted into his embrace. One thing led to another and eventually the couple was expressing their love for one another through feeling.


	35. Happiness Never Lasts Forever

Chapter 34 responses:

Fallen Senshi: Actually, Sidious is over a thousand years old in this. Sorry about the misspelled words. I can't tell you how embarrassed I am over the errors. I edit these chapters over and over before posting them and yet errors still seem to pop up.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 35: Happiness Never Lasts Forever

It was the next morning when Antellica knew for sure she was pregnant. She'd thrown up again in the bathroom while readying herself for the day. Searching within herself for the cause of sickness, she found a tiny Force presence in her womb. Further search resulted in the knowledge of discovering that it was a baby girl.

Jumping for joy in the bathroom however queasy she still felt, Antellica hurriedly finished up inside to tell Obi-Wan the good news. She found he and Alex in the living room playing a game that consisted of not breaking a layer of ice on a board. A stuffed Dinko was sitting next to Alex with a mallet in its clawed paw, so obviously it was "playing" the game also. Obi-Wan and Alex both looked up upon her entrance.

"Mommy!" Alex cried, his whole face lighting up with a grin as he got off the floor and ran to her.

Antellica caught Alex in her arms, picking him up and bobbing him on her hip. Then, placing him back down, she took one of his hands in hers and walked him back over to where the game was set up, all the while he chatted about how he and Kovu – his toy Dinko – were winning the game and Obi-Wan was losing.

"He's already knocked down about three blocks of ice," Alex was saying.

"Wonderful," Antellica said, not knowing what else to say in her perpetual happiness. She wanted to continue jumping around the house excitedly, giving shrieks of delight, but she didn't just yet.

"You seem a lot chipper than you did last night," Obi-Wan commented with a slightly raised eyebrow. "What's the occasion? Alex's birthday isn't for another six months. Oh, let me guess! You're going to give Alex a happy 4 ½ birthday party?"

"All right!" Alex exclaimed. "Can I have friends over?"

Antellica and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance. "Well..." She thought it over.

"...You can have one friend over," Obi-Wan finished.

"All right!" Alex once again exclaimed. "I'll go comm Luke. Come on Kovu."

Dancing out of the room singing "Corellia!" again Alex entered the kitchen, dragging Kovu along, to comm Luke. His parents watched him go.

Once he was gone, Antellica turned to Obi-Wan excitedly. "Obi-Wan!"

"Yes love?"

"I have wonderful news to share!" she all but exclaimed.

Obi-Wan looked slightly confused for a moment, but only a moment. His eyes widened and he took her into his arms.

"You're pregnant?!" His eyes showed that he desperately wanted it to be true.

"Yes!" Antellica shrieked. "With a little girl! Just like we wanted!"

Obi-Wan's face showed the utmost delight as he took her even further into his arms and held her tightly.

Antellica began to jump around and let out shrieks for real this time. Obi-Wan soon joined in, the jumping part, and they began laughing with happiness.

"Hey! What's going on in here?"

Obi-Wan and Antellica stopped their joyful laughing and turned to see Alex standing in the doorway of the room looking perplexed over his parents' behavior.

Antellica looked to Obi-Wan first and he nodded, signaling that it was okay to tell Alex the joyous news. She walked towards Alex with Obi-Wan following and knelt in front of him, taking his tiny hands into her own.

"Alex, we have some exciting news to share with you."

Alex's eyes lit up. "Really? What! What is it?!"

Antellica glanced over at Obi-Wan again, who was beaming, before continuing. "Well, I'm pleased to say that within eight months time, you, little Alex, will be an older brother to a bouncy baby girl."

"A bouncy baby girl?" Alex repeated in pure confusion. It than seemed to dawn on him. "Oh! You mean you're having a baby?"

Antellica nodded. "A-huh. A little girl."

"Well that sucks."

The smile on Antellica's face vanished. "What do you mean? Don't you want a little sibling to play with?"

"Yeah, but a dude," Alex said. "A dude I can disciple into being a rock star."

Obi-Wan smiled slightly. "You know Alex, there are female rock stars as well. You don't have to be, as you say it, a dude to be a rock star."

"Yeah, but all female rock stars suck. They can't sing and rock out the way dudes can."

"That's simply because they didn't have you as a teacher," Obi-Wan said. "With you discipling your little sister in the ways of being a 'rock star', I'm sure she'll be just as well as you someday."

Alex looked like he almost believed him. "You really think so?"

"Know so."

"Really? It won't be that bad than. Yeah, I guess a girl rock star could be alright."

Antellica laughed.

"So, is Luke coming over?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Oh." Alex's good mood seemed to dissipate somewhat. "No. His uncle said he has work to do. Too bad."

Obi-Wan and Antellica exchanged yet another glance.

In their time on Tatooine, besides Antellica working at a gift shop and Alex going to school, the Kenobis mainly kept to themselves. Something the Lars family seemed to follow to the tee, except they worked at their at home moisture farm.

The Kenobis and Lars, despite living in a fairly close distance, did not interact with one another, with the exception of the small boys of the families.

While Obi-Wan, Antellica, and Beru Lars applauded Alex and Luke's friendship, Owen disapproved saying Alex was a bad influence on Luke. And this was merely another way Obi-Wan was using to fill Luke's mind with that "crazy sorcery nonsense."

While Beru had welcomed Luke into their home warmly, Owen resented the boy. Only taking him half-heartedly because, "the boy's grandmother Shmi was the best thing that ever happened to my father; it's only fair that we help out her grandson. But that's it."

According to Beru, Owen had grown bitter since the death of his own father, one-year to the day since

Obi-Wan had first brought Luke to live with them. He was resentful and cold to practically everyone, even her. But Beru would never leave him, both Antellica and Obi-Wan knew. She loved him far too much.

When Luke and Alex started going to school together, they became fast best friends; yet Owen always tried to keep them apart through any means necessary. Piling Luke with large sums of work that was uncalled for of a boy just one month shy of his fifth birthday.

"That's okay," Antellica finally said in response to her son. "Maybe he can come over some other time."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, maybe."

"Chin up son," Obi-Wan said. "Instead of us spending the day indoors, how about a day out on the town?"

Antellica clapped her hands together. "That's a great idea. We can go shopping for the baby and buy Alex some new toys..."

This pronouncement caused Alex to brighten up profoundly. "Oh great! New toys! Can I really have some new ones?"

"Of course you can!" Antellica said. "Now go get your jacket and I'll go get mine and we'll be off."

Fifteen minutes later, the Kenobi trio left their hut of a home via Antellica's speeder bike, headed for Anchorhead.

Anchorhead was a small town/spaceport with a few stores and shops, homes and cantinas, and one school. Besides that, if you wanted anything you'd have to go to the closet settlement, nearby Mos Eisley.

Antellica parked her speeder bike in her usual parking spot at Anchorhead's main transport center parking zone. After flipping the security slug nearby the amounted credits plus a 20-credit tip, the family was on their way.

They stopped in a clothing market to buy not only their impending bundle of joy clothes, but Alex as well. Next they went to a toyshop and Alex went hog wild with purchases. When Obi-Wan told Alex to put some of the stuff back, the toddler said no because they weren't just for him, but the baby too.

"But Alex," Antellica protested. "Most of these toys are for boys."

She glanced over the toy star ships, guns, stuffed animals – aka some were monsters – race bikes, and action figures.

"Not really," Alex countered. "She can play with the stuffed animals and star ships. She can play with all this stuff."

"But Alex-"

"It's my fourth and a half birthday. It means I can have whatever I want. And I want this stuff." Alex defiantly crossed his arms and sat down in front of his pile of wants. "I'm not going anywhere until you buy them all."

Antellica and Obi-Wan exchanged an amused glance. Alex had definitely inherited his sense of determination from his mother.

Antellica turned back to her son and sighed. "Oh all right."

"Yes!" Alex cried as Antellica moved forward to pay for the toys. "Yes, yes, yes! Oh happy day!"

Obi-Wan broke into a laugh as Alex began dancing around, all the while carrying his toys to the checkout counter.

After spending over 500 credits on Alex's and "the baby's" new toys, Antellica and Alex drifted over to a candy shop that was giving away free samples, sans Obi-Wan. He'd said he had something to do so didn't join them.

In truth, one of the reasons Obi-Wan suggested they come to Anchorhead was because he wanted a drink. He hadn't had one in a while being as he was too busy with Alex and Antellica. And now with the new baby on the way, who knows when he'd ever get out to have a drink again. He felt he deserved one-or two. Just for a while anyway. He wouldn't be long.

Once Antellica and Alex finished their candy samples, they went to find Obi-Wan. He hadn't said where he was going. Just that he had something to do and wouldn't be long. Reminding Alex of this, Antellica suggested they sit down somewhere and wait. Doing so they kept their time occupied by going through their purchases.

An hour went by and still Obi-Wan hadn't returned. Antellica shrugged this off by saying, "maybe he got busy."

At another hour's passing, however, she started to worry. Stretching out with the Force, she searched for his presence. And when she found it, she inwardly snarled. It was inside a bar on the other side of town.

Telling Alex to put his things back in the bags – they'd been playing with two of his new action figures – Antellica rose from the chair she was sitting in and cloaked she and Alex's presences in the Force.

Alex noticed this and asked, "Mommy, why are our presences cloaked? Are we hiding from someone?"

"No dear," she said. "Not yet anyway. Tell me, can you reach into the Force and find your father's signature?"

Alex closed his eyes and screwed up his face, looking into the Force to show him what he wanted. Several moments later though his eyes snapped back open and he looked up at his mother.

"Daddy's presence is on the other side of town." He wrinkled his nose. "In a bar."

Antellica smiled. "Correct."

"But why?" Alex wanted to know.

Antellica's expression went grim. "We'll soon find out."

Taking one of Alex's hands, the duo headed for the bar laden down in their purchases. Eventually growing tired of this, Antellica uncloaked their presences and ordered a droid-driven taxi to take them the rest of the way. Upon arriving, Antellica told the droid to stay put.

Taking Alex's hand again, she led him over to the side of the bar where they sat down on the cool ground and waited. They didn't have long to wait, for Obi-Wan came strolling out a good five minutes later smiling contentedly. He didn't even seem to notice his wife and son until Antellica got off the ground and stalked angrily towards him.

When Obi-Wan noticed her, he jumped. "Antellica!" he exclaimed. "What are you-" But he never got to finish his sentence for Antellica slapped him hard across the face.

"What did you think you were doing?" she roared. "Sneaking off so you could have a drink in a bar!

Obi-Wan, we were worried sick!"

"Yeah, we were," Alex added. "I had tears running down my eyes and mommy was screaming."

Antellica smirked lightly and patted Alex on the head before he began striking karate moves at passersby. She gave a small laugh before rounding on her husband.

"Look, Antellica," he said, attempting to calm down his angry wife. "I-it was just one drink."

"Don't lie to me Obi-Wan," Antellica hissed. "Besides, you know how I feel about alcohol. It's vile and disgusting."

"Antellica-darling-"

"Don't 'Antellica darling' me," she bit out acidly.

Obi-Wan started to edge towards her. "You're so beautiful when you're angry."

"And don't flatter me either," Antellica bit out, trying to keep in her angry mood. But as Obi-Wan continued to edge closer to her, looking deep into her eyes and kissing her passionately, Antellica couldn't help but let go of her irritation and wrap her arms around his neck, kissing him back.

When they finally broke apart Obi-Wan sighed deeply. "I'm sorry Antellica. I'll never do something like that again."

Antellica nodded. "See to it that you don't," she said in playful sternness.

"I won't. I promise."

Collecting Alex into his arms, Obi-Wan and Antellica headed back to their waiting taxi and ordered that they be taken to the cafe downtown. Alex's little 4-½ birthday shindig would be held there.

Once arriving, the taxi droid was once again ordered to stay put. By the end of the day it'd demand at least a hundred credits for taking them around so many places but they were far from caring.

As the three Kenobis exited from the taxi and entered into the cafe, little did they know that they were being watched.

The watcher in question?

Bounty hunter Aurra Sing.

It'd been four and a half years exactly since the bounty was originally placed on Antellica Kenobi, Jedi

Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their son Alexander, along with the Imperial Prince and Princess Luke and Leila and another Jedi, the little, green alien Yoda.

The original prices had been Antellica: 3 million, Obi-Wan: 2.5 million, Alexander: 2.5 million, Luke: 5 million, Leila: 5 million, and Yoda: 5 million, with an added 7 million if you captured all six. This totaled to 30 million.

Because of the war, however, and the long drawn out years since the bounty had originally been placed, the prices rose drastically. The amount for each person presently being 1 billion credits.

Naturally at first, all bounty hunters in the galaxy had been on the trail for the wanted criminals and children. As time went on though with the continuation of no leads for any of them anywhere, most gave up

and moved on to other jobs. But Aurra Sing was persistent. Never did she give up on something once her mind was set to it. And her mind was set on finding at least two of the six. Three or four if she was fortunate. But she had searched the galaxy top to bottom to no avail.

Despite all this, she did not give up. She would not give up. Ever. Unless she died first in the attempt, she would find them. It was this persistent arrogance that brought her to Tatooine. She'd searched the planet before of course, many times, but as multiple other planets in the galaxy, she was searching it again.

Upon arriving on-world, at first she was going to land in Mos Espa, but than thought against it, opting instead for the small spaceport of Anchorhead.

Once acquiring a docking bay in the spaceport's transport center, Aurra left her ship and strolled around the settlement. It was around mid-day now, 1400 at least. Life as usual was going on in the small town.

She was just about to grab a bite to eat at a small cafe when she spotted something. Or someones she should say: A droid-driven taxi had just arrived outside the cafe. But it was the occupants that exited from within that made Aurra stop and stare.

A medium brown haired young woman in her early twenties exited first. And though Aurra only saw her from the side, she instantly knew who it was. For the woman looked almost exactly like a person quite popular in the Empire: Arica Grievous-Skywalker. It was her twin Antellica Grievous-Kenobi.

Antellica had been a small eight-year-old the last and only time Aurra met her. Nonetheless, she was still recognizable; simply looking like an older version of the little brat she once was, sans the hair.

The person who followed her out was easily spotted: legendary Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi. He looked the same as he had at the end of the Clone Wars with his short red hair and beard. It was interesting though to see him now in non-Jedi wear, a green shirt with some kind of inscription on it and blue jeans.

In his arms was a small Human male toddler with dirty blonde hair. Aurra didn't see what he was wearing, but really she didn't much care. She had found them. After four and a half years of nothing, she had finally made progress.

She than remembered what was said about the Imperial Prince Luke being with the Kenobis. Well he wasn't with them now, but that didn't mean he wasn't somewhere on-world.

She smirked evilly as she saw the small family enter the cafe.

Darting into a dark alley, she donned a black wig and changed into cheap work clothes that would make her look like a local. Putting a tiny camera into one of her pockets, she left the alley and entered the cafe.

Once ordering a bantha sandwich, she snuck a few looks at them every so often, but they didn't notice. They were too wrapped up in their own happiness among themselves; a happiness that would soon be taken away from them.

When Aurra was done her bantha sandwich, she ordered a nerfmilk ice cream fruit split for dessert since the family was still in the cafe. About ten minutes later though they left with Aurra only halfway through it.

A rookie bounty hunter may have jumped up at once to follow them, but Aurra was far from being a rookie.

She was quite experienced, one of the best of her class. Something she prided herself in. So she did not get up and follow them at once, not even a minute later. She patiently finished her sundae, commented to the Rodian at the counter how good it was, left a tip of 20 credits, and was on her way.

She knew at first it may be hard to find them again, but eventually was successful at the transport center as she watched them load a slew of purchases into a speeder.

Since she'd changed her appearance again to bright orange wavy hair and a white jumpsuit, the Kenobis shouldn't have found it suspicious to see her walking about the transport center. And indeed they didn't. Aurra wasn't even sure they at all noticed her.

Once they were finished loading everything up, Antellica got in the driver's seat while her husband and son went in the back. Just as the speeder was driving off Aurra was able to throw a small tracking device onto it. The device was so tiny, no larger than an ant, that there was no way they would notice it. Until it was too late.

Going back to the landing bay her ship was docked in, she went aboard it and set up her tracking system. When she finished she was able to pinpoint their position exactly. They were headed for the Jundland Wastes.

_Odd,_ Aurra thought, _there wasn't much out there._

About twenty minutes later, the speeder finally stopped in front of a small desolate hut at the top of the hill above the Dune Sea.

This was surprising to Aurra being that yes she'd known about the hut, and even been in it once, but didn't know anyone lived there. They obviously must've done some renovating to it because when she'd been in it, about six years ago, it wasn't fit to house anyone.

The reason she'd been out that far was to track down a Jawa that had doubled-crossed Jabba the Hutt, taking more product from the Hutt than was given. She'd stayed at the beat down shack after a run in with some Tuskens.

Returning to the present, Aurra kept the tracker on and dialed the number the Emperor had given her and the other bounty hunters to use when they found the criminals into her comm communicator. She than awaited for the Sith Lord Emperor to answer her call...


	36. A Traitor Found

Author's Note: While this chapter isn't that long, the next is about 11 pages (on OpenOffice anyway). We're getting closer and closer to the end! Only eight chapters and an epilogue after this, then Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire. (Info concerning that episode and the other upcoming ones can be found on my profile page).  
Also, remember to review. I do enjoy hearing what you have to say and would like to reach the 100 point by this episode's end.

Chapter 35 responses:

MissNaye: Most definitely! The next chapter is long and explosive!

dmitchell: Glad you're still enjoying it!

G-Anakin 13: Gulp indeed!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 36: A Traitor Found

It was 2400 on Coruscant but Dark Lord of the Sith Emperor Sidious was not asleep like most of the planet's citizens. He'd put Charlotte and his fourteen-month old son to sleep hours ago, but he remained awake in deep meditation. The Force was telling him something was about to happen. Something big, though upon his demand as to what it was, it would not say.

He was inside his private quarters' office. Sometimes when he didn't feel like doing work from his public office a few levels below it was done up here. This was not done often though; usually only when he didn't wish to be bothered with anyone. Or if he suddenly decided to hold a secret meeting of some sort.

The Sith Lord was just musing over the possibilities of what this happening event the Force spoke of could be when his holoprojector communicator began to beep with an incoming message. Rising from his desk, he proceeded towards it at the room's conference table's center and looked to see whom it was from.

Bounty Hunter Aurra Sing; Location: Settlement Anchorhead in the Outer Rim Planet of Tatooine.

The hunter was using the private code he'd given all hunters to call if they captured any of the criminals he had bounties on.

Though Aurra Sing had never done any work for him before, she'd been one of the hunters present when he put the price of Antellica Kenobi's head, along with the Jedi, her and Kenobi's son, and his twin grandchildren. The reason she'd never done any work for him was because she was the only hunter left still looking for Antellica and company in spite of the large price raise two years ago.

Could it be? Could she possibly found one of the traitors?

There was only one way to find out.

Pressing the 'accept' key, the holoprojector came on and a life-size holo of Aurra Sing appeared.

"_Emperor, hello,"_ she greeted with a bow. _"I have great news to share. I have found Antellica Kenobi, her husband, the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their son Alexander. They are here on Tatooine, living in a hut in the Jundland Wastes, just beyond the Dune Sea."_

For a moment, just a moment, the emperor was stunned silent, but this surprise soon turned to triumphant victory. He smirked and cackled with glee.

"Excellent! At last the traitors will be destroyed. Do you have them in captivity now?"

"_Actually no."_ At his look of rage she rushed on. _"Only for this simple reason: I'd naturally assumed that once the Jedi were found you would want Vader and Zenevieva to do the honors of killing them. After all, Kenobi was Lord Vader's ex-teacher and Antellica, Zenevieva's sister. Don't you think it would give them much pleasure to kill them themselves?"_

The Sith master thought over these words a brief moment as Aurra continued on._"If you want me to do it, I'm more than willing. I merely thought-"_

"A fair point you raise Sing," he said, continuing to go over the hunter's words. "Both Zenevieva and Vader hate Kenobi and Antellica with a passion. It would be a real treat for them to do the killings themselves. But what of Luke? According to Lady Zenevieva, Kenobi has him as well."

"_I don't know where he is,"_ Aurra replied. _"When I spotted the three of them in Anchorhead earlier today, I saw only them. No Luke. But I have no doubt he is on-world as well. Would you like me to look for him, my lord?"_

"No, stay where you are Sing," the Sith instructed. "Keep your eyes on the Kenobis. Make sure you know where they are at all times. I will send Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva to lead the entirety of the navy to Tatooine right now. Our forces will search the planet. Vader and Zenevieva will contact you when they arrive in orbit and meet you on it. Understood?"

"_Yes sir."_

"Your awarded credits will be presented after the Kenobis and young Skywalker are captured. I will keep in touch."

Aurra gave another bow. _"Thank you my lord. It has been an honor doing business with you."_

The emperor gave a nod of his own. "As it has with you Sing. Expect Vader and Zenevieva to contact you within twelve hours time."

"_I will my lord. Sing out."_

At last. At long last the treacherous Jedi would be no more.

Cackling to himself, the Sith emperor contacted his Hand and Executor to inform them of the news...

* * *

Anakin and Arica had been wrapped in the thralls of intimacy when their master called and were not very pleased at the interruption. In fact, for a moment, they simply ignored their comm's beeps. But as they became more persistent and ceased to halt, the couple finished up quickly, and Anakin angrily climbed out of bed to grab his comlink and answer with a growled "What?!" while Arica remained in bed and merely flicked hers off as she sensed it from the same person. 

"_Lord Vader, it is about time you answered this call,"_ the voice of the emperor hissed out. _"Something of importance has come up that needs your and Lady Zenevieva's attention immediately. The traitor Antellica Kenobi has been found on Tatooine along with Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and their son Alexander."_

"No!"

Anakin turned to see Arica sitting up in bed, shock and disbelief etched across her face. "That's not possible! Antellica's dead!"

The emperor obviously heard her voice and choose to respond to it. _"I'm sorry to disappoint Lady Zenevieva but your sister is very much alive on Tatooine. She and her family were tracked down by bounty hunter Aurra Sing earlier today in Anchorhead. She was also able to track down where they live in the Jundland Wastes, just beyond the Dune Sea. Are you familiar with that area Lord Vader?"_

"Yes, quite familiar." All the anger and disgust that was held at his master quickly vanished at the mention of Antellica. "And I find it very much confusing as to why they would want to live there. That's Tusken territory."

"_Hmm...well I don't care why they live there. All that matters is their capture. The both of you are to leave at once with the entire fleet. When you arrive in orbit of Tatooine, blockade the planet and contact Aurra Sing immediately. You will meet her on the planet and she will show you where the traitors are. Understood?"_

"Yes master. We shall leave at once."

"_Good."_

And with that, the transmission ended.

Anakin turned away from his dresser and back to the bed to find Arica already gone; in the fresher taking a shower. He had to admit he was rather floored by this recent turn of events, though he'd already known Antellica was still alive somewhere. But he knew Arica, who kept insisting to herself that her sister was dead and gone, had to be...well, he wasn't entirely sure. Distraught, not knowing what to think.

Strolling into the fresher he joined her in the shower. But oddly enough, she didn't even smile in acknowledgment to his arrival, simply pretended he wasn't there. And when he made to hold her, she pulled away and exited the shower.

Finishing his own shower in silence, Anakin dried his hair and body off and reentered their bedroom. Arica was just finishing up on dressing, but before he could even say her name and ask if she was all right she was out the door.

Sighing sadly, he quickly dressed and left the room, heading for Andrea's. Inside, he found her asleep but after a few gentle taps she was awake. Quickly telling her the situation and asking that she watch the twins, Anakin left the house, but not before kissing the sleeping forms of Lacovia and Hilton goodbye.

As expected, he found Arica downtown at the Central Transport Center, overseeing as the fleet prepared itself. When she caught sight of him, however, she darted into the _Executrix._ Obviously she didn't wish to be bothered with him, and though it was slightly heartbreaking, he did not go after her.

It took two hours for the fleet to get ready. Once it was the hundreds upon hundreds of ships – Star Destroyers of all kind, warships and cruisers – left the capital under the Eco-command of the Supreme Commander and Commander-in-chief

During the ten hours it took to reach Tatooine, Anakin, on the _Executor_, meditated and practiced some lightsaber techniques, preparing himself for the coming confrontation.

Arica, on the other hand, aboard her own Command ship, _Executrix_, was restless. She tried sleeping, but couldn't. She tried eating, but couldn't keep it down. She tried meditating, but couldn't clear her mind of all the things that were running through it so stopped. She than paced her quarters, but soon grew tired of that also so simply collapsed onto the floor in the middle of the living room and stared up at the ceiling.

Her sister was alive. That was the thought she couldn't get out of her mind. She was living on Tatooine with Kenobi and their son, her nephew she reminded herself. He would be about four and a half years old now. She wondered what he looked like and how Antellica would react upon seeing her. Because that would be the hard part, for both of them. After not seeing each other for almost five years, and suddenly being thrown back together again, only to be broken apart all over again, but for good this time.

Arica knew very well that she and Anakin were to go onto Tatooine, capture the three Kenobis, and return them to Coruscant where the Emperor would bring justice (vengeance?) upon them. Not only would Antellica be killed, but also a small innocent boy of four who did nothing to bother anyone.

But why was she thinking these thoughts? Antellica was a traitor of the Empire. She deserved to die just as much as Kenobi did, if not more. Alexander was simply a product of their treachery so deserved to die as well. It was their fault he had to die. If they hadn't brought him into the galaxy...so many things would be different. Antellica would still be working for the Empire and Kenobi dead. Luke and Leila would remain safe with their father and she would not be co-leading the Imperial fleet to Tatooine right now. But alas, things happened the way they did and could not be changed.

Notwithstanding everything Antellica had done though, did Arica think she deserved to die?

Of course she did. Why wouldn't she? But if that were so, why did Arica suddenly feel saddened and empty at the thought.

The truth was she didn't want Antellica to die; yet, at the same time there was a part of her that did. The part that told her she'd gotten along just fine without Antellica before and would continue to do so now. But yet during that time, though she'd never admitted to anyone, not even herself, she'd yearned for her sister to be with her during those special moments of her life: her wedding day with Anakin, the birth of her children, etc.

She wanted her sister back, and would see to achieve that goal. If anyone could talk sense into Antellica it was Arica, her other half. Antellica would not die. Arica would see to that personally, because if Antellica died Arica would die with her both mentally and physically. And that was not going to happen. It were these last few thoughts that cheered Arica up slightly.

Picking herself up off the floor, she returned to her bedroom and laid down to rest. She was asleep in no time.


	37. Everything Changes

Author's Note: This is it! The big chapter that's title says it all. Everything changes here on out. Death, betrayal, and a father-son reunion ensure.

Chapter 36 responses:

dmitchell: Thanks. I know exactly what you mean about authors on this site and their delayed updates. I never much like it either, that's why I try to keep this up to date as much as possible. The longest you'll probably ever see me go on this without an update would be a week and a half. And if I intend to go on hiatus (as I may when this episode ends to edit VII) you'll be let known sometime in advance.

Twisted Words: Plenty of surprises are in store. I can promise you that.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 37: Everything Changes

The Imperial navy arrived outside Tatooine right on schedule. Lord Vader was in the bridge of _Executor,_ looking out the forward viewport as they left hyperspace and came in orbit of the yellow planet. As ordered, the entire fleet moved as one to blockade the world. No ships would be allowed to enter or exit it until the Empire's work here was done.

Vader gave a sigh as he gazed out upon his homeworld. He'd never thought in a million years he'd return here, especially after his painful last visit eight years ago. The planet harbored far too many bad memories for him.

_Perhaps that's why Kenobi choose to hide here,_ he found himself thinking. _Because he knew I would never return unless it was absolutely necessary._

Once the blockade was in order, Vader's flagship was prepared. His and Arica's own flagship flew side by side onto the planet, escorted by four TIE Fighters. Vader had contacted Aurra Sing just before the fleet left hyperspace as instructed. They were to meet her on the outskirts of Anchorhead.

Since it 0200 on the planet at their arrival, Tatooine's two suns – Tatoo I and Tatoo II, were down, enfolding the planet in utter darkness.

Meeting Sing on the outskirts as planned, the two Imperial leaders exited their private flagships and were shown onto the bounty hunter's ship. On board, Sing informed them of the events that led up to the Kenobis finding while the two listened in quiet earnest. Afterwards, she showed them where the Kenobis lived on her ship's digital mapping system. Since it was a long ways off, the hunter had taken it upon herself to rent two speederbikes for the Sith. Both thanked her, but declined using them because of their loud engines. They would do better walking.

The duo parted from Sing's company a short while later, after giving the woman the order to stay put until called upon. They had her comm frequency so would contact her when ready.

It took about an hour to reach the Dune Sea, in which time Arica apologized to Anakin about how she'd treated him earlier. He waved it off, saying she needed her space and there was nothing to forgive. She protested however saying, that wasn't the point and no matter how she felt about the situation, she shouldn't have taken it out on him. To which Anakin quipped, "If it makes you feel any better, than yes I forgive you, Arica."

They'd then kissed and held hands the rest of the way, meeting no creatures or anything to challenge them.

When they came upon the Dune Sea, they followed it a ways north until coming across a medium-sized hill. At the top laid a small one-level shack of a hut.

The two exchanged a glance before heading up the hill. It wasn't that steep so they climbed it with ease. At the top they came across a small path that led to the hut. Following it, they went to the front door, but then circled around taking in the building's structure and surroundings.

The hut was built of hardened clay and rock and sat up against a higher mountain in the back. It was in this way that the hut was slightly hidden. It could only be seen from the front and side at the bottom, not at the back. With the exception of a speederbike, there was nothing else behind the hut.

Circling around to the front again, they used the Force to unlock the door and silently entered. They were inside a hallway with a kitchen straight ahead and an entranceway a few paces ahead to the right. No one was in the kitchen so they went for the entranceway. This led to a large sitting/living room. Two sofas were inside and a small Holovision. A few toys here and there and a few other things you might find in a living room such as a clock, which presently read 0334.

This time of morning is usually when people are asleep, so that's why the couple were slightly surprised to discover through the Force that while Obi-Wan and Antellica slept, their son Alexander was awake in the room ahead to the right. Because of this, Arica suggested to her husband telepathically that they take off their Sith cloaks as not to scare the boy.

"Now listen," she whispered, "we're not going to hurt the boy. Screw the Emperor's orders! Alexander is a simple boy who was born by...well, it's not his fault who his parents are."

"We'll just be nice to him," Anakin affirmed.

"Yeah, I mean...he's only four years old after all. Just follow my lead. I have a plan."

He nodded and they took off their cloaks.

Giving a nod of her own, they than headed for Alexander's room. The door wasn't shut all the way, simply cracked and a dim light could be seen through it. Giving the door a soft push, it opened silently.

Inside, they found a small boy of four playing with two action figures in the light of a small night-light. His back was to them, and from what they could tell, it looked as if the two toys he was playing with were engaged in some type of sword fight.

As the two entered further into the room, however, Alexander abruptly stopped playing. A millisecond later, a toy gun was in his hands and he was pointing it at the pair, who were nothing more then shadows to him.

"Whoever you are don't move!" the boy threatened.

His intention was noble, but the sight of a toddler pointing a toy gun, water pistol from the looks of it, at two Sith was a hoot.

"We're not going to hurt you little one," Arica said gently, coming further into the room and flicking her finger towards the lamp sitting on the nightstand next to the boy's bed.

It was the sound of her voice that made Alex lower his water gun. It sounded so familiar, yet not so familiar.

When the shadow of the lady flicked her finger towards his lamp and it then came on he blinked in shock, his mouth agape. Not over the fact that she'd just used the Force to turn his lamp on, but over her appearance. In spite of her hair being black, she looked almost exactly like his mother. Even the smile on her face was so much like hers.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously. "And why do you look like my mommy?"

Arica's smile broadened over the fact that he recognized the resemblance. "You didn't know your mommy had a twin sister did you?"

Alex shook his head no. Arica wasn't surprised, though it saddened her slightly.

"Well that's who I am," she continued. "Your aunt Arica. Though you may simply call me Arica. I don't mind."

She crouched down on the floor in front of Alex and ran her fingers through his dirty blonde hair before than taking the boy, her nephew, into her arms in an embrace.

Notwithstanding the fact that his parents told him never to talk or socialize with strangers, Alex couldn't help but feel the same warmth he felt whenever his mother hugged him as Arica did this, and he hugged her back. That is until he saw another person in the room, hanging back somewhat. A young Human male from the looks of it. But he had a smile on his face and when he noticed Alex's stare, he waved and entered further in the room.

Feeling Alex stiffen in her embrace, Arica let go of him to see his eyes fixed on Anakin, who had just knelt on the floor as well.

"Hello Alexander," he said. "I'm Anakin, your uncle. Though you can just call me Anakin."

He stretched out a hand and Alex shook it. Anakin than ruffled his hair slightly. Alex's smile broadened. He liked these people.

"Are you mommy's brother?" he asked.

"No, no. Your aunt Arica and I are married, though I was something of a brother to her...before."

"But we haven't seen her for a while," Arica added. "She just left one day and never came back. This was before you were born of course."

"We've been looking for her the past four or so years now," Anakin continued the explanation. "So we're glad we finally found her. That's why we came here so early: to surprise her."

"Cool," Alex said.

"We didn't expect to find anyone awake at this hour," Arica said with a nod to Alex's digital clock that presently read 0340. "Shouldn't you be in bed little one?"

Alex shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

"Bad dreams?" Anakin asked.

"Nah, I don't get those anymore," Alex said. "Just not tired."

"Ah."

Alex glanced back at Anakin again. There was something familiar about him too. He looked like someone he knew. And then it came to him. Luke.

"You remind me of someone," he said pointing at him.

"Oh?" Anakin asked, though he already had a good idea as to who it was. "Who's that?"

"My friend Luke."

"Do you go to school with him?" Arica asked.

"Yeah, he's a cool dude."

Alex was liking Anakin and Arica more and more the longer he talked to them.

"I wanna be a rock star when I grow up," he abruptly said.

"Really?" Arica asked. "That's cute."

Both Anakin and Alex raised eyebrows at her and exchanged a glance.

"Ah Arica, unless I'm wrong, I don't think being a rock star has nothing to do with being cute," Anakin said.

"Like totally man!" Alex exclaimed. "It has to do with rocking out in front of screaming fans."

Excitedly, he got up and showed them the toy guitar he got for his fourth birthday. "It's not real," he explained, "but it works well for now." He handed it to them and they looked at it.

"This is nice Alex," Arica said.

"It's not real," he protested.

"True, but you can always get a better one when you're older."

Alex's eyes lit up. "Yeah, and I can pass this one down to my little sister."

Anakin and Arica blinked in shock. "You have a sister?!" Arica asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Yeah, well she hasn't been born yet, but she will be soon. I want her to be a rock star too."

Anakin and Arica both laughed and Alex looked somewhat embarrassed.

"We're not laughing at you Alex," Anakin explained, and Arica nodded her agreement. "You seem happy about your little sister. And we're happy for you."

"Mommy says that when she's born I can teach her and stuff."

"And I'm sure you'll make a wonderful teacher," Arica said.

As Anakin and Arica continued to talk to their nephew about various things, Antellica abruptly awoke in the other room. Something was wrong. Something wasn't right. Something...no someone was in her house. Two someones. Tapping into the Force, Antellica looked to discover who they were. When she did, her entire body froze.

_No, it's not possible!_

It was her twin sister, Arica, and old best friend/current brother-in-law, Anakin. They were in Alex's room. They weren't hurting him, no; they seemed to be merely...talking to him. And when Antellica listened sharply in the silence of the early morning, she heard voices coming from Alex's room. But they were happy voices. Antellica didn't know what to make of this. She was scared, confused, and shocked. She wasn't sure if she should go to Alex's room to see what was going on or stay where she was. Surely, they'd come to hurt her, kill her along with her family. But if that was the case, why were they simply talking to Alex? To discover the location of Luke, perhaps? It was possible, but she wasn't entirely sure. Because of this, she dare not face the two of them alone. She'd feel much more comfortable if Obi-Wan was with her.

Leaning down to where he was lying next to her in bed, she gently shook him awake. "Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, wake up!"

Obi-Wan groaned, but only moved his face deeper into the pillow.

"Obi-Wan, please. This is important!"

But he gave no notice of her urgings and slept on.

Becoming frustrated, Antellica got out of bed and put her pajama bottoms on. Collecting her lightsaber off the next-to-bed nightstand she went over to Obi-Wan's side and kicked him out of it. Yet instead of having him land hard with a thud on the floor, she jumped into the spot he was to land in. As Obi-Wan collapsed onto her, she moved his weight off her body and onto the floor beside her. He was wide-awake now, but before he could say anything, as she knew he wanted to, she placed a hand over his mouth.

"Listen closely Obi-Wan, now as we speak Anakin and Arica are inside Alex's room talking to him. Don't even dare say or think I'm out of my mind. Reach into the Force Obi-Wan, and you can feel them too, don't you?"

Finally she removed her hand from Obi-Wan's mouth. And the way he looked at her confirmed he felt them too.

In no time, he was off the floor and throwing clothes on. Antellica did the same, but took her time as she put on a black and gray top and simple black pants. It wasn't until she was done that she noticed Obi-Wan had put on one of his old Jedi robes.

Silently taking one of her hands into his own, Obi-Wan led Antellica out of the room. The doorway to Alex's room was a few paces ahead; the door was slightly open and the lamp on. From the sounds inside the room, it seemed that Alex was entertaining his guests by singing and playing his toy guitar. Peeping into the room through the door hedges, Obi-Wan and Antellica saw that was indeed what Alex was doing, while Anakin was playing to the beat of the song via Alex's drum set and Arica was having some of his stuffed toys dance around the room. The noise inside had gotten pretty loud. They were all singing along with Alex to his favorite song, "Corellia."

Both Obi-Wan and Antellica had to admit to themselves how shocked they were to see Darths Vader and Zenevieva, the two most feared Sith under the Emperor and Empress, in their son's room playing with him and his toys. All of this, of course, could be a trap as they both suspected. Nonetheless, under the noise of the 'music', Obi-Wan and Antellica darted past the doorway and strode into the living room. Interestingly enough, everything was as it had been when they left to go to bed a few hours previous. Motioning for Antellica to seat herself on the sofa, Obi-Wan stood against the wall next to the doorway that led to the kitchen and hut's only exit. Vader and Zenevieva couldn't stay in with Alex forever. Eventually, they would come out, and Obi-Wan and Antellica would be ready for them.

Not surprisingly, they didn't have long to wait, about five minutes, before the noise stopped.

"Let's go get something to drink," they heard Alex say to the Sith.

"Sure, why not?" said the voice of Zenevieva.

Vader remained silent, they guessed he only nodded or shrugged. Alex than gave a whoop for some reason. And as the three exited his room, they saw why. Vader was holding Alex in his arms, propped up on his left hip while Zenevieva was tickling Alex's neck. All three were smiling happily and laughing, oblivious to the other two people in the room. When Obi-Wan and Antellica were noticed, however, the smiles on Vader and Zenevieva's faces vanished. For a moment, the four simply stared at one another, with no one saying anything. Zenevieva's eyes were locked with Antellica's, Vader's with Obi-Wan's.

Alex glanced between his parents and new friends a moment and spoke. "Mommy, daddy, look whose here! And mommy, how come you never told me you had a twin sister? She's nice, just like you mommy. And pretty too."

"Aww, you're so sweet," Arica cooed, giving his hair a ruffle.

"Anakin's nice too," he added. "He taught me a few songs on my guitar."

Still Obi-Wan and Antellica said nothing. Though Antellica allowed a slight smile, Obi-Wan remained stone-faced. At last he spoke. "I don't know what nonsense you've filled my son's head with, but you can kindly put him down this instant."

"Now, now Obi-Wan," Arica said with a waving finger, "that's no way to greet your family. Because rather you want to admit to it or not, we are your family. As such, we have every right to spend time with Alex. We needn't bring our own children, of course, because they're a bit too small."

"Children?" Alex repeated. "You got kids?"

Anakin nodded. "A boy and a girl, but they're only fourteen months. Though they can walk and talk fairly well."

"Cool!" Alex exclaimed. "Can I meet them?"

"Absolutely not," Obi-Wan said before Anakin could answer.

"Now then Obi-Wan," Anakin said, his tone neutral. "Why the cold shoulder? We haven't seen you for over five years and this is the way you treat us." He made a few clicking sounds with his tongue. "Shame on you."

Obi-Wan bit back a sarcastic retort for Alex's sake. He did not wish to get on the Sith's bad side in front of him. Who knew what they'd do? So merely thinning out his mouth, he nodded to them, and said nothing.

Arica smirked. "You see, you can be nice when you want to be Obi-Wan." She then turned her attention to Antellica and smiled brightly. "Oh Antellica!" She opened her arms and made to hug her sister, but Obi-Wan quickly moved in front of her, blocking her path.

Arica forced herself not to get angry for Alex's sake. "What is your problem Kenobi? Am I not allowed to hug my sister?"

"Oh so I'm _Kenobi _now am I?" he snorted.

"Honestly, some people." She glanced over Obi-Wan's shoulder to look at her sister. "Antellica, tell your husband to step aside."

But Antellica didn't. She simply looked at Arica, her face void of emotion. Arica looked back at her a few moments, hurt that her sister wasn't even going to say one word to her, before flipping her hair over her shoulder and returning to Anakin's side.

"This is really good," Alex suddenly said. "What is it?"

"It's a special type of candy made only on Coruscant," Anakin replied.

"I'd like to go there sometime," Alex said and gave a yawn.

"Don't worry little one, when you wake up you will be on Coruscant." Anakin kissed his nephew's brow lightly and when he pulled away, it was seen that Alex was sound asleep.

"What did you give him?!" Antellica demanded in exclamation.

"Oh not to worry Antellica," he assured. "A simple sleeping draft wrapped in a namana flavored coating. Completely harmless. Know that I would never hurt your son."

"I don't believe that," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin rolled his eyes. "You're entitled to believe whatever you want Kenobi."

"I believe I asked you to take your hands off my son," Obi-Wan said in a tone that was close to anger.

Anakin gave a bitter laugh. "Indeed you did, but you should know better then most: I'm not simply a person who does as they're told." A brief pause went by before he continued. "My son Luke and daughter Leila. Where are they?"

Obi-Wan remained silent, as did Antellica but she was now looking fearfully between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"I do believe I asked you a question Kenobi," Vader growled. "Where are my son and daughter?"

"Hidden," Obi-Wan said.

"Idiot!" Vader roared. "Do you not think I know that! You will tell me where my children are now or your son dies!"

"Oh no, please don't!" Antellica begged. "Don't hurt him, please! Anakin you wouldn't! You couldn't! I'd die if you killed him!"

Overcome with anguish, Antellica collapsed onto the floor before him, looking up at her one time best friend with pleading eyes.

Passing the sleeping form of Alex to Arica, Anakin bent down and collected Antellica into his arms, pulling her to her feet.

"I won't hurt him," he whispered as he gazed into her tear filled eyes. "And neither will Arica. But I need to know Antellica, where are they?"

"Take your hands off my wife," Obi-Wan said making to reach for her, but Arica whipped out a long knife and aimed it at Alex's throat.

"One more word Kenobi, and this blade will go into his throat."

"Oh no Arica! Antellica cried, turning to her sister. "Please don't!"

"So, now she speaks!" Arica said sarcastically.

Antellica merely continued to cry.

"Look at me Antellica," Anakin commanded. When she refused, he repeated, "Look at me!" He lifted her chin with his hands and looked into her eyes. "Antellica, please, I am asking you. I need to know. Where are my children? Please Antellica. I know you know where they are. Please."

As Antellica looked back into Anakin's eyes, she remembered the premonition she'd received while pregnant with Alex. In it, Anakin had asked her where his children were and she refused. In anger, he struck her to the ground. No doubt he'd do that now.

She didn't care that she was betraying Obi-Wan and Yoda's trust. She didn't care about any of it. All she wanted was the safety of her son and herself along with her unborn daughter. Because of this, she told him.

"Luke is living with your step-brother Owen and his wife Beru, while Leila is on the Outer Rim planet Dagabah with Yoda training to be a Jedi."

For a moment, Obi-Wan stood in shocked disbelief, refusing to believe what he'd just heard. Antellica willingly telling the Sith where the only hopes for the galaxy laid hidden. But soon after this, his voice finally came back to him. "Antellica, no! Antellica, how could you?!" It felt like Obi-Wan was learning of Antellica's betrayal of the Jedi all over again.

"Silence fool!" Arica spat and slapped him to the ground hard. After which, she gave him a hard kick in the head with her sharp-heeled boot. Obi-Wan blacked out into unconsciousness. Arica smirked down at him as she cuffed his hands. "And this time, there will be no escape for you."

Arica looked up to see Anakin smiling appraisingly down at her. He was still holding Antellica in his arms, but by now she was too distraught with emotion. She sobbed uncontrollably into Anakin's shoulder while he soothingly comforted her.

"It's all right Antellica. You did the right thing."

"But Obi-Wan-"

Anakin was quick to silence that sentence. "Shush! Don't you worry yourself with him. The important thing is you're safe. You, your son, and unborn daughter."

Antellica gasped. "How did you-"  
"Alex told us," he replied. "But that's not the point. Antellica why didn't you tell us you were pregnant before? And how could you set Obi-Wan free like that? He is our enemy, not our friend."

Antellica continued to cry with grief. She didn't regret telling Anakin where his children were, but at the same time she knew she'd betrayed the Jedi one too many times. There would be no going back this time. But where did that leave her? The Sith wouldn't take her back. There was no place for her anywhere in the galaxy. It would be better if she simply died. She couldn't deal with it anymore. All the betrayals she'd done. She wanted to die. Then maybe she'd finally belong. Moving herself from Anakin's embrace, she knelt down on the floor before him and her sister and awaited the deathblow. But it never came.

Arica was utterly heartbroken to see her sister kneeling before she and Anakin as she awaited for them to kill her. Not able to take it any longer, she collapsed onto the floor beside her and swept Antellica into her arms. Despite the fact that this surprised her greatly, Antellica did not pull away from her sister but simply held her back just as tightly as Arica began to cry into her shoulder. Antellica found herself crying some more as well.

All of the hurt, anger, and animosity they'd once held towards one another was coming out as they cried and held each other. Never again would anything or anyone come between the two. The both of them would make sure of that.

As Anakin watched the Grievous twins and hold each other, he smiled softly down at them. The women were finally whole again.

Eventually running out of tears to cry, Antellica and Arica stopped and locked eyes. Brilliant smiles of happiness lit up both of their faces. Taking Antellica's hand into her own, Arica helped her to her feet. After hugging Anakin briefly, Antellica took a step back, deep breath, and spoke.

"I know the both of you have a lot of questions for me, and I'm more then willing to answer them. All I ask in return is that once I'm dead, you'll spare Alex's life and raise him as your own."

"Antellica, we didn't come here to kill you," Anakin said. "And I have no intention on doing so to you or Alex."

"But why?" she asked. "I betrayed the both of you and let myself fall in love with someone I knew I shouldn't have. And let him not only escape, but then lie about it saying I didn't know what happened. When I found out I was pregnant with his child, I got scared. I wanted to tell the two of you about it. I really did. I was just afraid over what you'd do to me. And if the Emperor found out, I'd be killed. So I ran away. I thought I could run away from my problems, never to be bothered with them again. But I couldn't. My problems remained. And as I lived my life here in exile, despite being happy, I couldn't help but regret all that I'd done. All the people I betrayed and lied to."

"And it's for that reason, Antellica, that we forgive you," Arica said. "But don't ever think you can't tell me something again; or Anakin for that matter. No matter what it is, know that we will not judge you. We'll always be here to help and guide you, giving you a shoulder to cry on if ever you need it."

Antellica smiled sadly. "You and Anakin may be quick to forgive me, but the Emperor-"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about him if I were you," Anakin said with a smirk. "He won't be around much longer."

Antellica was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well you see Antellica, soon there will be a new Emperor and Empress to rule the galaxy." Anakin looked over at Arica and hooked his left arm around her neck. The Sith couple smiled proudly at Antellica who gasped.

"So you do mean to overthrow Sidious!"

"But of course we do, and he knows it. Why else do you think he married Charlotte and had a son with her?" he asked. "We wanted to assure that his Empire stays in his hands, or in the event that he's killed, the hands of his offspring." Anakin gave a sarcastic laugh. "I'm happy to say we have other plans."

"And that's where you come in Antellica," Arica explained. "If you help us dethrone Palpatine and his daughter, your name will be cleared and all charges against you shall cease. The bounties would be taken off your head and you'd be a free person again."

Antellica nodded, though still a little confused. It sounded nice, but... "But why are you choosing to dethrone him now that you've found me?" she asked. "Surely you haven't been waiting all these years just for me."

"Well no," Anakin confirmed. "But as you yourself said Antellica, the Emperor will not be so forgiving when it comes to you. He wants you dead and no apology you give is going to change his mind. Actually, I'm kind of glad we found you now. That way we don't have to wait a few more years to dethrone him."

Antellica nodded again, still not believing her good fortune. "But why are you doing this?" she asked softly. "The two of you must hate me."

"No Antellica." Both Anakin and Arica drew her close. "We don't hate you. We never have. Don't ever think that."

"We love you Antellica," Arica added. "More then that bastard Kenobi ever will."

"What will you do with him then? Now that you're dethroning the Emperor?" Antellica was simply curious.

Anakin sniffed. "He'll stand trial for his actions, be humiliated in front of the galactic public, yearn for and crave death, and eventually get his wish."

Antellica nodded and glanced over at the unconscious form of her husband. She sighed. "I don't know how I ever thought it could last."

Giving him one last look, she turned back to Anakin and Arica. "Do with him whatever you want. I really could careless."

Her voice was cold when she said this and a change seemed to come over her afterwards. Antellica Kenobi, loving wife to Obi-Wan Kenobi, no longer existed. That person was replaced by the former self of the Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi turned Sith again, Antellica Grievous. Darth Lady Veradisia had been reborn!

Anakin and Arica clapped Antellica approving on the back. "I couldn't have said it better myself," Arica said.

Antellica smirked. "Of course you couldn't have. You're not me."

Anakin and Arica both smirked in amusement, glad to have the old Antellica back.

"Let us be off," Anakin said. "And reclaim my son from this scum-filled planet of waste."

Antellica smiled as she took her own son within her arms. He was still out, but she knew he was fine.

"We can use the speeder out back," she suggested.

Once Anakin roughly picked Kenobi up off the floor, the three went out back and boarded the speeder. Anakin announced that before getting back Luke, they would return to where Aurra Sing was waiting for them and kill her. Once Antellica learned that Aurra Sing was Queen Amidala's old handmaiden, the arrogant nerf Yame Sing, she asked if she could be the one to kill hunter.

"Be my guest," Anakin said. "But follow my lead."

They arrived on the outskirts of Anchorhead a good ten minutes later. As expected, Sing was outside her ship waiting for them.

"Lord Vader, Lady Zenevieva," she greeted. "I see you have captured the traitors. Excellent."

"And we also know where my two children and Yoda are," Vader added as he roughly pushed Antellica out of the speeder.

Aurra seemed interested. "Really? How's that? Oh no, let me guess. This bitch," she pointed at Antellica, "broke down and told you."

Vader smirked. "You could say that."

Giving Antellica one last push forward, Vader looked Aurra up and down with a sarcastic smile. The bounty hunter looked slightly confused.

"I never got a chance to properly thank you for finding Kenobi, Sing. Please, allow me to do so."

The Sith gave a brief nod in Antellica's direction. What happened next seemed to take place at the speed of light. Antellica's wrists, which Sing thought were cuffed behind her back, suddenly came flying around to her front and the lightsaber that Aurra hadn't even noticed was clipped to the captive's belt came to life. The bounty hunter only received one glance at the activated orange blade before it was being cut into her throat.

The decapitated head of Aurra Sing fell to the ground with a thud a second later. Antellica looked down at the shocked expression head in satisfaction and gave it a hard kick across the ground. She'd forgotten how satisfying it felt to have the power to take life at will.

Deciding to simply leave the hunter's body lying dead in the middle of the desert, it was then decided that Antellica would keep Sing's ship and pose as the dead hunter until they reached the capital as not to arise suspicion in the fleet among the officers. Vader wanted his overthrowing of Palpatine to come as a surprise.

Since Antellica had requested to go back to the hut and collect her and Alex's belongings, Anakin decided that he and Arica would retrieve Luke themselves. He knew where the Lars Homestead was after all. He didn't need Antellica to show him. He'd been there once before when his mother died.

So while Antellica returned home with her still unconscious son – Anakin told her it would wear off in an hour or so – on board Sing's star cruiser, _Hunting Girl,_ Anakin and Arica flew their flagships to the Lars' Moisture Farm.

It was close to dawn now – about 0420 – so a very dim light shone through the darkness of early morning. Landing the ships about ten meters from the entrance of the small igloo shaped home, the Sith couple exited their separate ships and barged into the house without even knocking, not that anyone would answer at this hour anyway.

Tapping into the Force, Anakin reached out for the familiar Force signature of his firstborn child. Surprisingly, it wasn't in the house or on the property anywhere, though he sensed it nearby. But before thoughts of Antellica's possible deceit could enter their minds, they found a room in the back – Cliegg and Shmi's old bedroom – that contained various things a small boy of almost five might find interesting: a model starship that looked to be handmade out of clay sitting on a little table, a stuffed toy bantha that sat on top a white blanketed tiny bed, and a toy train set that sat on the floor. There was also a little trashcan sitting next to the bed.

As strange as it was, Anakin found himself being drawn to look inside it. There was only one article in it. A balled up piece of paper. Calling the ball of paper to his hand, Anakin unballed it and gasped at what the paper showed. It was a hand drawn picture of a stick man with long yellowish brown hair. On either side of him were a little boy with the same color hair and little girl with dark brown hair. Underneath the picture the words "My family" was written in the scribbled handwriting of a toddler.

Anakin, for one of the first times in recent years, was at a loose for words. Despite the fact that Luke had only been two months when he was taken away from him, he still seemed to remember his father and twin sister Leila.

"That's beautiful," Arica whispered from beside him. Anakin glanced over his shoulder to see her looking over it at the picture. "You should keep it," she added.

He nodded. "I think I will."

Smoothing out the wrinkles, Anakin folded it into fours and placed it inside his pocket. He gave the room another look around before motioning for Arica to follow him out.

The presence of Luke continued to grow nearer the closer they got to the house's exit. Once outside, they saw why. A small little boy with a knapsack on his back was walking around the flagships, looking up at them in amazement, his mouth agape. Anakin knew instantly who it was. With a radiant smile he turned to Arica, who pushed him forward and said, "Go on!"

Not needing any further encouragement, he raced forward. The little boy noticed he wasn't alone anymore when Anakin was about halfway over to him. His eyes turned to one of fright and he began to run away.

"No Luke, don't run off!" Anakin called after him.

Abruptly the little boy stopped running and turned to look at him, his face full of suspicion. "Hey! How do you know my name?"

Anakin ignored the question. "Luke, come here. I promise I won't hurt you." He stretched a hand out towards the little boy. Still Luke didn't budge. On the contrary, he looked even more suspicious than ever.

"You never answered my question," Luke pressed. "How do you know my name?"

Anakin took a deep breath. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? "Because...I'm your father."  
For a moment, Luke simply looked at him as if he were crazy. But then, little by little, he began to edge closer to him, though still in suspicious hesitation. Anakin crouched down on the ground and opened his arms, beckoning his son forward.

After what seemed like an eternity, Luke was finally in front of him. For a moment, the two simply looked at each other. Anakin appraising how much Luke had grown over the past few years, Luke looking into the face of the person he'd been yearning for ever since he was a tiny baby.

"Daddy?" Luke asked.

Anakin smiled. "Yes son. It's me."

For another moment, Luke simply looked at him before then abruptly throwing himself into his father's arms, burying his head in his shoulder.

Holding onto his son tightly, Anakin rose from the ground and simply held him, spinning around a few times in his happiness.

Arica was overjoyed to see Anakin reunited with his son. It was all so wonderful.

"Hey! What's going on out here?!"

Both Anakin and Arica turned to see Owen and Beru Lars exiting the house. Owen even had a rifle raised. It was currently aimed at Anakin.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm going to have to ask you to release my nephew."

Anakin merely smirked. "Don't act like you don't recognize me Owen," he spat.

Owen lowered the rifle slightly at the sound of Anakin's voice. He squinted in the early morning light at him. His eyes widened. "Anakin? Is that you? I thought you were dead."

Anakin's eyes flashed with rage. "Is that what Kenobi told you?" he hissed out.

"Yes," Owen answered. "Yes it is."

"Well as you can see, I am very much alive and well, so I'll just be taking my son and be off then."

He and Arica made towards their flagships, but Owen stopped them by calling out. "Wait!"

Both turned to look at him, impatience plainly written across their faces. "Yes?" Anakin asked.

"Don't you wanna come in and talk?" Owen asked. "Catch up a bit."

Anakin's smile turned sarcastic. "I'm sorry dear brother, but I don't have time to simply waste my time among civilians. Good day!"

Again Anakin and Arica turned to leave, but this time Beru called out. "Won't you at least let Luke say goodbye?"

Anakin huffed. The longer they were delayed in going to Dagabah, the more time Yoda had a chance at escaping the planet undetected.

"We're kind of in a rush," he said irritably, "but being as Luke will never see you again-"

"What do you mean Luke will never see us again?" Beru asked in shock. "Surely he'll come back to visit every once in a while."

Anakin sniffed. "Tatooine is a desert planet of waste. What reason would he want to come back here?"

Luke took that moment to voice his agreement. "It sucks here. There's nothing to do."

Anakin smirked appraisingly down at him. "There you see."

"There's plenty to do," Owen began to argue, but Anakin cut him off as he spoke to his son. "If you wish to say goodbye to these people Luke, do so. But make it fast-"

"What's the rush?" Owen wanted to know. "Why are you so eager to take him away from us?"

"I have been searching the galaxy top to bottom for my children over the past almost five years," he growled out. "I have found Luke and am currently on my way to retrieve Leila. She is being held captive by a deformed Jedi freak. Only thing is, she may already be gone by the time we get there. We need to leave as soon as possible."

"I don't need to say goodbye then," Luke said. "I just need a few things from my room."

"Okay." Anakin lowered Luke to the ground. Luke took his father's hand into his own and began to lead him into the house. Arica followed and noticed Beru smiling at her as she passed.

"Hello Padme."

Arica gave a sarcastic laugh. "I'm not Padme." She then roughly brushed against her as she continued on into the house.

All Luke retrieved from his room was the stuffed toy bantha from the bed and the clay starship that he, as Luke proudly told Anakin, had made all by himself. It was then that he finally seemed to take notice of Arica. Surprisingly, he remembered her also, as well as Antellica.

"She's my friend Alex's mom," he explained. "I don't know why, but she says I never met her before Alex. But I know I did. Her name's Antell- Antelle- Ankell- An-"

"Antellica," Arica supplied.

"Oh right." Luke looked slightly embarrassed.

"You never knew how to pronounce her name as a baby either," Arica explained as they made their way back outside. "So you and Leila called her Telly."

"Yeah, I remember that. And we called you Ree."

Arica smiled. "That's right."

"But I can say 'Arica' now," Luke boasted.

Arica gave a little chuckle and patted Luke on the head.

Once outside again, Beru seemed very surprised with what Luke choose to take with him.

"What about your other things Luke?" she asked. "Your clothes and some of your other toys?"

Luke sniffed. "I don't like my clothes. They're ugly."

"I say they're just fine," Owen said stiffly. "There were good enough for me when I was a lad."

"Yes, only you weren't an Imperial Prince as a boy," Anakin said. "Luke is, and as such deserves better. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way."

"Imperial Prince?!" Luke and Owen asked at the same time, but Anakin ignored Owen as he and Arica walked off with Luke. He did answer Luke though.

"Yes, you and Leila are the first Imperial Prince and Princess before the recently-born Prince Drake came into existence."

"Whose he?" Luke asked.

"The current Emperor's son." After a moment's hesitation, he elaborated. "The Emperor is your grandfather. And the Empress, the Emperor's firstborn child and daughter, your mother."

Luke gave a tiny nod and Anakin realized that if he remembered he, Arica, and Antellica, he was bound to remember them as well. In an attempt to change the subject he added, "But you don't have to worry about seeing either of the two again. Because soon there will be a new Emperor and Empress."

This seemed to interest Luke. "Really? Who?"

Anakin smiled. "Myself of course, and Arica here."

Luke looked a bit surprised, but in a curious way. He looked between the two of them a moment before comprehension dawned on him.

"Does this mean Arica is my new mommy?"

Though this abrupt question took them both by surprise, Arica more then Anakin, Anakin simply smiled down at Luke and looked over at Arica, gazing into her unsure eyes as he said, "Yes. Arica is your new mommy."

Arica felt shocked and honored that Anakin would even consider her to act as a mother figure in Luke and Leila's lives. Though it should have been obvious that once the twins were found, and since they'd be living at Skywalker Manor and Anakin and Arica were married, Arica would be helping Anakin raise them and be a mother figure to them. She'd just never thought about it fully in length.

Anakin gave Arica a gentle kiss on the lips before he and Luke boarded his flagship and Arica boarded hers.

When they arrived outside the old Kenobi hut, they found that Antellica was just finishing up in moving her and Alex's things out. Anakin helped her with the last remaining items while Arica kept Luke entertained. When asked, Antellica finally admitted to Luke that yes she had met him before Alex and the only reason she'd lied and said she hadn't was because it would've led to too many questions about her formerly past, now current, life. Luke seemed to understand. A little. But he was only "almost five" after all.

Instead of loading her possessions onto Aurra Sing's old ship, Antellica put everything on her Alderaanian cruiser, _Spiraled Avalanche_.

At she and Obi-Wan's arrival on Tatooine after Alex's birth, Obi-Wan insisted that she get rid of the ship as it was no longer needed. However, she'd defiantly refused, voicing it might come in handy someday. What if they suddenly had to get off-planet for some reason? How would they escape? Obi-Wan had brushed these thoughts off though, saying she was merely expecting the worst. Nonetheless, she received her wish of keeping the ship if she found a good enough hiding spot for it, which she did.

Because Antellica was posing as Sing, and as such would be flying the hunter's ship, Anakin would fly _Spiraled Avalanche_ onto the _Executor_ with his flagship and two TIE Fighters flying escort. Arica would fly back to the _Executrix_ on her flagship with Antellica following in Sing's ship while the other two TIEs flew escort. Luke would stay with Anakin, and Alex with Antellica. Obi-Wan would be placed in a detention cell on the _Executor_ heavily guarded.

All went as planned and the Imperial fleet left Tatooine a short while later, finally letting all the dozens of ships that wanted on and off the planet on their way. Antellica gave Arica the coordinates to Dagabah since the planet was uncharted in the Outer Rim listings. From the _Executrix_ the coordinates were transferred to the rest of the fleet.

* * *

The two and a half-hour journey to the planet was quiet. Antellica dyed her hair red to look more like the deceased Aurra and she and Arica had a heck of a lot of catching up to do. 

It was also during this time that Arica discovered she was pregnant again. She and Antellica had just been talking about Antellica's impending bundle of joy when Antellica abruptly said, "You do know you're pregnant, don't you Arica."

Arica blinked in confusion. "What?"

Antellica rose a confused brow. "You mean you don't know?"

"I'm not pregnant," Arica said. "I did throw up a little yesterday, but that doesn't mean anything."

Antellica smirked. "When was the last time you and Anakin had sex?"

Arica was flabbergasted. "What? What?! How dare you?!"

"It's just a question."

Arica gave her a look before answering. "Yesterday."

"That probably explains why you don't sense it yet." Antellica placed a hand over her sister's belly, and Arica soon placed her own hand atop it. Giving her twin another brief look, she tapped into the Force.

Indeed, Arica found a small Force signature lying undeveloped inside her womb. She was pregnant with a son. Sighing happily over how Anakin would react to this news, Arica leaned back against her sister and asked how she'd known.

"I don't know. I just did," she responded. "From the moment I first saw you I knew..."

Anakin, on the other hand, also had a lot of catching up to do, but with his son. The two of them spent the traveling time from Tatooine to Dagabah talking and touring around the _Executor_.

When the fleet came in orbit around Dagabah as its expected time, Anakin already knew they were too late. Yoda and his daughter were not on the planet.

The small Jedi master fled the Dagabah with Leila when he sensed Antellica return to the dark side. He'd sighed warily when he felt this disturbance. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, he couldn't help but feel as if he'd somehow always knew this day would come. Antellica was a Sith eternally now. The moment Darth Sidious influenced the midi-cholrians inside her cells to give her access to the Force, she was marked a Sith for life. They'd been fools to think they could stomp the dark nature out of her. It was who she was. Yoda opted to go to Chandrila to hide. He knew he would be able to find refuge in the court of the planet's young Queen Nagida. Though it saddened him to know the fate of Obi-Wan would be death while his son, unborn daughter, and wife would go on to be Sith, Yoda couldn't risk a rescue attempt. Luke was now in the grip of the Sith once more. He wouldn't allow Leila that same fate. She would become a Jedi and that was final.

Though Anakin knew the Jedi and his daughter were not on Dagabah, he sent a search team on-world anyway in hopes of finding something. In which time, he contacted Antellica and Arica on the _Executrix_ to inform them of the matter. However, they already knew. Anakin was so frustrated that he didn't even take notice of Arica's chipper and overexcited attitude. She was chattering on about something, but he wasn't listening.

"Yes, yes Arica. That's lovely," he said talking over her as he then cut the transmission.

He would find her. The Jedi would not keep her hidden from him.

Leaving the communications room of his quarters, Anakin entered his meditation chambers and tapped into the Force, demanding that it tell him where Leila and the Jedi were. It was right at that moment that he felt a disturbance. It was Kenobi. He was running loose aboard the _Executor_.

Growling the young Sith leaped into action from the floor and ran to the bridge. He was somewhat relived to see Luke where he'd left him, with Admiral Dorina. They seemed to be finishing up a conversation about the ship's hyperdrive system when they spotted him.

Luke's face lit up instantly. "Hi daddy!"

But before he could reply, a voice called out behind him. "Supreme Commander! Supreme Commander!"

Raising a hand that told Luke he would be with him in a minute, Anakin turned to see Lieutenant Bradshaw rushing towards him.

"Yes Lieutenant."

"My Lord, I don't know of any other way to say this, so I'll just come out with it. The prisoner Jedi Kenobi is currently on the move aboard the ship."

The Sith's eyes flashed. "Yes Lieutenant, of that I am aware." He began to advance on the rookie officer. "What I am not aware of is how you let him escape the cell. You and your men were supposed to be in charge of keeping him under lock and key."

Lieutenant Bradshaw was now backed up against a wall, shaking in terror.

"My Lord," he sputtered. "We did all we could to keep him locked up, but he was using his Force powers against us. Out of the twenty that were guarding him, I was the only one who managed to escape. A troop of stormtroopers are currently chasing him in the ninth hall of the ship."

Again Vader growled. The end of the ninth hall was on the lower level, located about 100 meters away from the ship's docking bay. Kenobi was going to attempt a getaway on _Spiraled Avalanche_.

"Admiral!" Vader barked.

The officer came to attention immediately. "Sir?"

"Activate the tracker beam and send all troops to the docking bay. I will join them in a moment. Also alert Lady Zenevieva and the rest of the fleet of the situation. All ship tracker beams are to be activated immediately."

"Yes Supreme Commander." Admiral Dorina saluted and was off.

Ignoring the still cowering form of Lieutenant Bradshaw, Vader turned to Luke and crouched down in front of him. "Luke, I have to see to a problem in the docking bay," he explained quickly. "In the meantime, I want you to remain here, all right. Make sure everyone's doing their job properly."

"But I wanna come with you," Luke said making to get up, but Vader pushed him back down.

"No Luke, you will remain here. It's much too dangerous for you to come."

"But-"

"Stay put young one," Vader said a bit more harshly than he intended.

Luke seemed a bit hurt by his harshness and put his head down.

Vader began to feel bad about his harsh reprimand and knelt back down in front of Luke, lifting his tiny head in his left hand. Luke's eyes showed held back tears.

Vader sighed. "Luke, I'm sorry but you can't come. I'd never forgive myself if something were to happen to you."

Though Luke remained silent, he did give a tiny nod. Vader gave him a pat on the head and, after barking at Lieutenant Bradshaw, who was still cowering, to get back to work, he left the bridge, headed for the docking bay.


	38. The Escape

Author's Note: Come on peoples, review! Let's make it to a hundred by this episode's end. How hard is it for you to say a few words about each chapter, even if it's a short message like "Great job" or "Update soon" or even "I didn't like this too much." Reviews motivate me in doing this, and as explosive as the last chapter was, I expected more then what was received. Thank you to Thrawn716 and MissNaye though. And someone named Carolina, though the review you gave was for chapter 4, yet it concerned last chapter's events. Thanks anyway. In response I'll only say that one of your predictions does come to pass.

Chapter 37 responses:

Thrawn716: Sorry if I bored you too much, I simply wanted to introduce the Kenobis a bit in detail and explore their lives in exile before launching into the conflict.

MissNaye: In light of your last review, you'll be so ticked by what occurs at this chapter's end. I'll say one thing, it has to do with Luke.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 38: The Escape

_All these troops to track down one man?_ Obi-Wan mused silently as he continued shooting over his shoulder at stormtroopers hot on his tail.

The former Jedi High Council member had re-entered consciousness about an hour ago to find himself no longer in his home on Tatooine, but in a detention cell aboard Lord Vader's Super Star Destroyer, _Executor_. His wrists and ankles were bound with Mandolorian iron and his mouth gagged. He was able to roll himself around on the floor but nothing else. There was a single fluorescent light above on the ceiling. Besides that, the room was bare.

Thoughts of what happened before he was knocked unconscious came back to his mind the way a river rapidly flows down a waterfall. Waking up and having Antellica tell him that they'd been found out. Vader and Zenevieva's sarcastic friendly manner towards him for Alex's sake before then knocking the boy out and showing their true colors. And Antellica...her betrayal of him, Yoda, and the only hope that now laid in the galaxy.

Antellica had always been overprotected of Alex. Overprotected to the length of doing anything to keep him safe. It was because of this that Obi-Wan shouldn't have been overly shocked by what Antellica did – telling Vader where his children were to insure Alex's safety. He wondered if Vader than killed her after he got what he wanted. A quick search through the Force told him she and Alex weren't on the _Executor._ Luke was though, with his father strolling about the ship.

Obi-Wan sighed. _There goes one hope lost. _He could only hope that Yoda fled Dagabah in time with Leila to hide someplace else.

Continuing his search for his wife and son, Obi-Wan found them aboard the _Executor's_ sister Star Destroyer, _Executrix_. That was obviously Zenevieva's Star Destroyer because the two of them were in the Dark Lady's quarters. Obi-Wan gasped though at the essence of Antellica's Force presence. It had changed. Once surrounded by luminous light, it was now shrouded in darkness.

_No, no she couldn't have. She wouldn't._

But there was no other way to explain it. Antellica had indeed returned to the path of the Sith and he doubted that even he would be able to turn her back this time. The only love she held within her heart was for her children, sister, and brother-in-law. That was obvious. Why else would she go back?

The thought of her being forced to return never once entered Obi-Wan's mind because the path of the Sith was something one choose freely. You couldn't simply force someone to turn. They sincerely and utterly needed to want the power and accept it into themselves.

Antellica returning to her former self meant she would have no room in her heart for him any longer. He had lost her. Just as he lost Anakin...and the way he would lose his children. Since Alex was with Antellica and their unborn daughter still in the womb, it was obvious Antellica would have them trained as Sith.

The only thing that had Obi-Wan skeptical was the Emperor and Empress. How would they react upon learning Antellica had rejoined their rakes? Did they know yet?

Somehow, Obi-Wan didn't get the impression that they'd welcome her back with loving arms. But who knew, now that Antellica was back with Vader and Zenevieva, Vader might take this opportunity to dethrone Sidious. For even now that the Emperor had a daughter, consort, and son, his apprentice still outnumbered him two to one.

Once Sidious and Baynetta were destroyed, Vader would rule the galaxy. Obi-Wan wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, but it's not like he had any say in the matter. Or did he?

Yoda had once wanted himself and Obi-Wan to destroy the Sith despite the fact of being outnumbered. The only ones out of the five that had been faced were Zenevieva, Veradisia, and Sidious. Neither of the Jedi had ever had a confrontation with Vader or Baynetta in battle. If Obi-Wan were to fight Vader, who would be the victor?

Vader, in his arrogance, would probably assume himself, but Obi-Wan thought he might have a chance against the young Sith. It was he, after all, that had trained him since he was a small boy, not Sidious. And though Anakin had been a Sith for five years now, he couldn't have changed his fighting pattern that much. And so Obi-Wan decided: He would get himself out of this cell, escape the ship, and deliberately let the Imperial fleet track him to a planet where he and his former apprentice would duel to the death, whoever winning being the victor. Obi-Wan knew Vader would want to face him alone, and so he would let him. But first, he needed to get out of this cell.

Taking in his surroundings once more showed him the same. There was nothing inside except the fluorescent light that lined a part of the ceiling. But when he looked back up at it again, an old, nearly forgotten memory came back to him.

Early in his apprenticeship under master Qui-Gon Jinn, the two of them had gone on a reconnaissance mission in the outer rim. To cut to the chase, it didn't go as expected and they ended up getting captured not long into it. Following this, their hands were cuffed in Mandolorian iron and they were thrown into a cell.

Much else happened on this mission, but what had come back to Obi-Wan was how he and Qui-Gon managed to get the cuffs off their wrists. At first, Obi-Wan had his lightsaber – which strangely their captors hadn't taken – hover above his wrists and used the Force to have it come down to cut the iron. But it hadn't done anything. This was when Qui-Gon told him that Mandolorian iron was resistant to lightsabers, a piece of info he himself passed down to Anakin and Antellica when the three of them were being held prisoner on Cato Neimoidia during the Clone Wars. That mission, of course, had always been something the two enjoyed teasing him about during that time. Thinking back to this, what seemed like an era ago, Obi-Wan couldn't help but miss them. However, he did not dwell on them. Reliving the past through memories would do nothing concerning the present.

After Obi-Wan's attempt with the lightsaber had failed, he'd frustratingly banged his head against a wall, resting his cuffed hands in his lap. The way the cuffs had been sitting on his wrists and the angle he'd been sitting at, the light that shown above the cell he shared with Qui-Gon reflected back onto his wrists at such a way that after beaming on them for so long, Obi-Wan found when he woke the next morning that the brightness of the light had burned off the iron cuffs. Showing this to Qui-Gon, he'd had his master sit in the same spot and rest his wrists the same way Obi-Wan had, having the bright light reflected back onto it. At first, nothing had happened, but after about ten minutes a change could finally be seen. Slowly and gradually the iron had began to melt and after about another hour, they'd melted to the point that you could easily take your sore wrists out of them.

As Obi-Wan thought about this, he did the process in his cell. The same happened, only varying give or take a few minutes. Taking his iron-coated wrists out of the remains of the cuffs, he took the gag out of his mouth and reached into the Force to tell him the situation outside the cell. Twenty armed guards, half of which were stormtroopers – the Empire's new and more advanced ones – were stationed outside the door and a mechanical powered lock sealed the cell door shut.

Obi-Wan allowed a small smile. Anakin always had been one who put too much faith in mechanical things, without caring about and giving a death ear to their flaws. Once again reaching into the Force, Obi-Wan disconnected the wires that kept the door sealed shut. It slid open instantly.

It took about a second for the guards to realize what had happened, but that's all the time Obi-Wan needed. In that second, he called a blaster from one of the clones' hands, and just as the guards began to open fire, sent Force pushes at them.

He then started to run down the hall straight ahead, shooting blaster bolts over his shoulder at the approaching guards and clones. He was making for the docking bay, but that was still a good ways off.

As he continued on, running down through and past various halls, passages and officers, still firing bolts over his shoulder he began to feel the anger of Vader through the Force. The Sith knew he was trying to escape. As if on cue, a large troop of clones began to chase after him, and then even more. To top that off, Obi-Wan then felt the Sith himself coming after him as well.

He was able to make it to the docking bay though. Only upon arrival, he received quite a surprise. Luke was standing in front of his and Antellica's star cruiser, _Spiraled Avalanche, _with Obi-Wan's lightsaber ignited and was glaring right at him.

Obi-Wan assumed the boy was supposed to be guarding the ship, but the sight of a almost five-year-old trying to look threatening with a lightsaber in hand was more comical then anything. By now, the boy's mind would've been filled with nonsense from his father, but Obi-Wan still attempted to reason with him.

"Luke, a little one such as yourself should not be-"

"Shut up!" the boy spat. "Just shut up! Hands up where I can see them!"

"Luke, there's no reason to be rude," Obi-Wan said his voice still neutral.

"I said Shut Up!" the boy all but roared, and Obi-Wan found himself being knocked off his feet. Luke had obviously used a Force push on him. When he looked up it was to see the boy charging at him, eyes ablaze.

Also at that moment, the clones and guards that were following him finally caught up and entered the docking bay with Vader bringing up the rear.

Seeing he was outnumbered, Obi-Wan darted off the floor, grabbed Luke, deactivated his lightsaber, and ran for _Spiraled Avalanche_.

As Luke began spitting curses at him, Obi-Wan heard Vader calling Luke's name. Luke made no response to them, though Obi-Wan knew he heard them. He merely continued to bite out words no four-year-old should even hear, let alone say.

Once inside the ship, Obi-Wan locked Luke in the nearest closet and ran into the cockpit. There were sure to be tractor beams outside the _Executor_ just waiting to catch him, yet with the Force he knew he could escape them.

The ride outside the _Executor's_ docking bay was a bit of a pull being as Vader was using the Force to keep the ship back but Obi-Wan was able to fight against it, pushing the ship to its limit.

Though the idea was crazy, Obi-Wan quickly made the calculations to light speed once out of the star destroyer and its tractor beam. The prospect of making the jump in the other Star Destroyers tractor beams was risky and unheard of but Obi-Wan kept insisting to himself that he could do it. And with the power of the Force to assist him he was able to, heading for the deep realms of the Outer Rim.

* * *

Author's Note #2: Well, what did ya think? I'd love to hear any predictions you may have about how you think this episode's going go down in ending. Three people die towards the end, all of which occur in Chapter 43. Who do you think it'll be and why? Do share your thoughts. I really am interested in them. 


	39. The Hatred of a Child

Author's Note: Thank you darlings, much better! Thanks a million for the reviews. Keep 'em coming.  
As can obviously be seen from the scroll bar on the side, this chapter isn't that long. However, the next is as it contains Vader and Obi-Wan's long awaited lightsaber duel.

Chapter 38 responses:

MissNaye: The answer's revealed in this chapter and thanks for the review.

Thrawn716: Which vision? The one Antellica had while pregnant with Alex? If so, two parts of it have since been omitted now that she's a Sith again, but the other with Vader and Obi-Wan fighting on a volcanic world (Mustafar) remains. In fact, our first Mustafar arrival is in this chapter.  
I wouldn't call my version of the Anakin/Vader cyborg "fun", and even beforehand not too much but only caring around his family, not the outside world and those he competes against (ala the emperor and empress).  
I wasn't insulted by you being bored by the previous chapters. If you were, that's okay. I was merely setting a conflict backdrop, that's all. They can be boring sometimes I suppose. And thanks for the review.

Twisted Words: Two people who die in the end are important, the other not as much. While at first I was going to confirm rather or not any of your guesses came true or not, I think it's better I don't as it'd probably reveal too much. Also, thanks for the review.

Fallen Senshi: Here ya go and thanks! For the compliment and the review.

G-Anakin 13: I hope you're confused and worried in a good way. Thanks to you too for the appraisal and review.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 39: The Hatred of a Child

Lord Vader was nothing short of furious. For a second time, Kenobi had taken Luke away from him. And just when they were starting to reform that special bond between father and son that was shared briefly during Luke's infancy. It was no matter; he would get Luke back personally. Last time the fleet had failed when his children were kidnapped. This time there would be no room for failure.

Informing Admiral Dorina via comm to have the search group on Dagabah come back, the young Sith boarded his old Clone Wars-era Eta-2 _Actis_-class light interceptor, advanced a great deal over the past five years. Mainly in ridding the ship of its hyperspace transport ring and giving it a black-hued paint job. Once strapped safely inside, he told the Admiral to have the entire fleet, save the _Executor_, follow him out into the deeper realms of the Outer Rim. It was then that Dorina told him that the Emperor had called demanding for Vader to make contact with him.

Vader could careless about what Sidious wanted and said so, telling Dorina he was busy and would not be disturbed by him. The Admiral seemed rather surprised by this, but simply said, "Yes sir", and Vader's orders were carried out.

While the _Executor_ remained behind to pick up the search officers, the rest of the fleet, now under the command of Arica and Admiral Dorina, followed Vader into hyperspace, heading for wherever Kenobi would lead them.

* * *

Upon his escape from the Empire's claws, Obi-Wan tried contacting Master Yoda. However, the small Jedi mustn't have had his comm on for he never answered it. Through the Force, Obi-Wan knew that Yoda and Leila had successfully escaped Dagabah before Imperial troops arrived. But as to where they were now, he hadn't a clue. But maybe it was better with him not knowing. The less who knew, the better chance they had at staying safely hidden. 

He then thought about contacting Qui-Gon. The late Jedi Master most likely already knew about the events that occurred and possibly how they would end as well. No, Obi-Wan didn't need that. He was forty-three years old, a grown man. He was more then capable to make his own decisions and deal with an anger-filled toddler.

He sighed heavily at that thought. He still had Luke locked in the closet. The boy had been angry when he put him in there. He was sure to be livid with rage now. In fact, if he listened hard enough, he could hear the boy kicking and screaming in the closet.

Obi-Wan decided to let Luke cool off first before letting him out. Then he'd try and talk some sense into him.

Now that he was traveling through lightspeed and being tracked by Vader and his fleet just as he wanted, the next thing he needed to decide was what planet he wanted to face Anakin on.

The choices were endless, but for some reason he felt he was being drawn to the volcanic world of Mustafar. Because of its volcanoes, lava rivers, and musty air, it was uninhabited except for a handful of enslaved non-Humans whom mined volcanic rocks for trade with the Imperial Trading Organization.

Perhaps what also drew him to the planet was that the legendary duel between Sith Lord Darth Sidious and Jedi Knight Exar Kun took place there at the end of the Great Sith War over a thousand years ago. Darth Sidious had turned out to be the victor in that battle, but only because at the last minute he'd cheated death and demanded that the midi-chlorians sustain his life.

Perhaps another reason was because a pet project of the Emperor was rumored to be in these parts. Bail Organa had told him about it before dying. No one knew what it was because the Emperor never said. And whenever asked, he'd always say simply that it was a "surprise". Yet the last time anything had ever been said about it was around three years ago. Obi-Wan didn't know if this "surprise" was still being built or not. But whatever the reason, his mind was set. Mustafar was where he was going.

Checking the ship's navi computer told him the planet was about two hours from his current position.

That left _what_ to do in the meantime?

Meditate perhaps? Prepare himself for the coming battle by practicing his lightsaber skills maybe?

It was at that moment Obi-Wan realized he hadn't used his lightsaber to fight with since the Clone Wars. And that was over five years ago. He would be fighting against a person whom not only used their lightsaber on a regular basis, but had always been extremely gifted when it came to it.

Though Anakin had always chosen to use an aggressive fighting technique as his regular style, he was fluent in all types and styles. Obi-Wan was only good at about a handful. If he thought he was going to be any type of match against his former apprentice, he'd have to get up to speed with his fighting skills.

So leaving the cockpit and ignoring Luke's shouts of rage coming from the closet, he went in the back room, which was used for spacious entertainment purposes the few times he and Antellica had used the ship. Only now the room was filled to its entirely with things Obi-Wan recognized as possessions from their home – _his home_ he corrected himself – on Tatooine.

Obviously before leaving the planet, Antellica cleaned the home out of its contents. Obi-Wan wondered if he ever returned to Tatooine, if anything would be left in the hut of much value. After all, Obi-Wan had had some things inside the house before she joined him. But naturally when they married his things became hers, so...

Sighing he returned to the cockpit, once again ignoring Luke's continued shouts of rage.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he closed his eyes and began to meditate. This only lasted about an hour though when he was suddenly, and quite rudely, broken out of his meditation by Luke shoving him into a nearby wall. The boy had obviously thought a way out of the closet.

Obi-Wan quickly picked himself up and towered over the boy who continued to glare with hatred.

How that glare so looked like his fathers, he sadly mused. Luke was the spitting image of his father, he really was. And if raised the wrong way, would grow up to be a far deadlier Sith then even his father.

Luke continued to glare silently up at him a moment longer before than taking the co-pilot's seat.

"Sit down Kenobi!" he barked. "Now!" he added when Obi-Wan remained standing.

Sighing, Obi-Wan figured 'What the heck?' and did as instructed.

Another moment Luke glared, but then eventually spoke. "I have some questions for you nerf, and I expect answers."

"You know Luke, that's no way to talk to-"

"Silence!" Luke was on his feet in the chair, both hands balled into fists at his sides. "You will not speak until I say you can!"

Luke was only five months older then Alex, and it was because of this that Obi-Wan couldn't help but think what he'd do if this were Alex speaking to him.

Give him a reprimand and send him to his room probably. Then make him apologize later.

But this was not Alex. This was Luke, and Luke was not his child. So instead of reprimanding the boy, he simply sat in his seat and remained expressionless.

Luke looked quite pleased by this, giving Obi-Wan a gloating smile that reminded Obi-Wan so much of his Empress mother.

"Why did you and some alien freak man kidnap me and my sister? Why was I lied to about my father being dead when he's not? Where are my sister and this freak man now? And where are we going? You will answer my questions in the order they were asked."

Sadness and regret is what Obi-Wan felt at that moment. Sadness over the fact that a perfectly innocent little boy had been turned into a demanding, anger-filled monster. And regret over the fact that the boy had been born at all. At least with the heritage he had. It was a mean thing to think, but Obi-Wan must've stayed silent too long for Luke barked, "I want my answers nerf, and I want them now!"

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and started to speak. "Well it's a bit complicated to explain to a four-year-old-"

Luke interrupted with an extremely rude profanity that Obi-Wan recognized as a favorite of his father's. He continued speaking, however, as if he hadn't heard him.

"I, for one, think you're too young to know about such things. They'd simply confuse you even more."

As Luke continued with his cursing, Obi-Wan began to wonder if it was worth keeping him. He had so much anger built up towards he and Yoda he doubted he would ever listen to either of them.

Though it would be more dangerous, perhaps it would be better if the twins were reunited. According to Yoda, last Obi-Wan spoke to him, Leila was doing wondrously in her Jedi training. She would be a good influence on Luke. It was possible Leila could be the only one to get Luke to release his anger. He'd have to see after he was done with Vader.

Luke had stopped cursing and gone silent again. Now all he did was simply glare a hole through him. Obi-Wan's only reply was a smile.

Abruptly Luke got up and made for the exit of the cockpit. Obi-Wan called after him. "Mustafar."

Luke whipped around sharply. "What?"

"You asked where we're going. Mustafar."

Luke looked like he wanted to ask for more info about the planet, but didn't. He gave a curt nod and made to leave again but again Obi-Wan spoke. "It's a volcanic planet deep in the Outer Rim Territories. Your father and myself will meet there and duel to the death. Whoever wins is the one you will go with."

Luke turned around and smirked at him. Then he began to laugh. Evilly.

Obi-Wan asked in mild puzzlement, "I'm sorry, did I say something you find to be humorous?"

"Foolish old man. You will die by my father's hand. Are you so dumb as to give yourself on a dish?"

Obi-Wan simply smiled at him. "Well, we shall see. The battle hasn't been fought yet. You don't know who you'll end up with."

Again Luke laughed. "Yeah, right."

With that, he left the cockpit and went in the back somewhere. Obi-Wan remained where he was.

The remaining hour to Mustafar was spent with Obi-Wan in meditation. He sensed Luke peep in a few times, but the boy never came in, simply went back in the back to do whatever.

Obi-Wan came out of meditation upon reaching Mustafar and returned the ship to real space before making the descent onto the planet. He didn't even notice the _Death Star_ project that laid behind the system's gas giant, Jestefad, at an angle.

Mustafar was all he'd heard it would be. Filled with fire, smoke, and lava in a backdrop of black, red, and orange. He found a platform to land on not far from what appeared to be a deserted building. It must've been the old Separatists Headquarters, Obi-Wan thought. He'd remembered what Antellica told him the morning she'd helped him escape the Empire's clutches at the end of the Clone Wars about Vader and Baynetta coming to Mustafar to kill the Separatists leaders.

Once safely landed on the platform, Obi-Wan turned the ship off and went in the back room to see Luke hastily stuffing some toys he'd obviously been playing with back in the boxes they came in.

Obi-Wan told Luke to stay put inside the room, and without even waiting for a reply he left the room, and then the ship, locking it behind him. Luke began to fuss, banging his little fists on the door, demanding to be let out, but Obi-Wan, for the moment, ignored him.

He simply stood on the platform, his mind on the coming battle, awaiting Vader's arrival.


	40. Duel of the Fates

Author's Note: Finally the epic battle between Vader and Obi-Wan! How does it end? Who comes out victorious? Does Obi-Wan take Luke away from Vader for yet a third time? Read and find out!

Chapter 39 responses:

Thrawn716: Rather or not your assumption is correct will be revealed below.

MissNaye: Definitely. But Leila will come round eventually.

G-Anakin 13: Okay...any particular reason why?

dmitchell: Don't worry. Antellica eventually gets whats going to her. But by eventually, I mean a long way from the present. However, I can say that the three persons who die in Chapter 43 are indeed Sith. But rather they're apprentices, knights, or masters, I will not say.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 40: Duel of the Fates

Vader had tracked Kenobi perfectly. He was headed for Mustafar, in which system the Emperor's failed _Death Star_ project was still in orbit of. The young Sith had contacted his son a few times telepathically, wanting to know how he was and if he was being mistreated. Luke was fine, and Vader was pleased to discover his son was rebelling against the old Jedi, only it didn't seem to be having an affect on him.

_Probably knew that was what to expect,_ Vader mused.

The one thing Luke told him that he found to be interesting was the fact that Kenobi wanted to fight to the death with him. Whoever being the victor earning the right to have Luke. Vader found this to be hilarious. As if he needed to _earn _the right to have his son back. Yet for the humor of it, he decided to play along with Kenobi's antics. It would bring about one good thing after all: the old Jedi's death.

Upon the fleet and his star fighter's arrival in the Mustafar system, and as they came in orbit of the planet Mustafar itself, Vader contacted Arica on the _Executrix_ and told her the situation and to stay put. She protested, but he cut the connection before she could get three words in. He then contacted Admiral Dorina on the _Executor_, repeated what he told Arica, and ordered a blockade be set up in the entire system in the event Kenobi tried any tricks. Afterwards, he flew his star fighter down onto Mustafar alone.

Mustafar was just as he'd remembered it – a fiery ball of lava and rock. Vader sensed Kenobi before he saw him. He and _Spiraled Avalanche_ were sitting on the landing platform not far from the deserted Separatists Headquarters. Luke was inside the ship.

Vader landed his star fighter across from where Kenobi and the ship were standing. Popping the hood of the vessel, he jumped out and landed in a crouched position. Slowly, he rose from the ground and stalked over to his former master, eyes blazing Sith yellow.

When he came within four meters of Kenobi, he stopped and simply gave him an up and down look. Kenobi had not moved once since he arrived. He merely stood there, stone-faced, looking back at him with no emotion.

The sound of tapping glass drew Vader's attention away from Kenobi a brief moment. Luke was inside the cockpit of _Spiraled Avalanche_ tapping on the window and waving furiously. Vader smiled and gave a wave back before turning back to Kenobi, who was still simply looking at him. The fool pretty much looked the same as he had at the end of the Clone Wars, just a tad bit older in the face and he saw strains of gray hair mixed with his natural ginger tone.

Vader smirked at him. "Foolish old man, did you and Yoda actually think your pitiful little plan to turn my children against me would work?"

Kenobi shrugged. "Well I don't know. I wouldn't say it's entirely failed. You still haven't found Leila."

Vader growled. "You will tell me where she is! Now!"

Vader Force-pushed Kenobi back to the edge of the platform. Underneath laid Mustafar's main Lava River. As the young Sith began to break into Kenobi's mind, looking for the information he wanted, Kenobi began to yell and wither on the ground, clutching his head in agony. Vader took pleasure out of Kenobi's howls and cackled lightly before going back to searching the old man's mind.

Strangely, Kenobi didn't know where Leila and Yoda were at the present. He knew they'd escaped from Dagabah, but did not know where to. Breaking into the fool's mind wasn't a complete loose however. He discovered other information that was useful. Breha Organa's adoptive daughter Leia, the Princess of Alderaan, was Leila. The Organas had adopted his daughter when she was eleven months old. They would've adopted her sooner only Yoda kept her a bit longer due to the fact that they'd drawn a large amount of attention to themselves with Arica's trial, which led to their somewhat disgrace.

This meant the Alderaanian Queen had been lying to the Emperor and Empress concerning 'Leia.' She told them she didn't know where the Princess was. That she thought she'd been captured or killed during the Empire's capturing of her Core planet during the Alien War. Vader would have to deal with the woman once he returned to Coruscant.

Vader stopped his probe on Kenobi's mind and stood back, watching as the dog pulled himself to stand once more. Vader activated his blood red lightsaber and began to circle his former master. The Jedi did not activate his own lightsaber though, simply falling into sync with Vader's circling.

As Obi-Wan looked into the hate-filled eyes of his former apprentice, he sadly shook his head. "I have failed you Anakin. I really have failed you."

Vader rolled his eyes. "I was a stupid young idiot back then. I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over."

Obi-Wan shook his head in disgust. "Those are lies Anakin. The Jedi never planned to take over the Republic. You've allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy."

Vader's eyes flashed. "Don't lecture me Obi-Wan! I have seen through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my Galactic Empire!"

"Your Galactic Empire?" Obi-Wan repeated. "The Empire belongs to Sidious, not you."

Vader smirked. "Sidious' time as Emperor is up. When I am finished with you, I shall return to Coruscant to take what is rightfully mine. And together, with Arica by my side, I will rule the galaxy."

"And what then?" Obi-Wan asked. "Say you do kill Sidious and Baynetta, and you and Arica rule the galaxy as the new Emperor and Empress. What will you have accomplished?"

"Killing a thousand year old Sith Lord and his arrogant daughter," Vader replied. "That's what I would accomplish."

"All the same-"

But Obi-Wan wasn't able to finish his sentence, for at that moment the sound of a ship overhead was heard. Vader and Obi-Wan both looked up to see it approaching the platform they were on.

Vader sighed irritably because he recognized the ship. He'd told her to stay put. Arica's flagship docked alongside _Spiraled Avalanche_ and Vader gestured for Obi-Wan to hold. When the Jedi crossed his arms and nodded, Vader went over to the ship. The boarding ramp was lowered and Arica came strolling out.

Glancing over at Kenobi once more, who'd turned his back from them, Vader went up to his wife. "Arica, I told you to stay put," he said in an irritated tone.

"And I don't simply take orders from people," she shot back, shooting a glare at Kenobi's back.

Vader sighed. "Arica, listen to me. This is something I must do myself. Now go."

"See here Anakin-"

"Go Arica!" he harshly commanded.

Arica looked slightly taken aback. And hurt, though her eyes showed she was merely concerned.

Vader sighed and took her into his arms, kissing her softly. "I'll be alright," he whispered.

Arica nodded and they embraced once more.

"Now go," he whispered.

Arica ran her hand along the side of his hair and gave a soft smile. She then turned and went back to the ship, the boarding ramp going up after her.

Through the cockpit window, he saw her hesitate briefly and their eyes met. Vader saw that she wasn't alone in the ship. Antellica and Alex were with her. Alex waved ecstatically and Vader returned it.

Sighing, Arica then started up the ship and they left the planet, going back to the _Executrix_.

"Must be nice," Obi-Wan said.

Vader's attention was drawn back to the old man as he continued. "Having a wife that loves and is concerned about your well being. I wonder how you would feel if she was suddenly taken away from you."

"If you're speaking of Antellica, you can shut your mouth," Vader spat. "You don't love her. You simply used her as a way to not only incriminate her, but toy with her feelings for you as well."

"That is not true!" Obi-Wan shouted. "I-"

"Enough bull!" Vader growled and reactivated his lightsaber. "Prepare to die old man."

"I wouldn't be to sure about me being the one that dies," Obi-Wan said activating his own lightsaber. "We haven't even started yet."

Vader smirked. "Do lets!"

And so it began.

Vader backflipped through the air towards Obi-Wan and struck at him once on the ground again. His attack was pared by Obi-Wan's lightsaber. Growling, Vader began to rain down more blows, but all were successfully blocked.

This dance of lightsabers twirling and slashing led close to the edge of the landing platform. Beyond that laid the river of lava that flowed down a mountain hundreds of feet below. Vader began to edge Obi-Wan closer towards it, but Obi-Wan, foreseeing what the young Sith had in mind, backflipped away from the edge and landed on the ground in a heap due to the fact that Vader had kicked him mid-flip. He was quickly on his feet again, blocking more attacks from his former apprentice.

As the duel continued, they were no longer on the landing platform but a path that led from it to an overlapping balcony over the Lava River below and then into the old Separatists Headquarters. They fought in the entrance hallway that led into the building's control room and eventually made their way inside the room.

Vader, of course, had been in this room once before. When Sidious sent he and Baynetta here five years ago to kill the Separatists leaders, this was the exact room they'd been slaughtered in. The sense of old death still lingered inside, but besides that there were no traces of it. The bodies had long decayed; either that or the natives had disposed of them in the Lava River.

The two former best friends were fighting around the room's two communication table units when Vader abruptly struck Obi-Wan's lightsaber with hard force. The impact nearly made the old man lose his footing. Vader took this as an advantage by kicking the Jedi hard in the gut. He collapsed to the floor, his lightsaber falling from his hand, and quickly made to get up but Vader grasped his throat and slammed him to the ground, all the while glaring down at him and mouthing the words of a profanity as Obi-Wan gasped for breath.

Obi-Wan then surprised Vader by kicking him hard on the leg. Vader spat out a curse and loosened his hold on Kenobi's neck to clutch his leg a moment.

Letting the pain in his leg fuel his anger, Vader leapt up and swung at Kenobi. Obi-Wan ducked, tripping Vader in the process. Vader gave a roar of rage and leapt up again, aiming a kick at Kenobi. Only thing is Kenobi kicked at the same time so they both fell hard to the ground by the impact of the kicks. This time, however, Vader lost his lightsaber as he fell.

Quickly getting up, Obi-Wan called his lightsaber to himself and was about to preform the deathblow when at the same moment Vader called his saber to him, activated it, and blocked the attack.

Backflipping through the air, Vader landed on the other side of the room and began to swing his lightsaber around in arrogance as he twirled through the air. Running back at Kenobi who was awaiting his attack, Vader swung his lightsaber at the same time Kenobi did. Their lightsabers locked and screeched at the contact of being pressed together. When Vader eventually unlocked the blow, he choose to use another alternative. He sent a wave of Force at Obi-Wan, but that's exactly what Obi-Wan was doing.

They battled the strength of the Force back and forth until neither of them could anymore. The Force was too strong. Both let go at the same time and went flying on opposite ends of the room. Vader was knocked up against a control device, but was upright again in seconds; as was Obi-Wan. Vader jumped from where he was and towards Obi-Wan, swinging his lightsaber in a down arch as he came towards him. Obi-Wan jumped out of the way of the lightsaber so Vader's blade came down on the control device next to him.

As soon as his lightsaber came in contact with the device, sparks flew out of it and an alarm went off but Vader did not have time to think about the stupid alarm. All that mattered was killing Kenobi and taking the Galactic Empire as his own.

When Obi-Wan had jumped aside from the lightsaber, he'd opened the door to the exit behind him and darted out. Vader followed and the door closed behind them. They were back outside again, but on a platform that led to the lava secure beams. (Their use being to keep the level of the Lava River regulated.) For some reason the secure beams weren't on, and as Vader and Obi-Wan resumed their duel balls of lava began to rain down on them.

Because of this the duel had to be put on hold for the time being. Vader and Obi-Wan took cover around the outer parts of the beams. But Vader didn't want Obi-Wan put in a false sense of security; that he wouldn't attack him if he got too close. This obviously wasn't the case with Obi-Wan, for he made sure to keep his distance from Vader despite the close spacing.

When the lava rain dissipated a bit, Vader came out of his cover compartment and made a few slashes at Obi-Wan. It was then that they realized the beam was disconnecting itself from the main land. And the way it was doing so, the beam would be in the lava river in no time.

Still slashing his lightsaber at Obi-Wan, Vader made to climb higher on one of the beam hedges but Obi-Wan beat him to it. The Jedi, with Vader hot on his tail, climbed high up out of the reach of the Sith. As Vader continued pursuit of his old master, he both felt and saw the beam they were on fully disconnect and fall into the river below. Vader looked down to see the very place they'd been a moment before being submerged entirely with lava.

Looking up showed him that Obi-Wan was observing the same thing. When their eyes met, rage once again filled Vader's and he began to slash up at him. Obi-Wan gave a few slashes back, but then started to climb even higher up the beam. Growling, Vader followed. Next thing he knew, Obi-Wan was swinging through the air on a power cord. It was then that Vader realized the current of the river was flowing the beam toward the falls. He needed to get off this beam and fast.

Glancing back at Obi-Wan showed him that the Jedi had safely landed on one of the floating platforms that the natives used when they mined lava rocks. There was one not far away from him, though it'd be too dangerous to jump even with the Force. He needed to find that power cord Obi-Wan had used. And then he saw it. It wasn't that far away. Calling onto the Force to aid him, he jumped off the close-to-being-submerged-beam and reached for the cord. He caught it in his hands and began to make for the platform he'd been eying. But it was gone now; caught up underneath the beam. But then he spotted a circular round droid that was floating above the river, searching for precious metals in the lava. Not always did the natives do all the mining. Mostly all the mining done around the falls was by droids.

Reaching out with the Force, he gained control over the droid and had it stay put where it was. Jumping from the electrical cord and back onto the platform of the beam that wasn't submerged yet he ran its length and then gave an almighty Force leap at the end. Landing perfectly on the droid, Vader had it fly towards where Obi-Wan was. The Jedi rose his lightsaber ready and pared Vader's attack as he stroke.

Floating side-by-side, the two former friends took a moment to simply observe the other. Vader gazed at Obi-Wan in hatred, Obi-Wan looked back at him with regret.

"Now I truly see that you could never return to the light even if you wanted to," Obi-Wan said.

Vader scoffed. "And why would I be interested in returning to the light?" the young Sith asked sarcastically. His voice then went cold. "The Jedi did nothing but lie and look down on me as soon as I arrived at the temple."

"That is not true Anakin, and you know it," Obi-Wan protested.

"You will refer to me as Lord Vader," the Sith hissed. "Only my wife and Antellica are allowed to refer to me as that. You lost that right the moment you laid hands on Antellica."

"For the last time Anakin-" Obi-Wan was desperately trying to reason with him but Vader wouldn't hear of it.

"This is the end for you Obi-Wan Kenobi. Any last words?"

Obi-Wan defiantly remained silent. Vader smirked. "Very well then."

The young Sith backflipped off the floating droid, letting it go about its merry way, and onto the platform with Obi-Wan. The duel resumed.

Swing for swing, par for par, the two were just too in sync with each other. Their sabers locked again and Vader knew the end of this duel was near. He smirked at Obi-Wan before unlocking the saber and slicing him in half. Only he wasn't there. He was slicing at air. Obi-Wan had backflipped onto a nearby hill and was presently standing there in all his arrogance as if he'd just accomplished a great victory.

"It's over Anakin!" Obi-Wan yelled over the roar of the nearby erupting volcano. "I have the high ground."

Vader sneered. "You underestimate me powers!"

Obi-Wan shook his head and Vader detected something in his eyes. Fear. But not for himself. It was fear for Vader.

"Your arrogance will get you no where Anakin. Don't try it."

Vader gave an evil laugh and a victorious war cry as he backflipped off the platform and onto the hill. Only something terrible happened mid-flip. Just as Vader was preparing himself to land, Obi-Wan swung his lightsaber in a perfect arch that sliced off both of Vader's legs at the knees and his entire left arm.

The young Sith collapsed to the ground, rolling far down the hill towards the shore of the lava river. Vader was in absolute pain and agony. The bastard Kenobi had sliced off his legs and arm. How he so longed to get up and strike him down. But he couldn't get up. He tried climbing up the hill, but that only made him fall closer to the shore. Besides his pain, the first thing he thought of was Arica. He told her he would be alright. Vader moaned in agony over his pain, and the pain Arica would feel when she saw him like this.

Obi-Wan was in shock. He couldn't believe what he'd just done. He'd mortally wounded Vader by slicing off not one, but three major limbs.

Vader the Sith Lord, or was it Anakin the man who'd been hurt by everyone, was now looking up at him the way a person does when they mean through expression, 'How could you do this to me?'

Obi-Wan was overcome with emotion to see his one-time best friend lying on the shore of a lava river, of which he could fall into at any time, devastatingly wounded and knowing that he would not be able to help him. He would just have to stay there; until Arica came anyway. Which no doubt could be any time now. She could surely be able to feel her husband in pain by now.

"You were the Chosen One!" Obi-Wan abruptly yelled, his voice breaking more by the moment. "It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

Vader really couldn't have given a beep about that prophecy. It was something that had marked him as different practically his whole life. And while he'd welcomed the idea of being someone special for a while, eventually it wore off due in fact that no one else thought him special the way he thought he was supposed to be. They'd rejected him, treated him as one might an outcast, and always put him down. All of his hatred and animosity towards the Jedi was coming back now as Kenobi simply stood there while he lay there wounded.

"I hate you!" he screamed.

Obi-Wan was deeply hurt by these words. Knowing the way a person feels about you and hearing the actual words said are two totally different things. Without realizing, tears were falling from his eyes as he watched his old best friend fall closer and closer to the shore of the lava river.

"You were my brother Anakin," he moaned. "I loved you."

These words caused Vader to look up at Obi-Wan in disbelief. Never had Obi-Wan voiced such words of caring love. Their relationship had started out bumpy and they argued a lot, but once Anakin was knighted it had smoothed out a bit. They'd become brothers-in-arms. The poster boys of the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. Yet even then, never had Obi-Wan voiced these words.

Vader was about to ask why Obi-Wan hadn't said these touching words before when he felt himself slip further down the bank and his robe caught fire. The fire of his robe soon engulfed the entirety of it and his body underneath. If Vader thought getting his arm and legs sliced off was the ultimate pain, he was so wrong. He screamed in agony as he felt the fires burn away his body. Never before had he felt such pain, experienced such agony, and went through such suffering. What angered him the most was that Obi-Wan was just standing there watching as he burned. Vader continued to scream out in pain, calling for Arica's help.

Obi-Wan didn't know what made him just stand there while Vader was engulfed in flames. Shock maybe? It was as if his legs wouldn't allow him to move. He was frozen still. He didn't want to watch this, and even turned his face away from the scene a few times but he couldn't move. He wanted to deaf his ears to Vader's yells of agony but he couldn't.

When the young Sith began screaming for his wife, however, something inside Obi-Wan seemed to snap. He found himself moving, away from the scene and up the hill. Vader, obviously noticing his departure, began to scream profanities at his back, yelling over and over his hatred for him. Obi-Wan glanced back at him briefly. The fires that had engulfed Vader's body were presently all but out, though a few small flames continued to lick around him.

Turning his back to the near dead Sith for the final time, Obi-Wan hastily made for _Spiraled Avalanche_. Arica definitely would've heard Vader's screams for her, and it was not his wish to face anymore Sith today; and angry ones at that. But that in left the dilemma of Luke. He'd been told once that his father was dead. How would he take it this time when it was actually true? Because even if Arica came down on Mustafar right here and now, Obi-Wan didn't see what she could do to aid Vader even if he was taken to a medical facility. He was as good as dead. No one could save him.

Obi-Wan found Luke outside _Spiraled Avalanche_ pacing back and forth. The boy had obviously grown bored on the ship and the ramp was down. He looked up quickly when he sensed Obi-Wan approach and frowned. "What are you doing here? I thought you and dad were dueling?" He took on a smirk. "Chickened out, huh?"

Obi-Wan simply gave Luke's jeering face a sad look. "We did duel Luke. Your father...well...this isn't a good place to talk about it."

He'd begun to pick up on Arica's approaching presence. Scooping the protesting Luke into his arms, Obi-Wan ran into the ship and closed the hatch behind him. Putting Luke down in the hall, he ran into the cockpit. But Luke was right behind him.

"Well what?" he asked impatiently. "And what's the big hurry?"

Obi-Wan remained silent as he started up the ship and began to fly it off-planet. While doing so, he quickly made the calculations to lightspeed. Just as _Spiraled Avalanche_ was going through the stratosphere of the planet, it passed alongside ship. Arica's flagship, Obi-Wan knew.

The entire Imperial fleet would be outside the planet waiting to catch him if he didn't act quickly. Punching the final coordinates for the lightspeed jump to Chandrila, Obi-Wan pushed forward the hyperdrive lever the moment the ship exited the planet. Using the Force to bypass the blockade around it and all else in the system, Obi-Wan was able to successfully escape the Empire's clutches for yet another time.


	41. Agony and Grief

Author's Note: As can be guessed from the title, this is an anguish-filled chapter. I hope it doesn't sadden you too much though. And remember to review. (So you should know, the whole rock star thing with Alex is merely a phase he's going through. You know how kids are and their phases. By the time he's all grown up, that's the last thing on his mind, I assure you.)

Thrawn716: Hmm, I never thought about it like that before. It does make one stop and wonder.

MissNaye: I know, it's really horrible but adds to the drama and tragedy of the series. Which I'm sad to say will eventually worsen as this goes on.

Fallen Senshi: Thank you, it took forever to write. But it all paid off in the end. I'm also satisfied with it.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 41: Agony and Grief

Arica had been so worried about Anakin after they left Mustafar that when she, her sister, and nephew arrived back inside her quarters on the _Executrix_, Antellica insisted that Alex perform a few songs on his toy guitar to get Arica's mind off her husband.

It had done the trick. Soon, the three were inside the living room chambers smiling, laughing, and clapping along to the music. Alex had played five songs from a rock Holodisc on the room's entertainment system while he sang and rocked along on his toy guitar, and was about to launch into a sixth when Arica abruptly stopped clapping and crumpled to the floor in a heap, screaming in agony.

It was Anakin. He was in pain. Excruciating, awful pain.

Antellica and Alex were at her side almost instantly.

"What is it Arica?" Antellica asked in urgency. "What's wrong?"

But before she could say anything, the next rock song came blasting out the entertainment system.

"Alex, turn that bull off!" Antellica yelled to be heard over the music.

Alex hastily ran over to the system, tripping in the process, and turned it off. He then quickly ran back to his aunt's side.

Arica was now thrashing about on the floor as she continued to admit screams from her mouth. Besides the screams, she was also crying and moaning as if she was hurt. The pain. The agony. It was beyond bearable. He was screaming for her. He needed her. Yet how could she help him when she was in pain herself?

Antellica was beyond frantic. Never had she seen her sister act like this. Never. She couldn't be going into labor because she was only a day or so along. But what could it be then?

Stopping her attempts at trying to get Arica to tell her what the problem was, Antellica tapped into the Force and felt a disturbance. A large disturbance. But it wasn't Arica, it was... Antellica gasped. It was Anakin! He was in terrible pain and his life Force was fading. Her shock and fear were suddenly replaced with other emotions: Hatred, rage, and a sense of vengeance. It was Kenobi! He'd done this to him.

Snapping to her feet, Antellica rose and retrieved her lightsaber from a counter nearby. She then glanced over at Alex, who looked a mixture of scared and confused, and knelt down in front of him, taking his hands into hers.

"Alex, I need you to do a big favor for mommy."

"Sure mom, but what's wrong with her?" He eyes had gone fearful again as he glanced at Arica.

"It's Anakin honey. He's in pain; could be dying."

Alex's eyes went wide. "How do you know?" he asked in a shocked whisper.

Antellica was still frantic. She rose. Anakin needed them, and it was obvious Arica wasn't going to do anything about it. It was up to her.

"Just look into the Force Alex," she said. "You'll feel it. But we need to hurry. I don't know how bad Anakin's condition is. I need you to go to the bridge and alert Commander Piett to have a medical capsule readied and Arica's flagship warmed."

When Alex began to protest, she added, "He'll listen to you Alex. I think out of everyone, he's the one person who knows who I truly am, though the others simply suspect."

When Alex continued to look unsure, Antellica gestured towards Arica. "Look at her Alex! Look at what this is doing to her! You must inform Commander Piett of this. Now!"

Alex looked at Arica one last time and nodded. "I will mom. I'll go tell him."

"Thank you. Now go."

As Alex ran out of the room, Antellica bent down next to her sister and scooped her into her arms.

"It's gonna be all right Arica," she whispered. "But Anakin needs you, and rolling around on the floor in grief like he's already gone isn't going to help much."

As abruptly as Arica started her tirade, she stopped and looked up at Antellica. For a moment, she said nothing but then she started to sob again, her head falling onto Antellica's shoulder.

"Oh Antellica," she sobbed. "I know you are right, I just-"

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Antellica huffed. "Snap out of it!" She threw Arica from her and slapped her across the face a few times. "My God! Pull yourself together!"

Arica fell to the floor in a heap and looked up at her sister in complete shock. But when Antellica simply crossed her arms and defiantly looked back at her, Arica seemed to come to herself again. She rose from the floor as if coming out of a daze.

"I'm fine. Yes, I'm just fine. Thank you Antellica. I needed that. Oh! I felt like I was having an emotional breakdown."

"Yes, yes whatever. Now let's go!" Antellica urged. "The more time we spend talking, the more time Kenobi's given to escape."

At the mention of the Jedi, Arica's eyes flashed and, collecting her cloak and lightsaber with the Force, she darted out the room with Antellica right behind.

Going to the hanger at a run, the two Sith Ladies found Alex and Commander Piett inside talking while a medical capsule was loaded onto Arica's flagship. Upon noticing the women's arrival, however, both ran over.

"Commander-in-chief," Piett addressed Arica, "are you well? Alex here said you were screaming in agony because Lord Vader's been wounded."

"As for now I'm fine," she firmly stated. "Though that may change when I see his condition," she added almost to herself and purposely fixed her gaze to the floor in case her emotions started up again.

Piett nodded in understanding as a technical officer stepped forward. "Your flagship is ready Commander-in-chief."

Arica nodded and made towards her ship with her sister and nephew in tow.

"I do hope he's alright," the officer added.

Arica turned back to look at him and he continued, "The Supreme Commander I mean. It'd be a shame if anything bad happened to him."

Arica gave the officer a small nod and smile. "Thank you Major." He saluted and Arica continued her way on board.

The hatch that sealed the hanger bay shut opened as Arica's flagship flew towards it and closed once more when it was successfully outside the Star Destroyer. As it headed towards the planet, Arica alerted Piett via comm to be ready for any sudden moves should Kenobi attempt to escape. The order was affirmed and Arica shut the comm off.

It was just as the flagship was entering the stratosphere that Arica sensed Kenobi escaping. Instantly, she contacted the fleet and warned them to be ready. Arica's flagship passed _Spiraled Avalanche_ a moment later but Arica commanded the pilot to continue forward.

"The fleet will take care of him," she assured.

About a moment or so later, she was regretting this command. Commander Piett informed her over the comm that as soon as _Spiraled Avalanche_ exited the planet, it'd jumped to lightspeed so there was no way they could track it.

Though this enraged Arica, she did not blame Piett but merely sighed in irritation and said, "Very well." Kenobi may have yet again slipped through their grasp, but Arica promised herself that next time, for all their sakes, the fool would be shot down on sight. He would not be given a chance to escape.

Arica had her flagship docked on the same platform she'd landed on earlier. Antellica told Alex to remain inside but Alex wouldn't hear of it. He defiantly said he was coming and that was that. Antellica was about to protest when Arica silenced her.

"No Antellica. I think it's good that Alex's comes. Let him see the treachery his father has placed upon Anakin."

Alex gave his mother a gloating smile.

"But Arica-"

"Enough!" Arica roared, her eyes blazing. Antellica took a step back and even Alex looked slightly scared.

Arica sighed, her eyes going back to their normal color. "I'm sorry."

Then without giving either of them another look, she pushed past them and ran off the ship. Anakin was close, that much she knew. Reaching into the Force, she demanded that it tell her where her husband was. It did so and led her to the small hill Anakin's form was lying on.

In the time Obi-Wan had left and Arica arrived, Anakin had pulled himself up the hill a bit more so that he was now in the middle of it, with no more danger of falling into the lava river.

When Arica came to the top of it, she gasped out a cry and ran to Anakin's side. He looked...horrible didn't even cover it. Neither did terrible or dreadful. Mortally wounded and close to death would be a better way to describe it.

Collapsing at her husband's side, Arica took one look at his wounds and was immediately overcome with the same anguish she'd experienced earlier. Screaming out a cry, she fell onto his wounded body and began to shed tears of emotion, crying loudly. Anakin tried comforting her, but that was like trying to get a lamb and a lion to go on a hunting trip together. It didn't work and Arica only cried louder.

Antellica and Alex arrived a few minutes later, stormtroopers in tow. They had seen that the medical capsule be brought out and ready to load Anakin onto it safely.

It'd been easy for Antellica to find her sister. All she had to do was follow her screams of agony and the presence of her troubled spirit.

All the expectations Antellica had prepared herself for concerning how badly wounded Anakin would be came crashing down on her the moment she caught sight of an arm and two legs lying idly on the shores of the lava river. She was so overcome with shock that she lost her footing and collapsed onto the ground gasping. Alex had run to Anakin's side the moment he saw him and was now crying loudly along with Arica so neither noticed her. One of the troopers asked if she was all right, but she vaguely registered the clones' concern. Silent tears began to fall from her eyes as she continued to gaze at Anakin's wounded body from a distance.

As if by the will of someone else, she found herself crawling slowly towards him, still crying. When she came to him both Arica and Alex looked up at her but she wasn't paying any attention to them; her eyes were fixed on Anakin only.

He looked up at her and lifted his right mechanical arm, the only limb he had left, to stroke her face with his cool fingertips. This act of – Love? Assurance? Kindness? – caused Antellica to cry even more. She collapsed next to him and moaned out cries of sadness.

Only when they were finished their grief-filled tears did Antellica and Arica allow the clones to load Anakin onto the capsule. A breath mask was placed over his face to aid in his breathing. Because of his condition, Anakin naturally couldn't return his star fighter to the _Executor_ so asked Antellica, in a whisper, to do it for him. She was more then ready to help out whatever way possible, so as Anakin was boarded onto Arica's flagship and flown to the _Executrix,_ Antellica returned the star fighter to the _Executor_ and, after informing the crew of the situation, took Vader's own flagship to the _Executrix_. Admiral Dorina also came.

Upon arrival on the _Executrix,_ Arica learned from Piett that the Emperor had called and demanded to speak with either her or Lord Vader, but Arica could've cared less about the soon-to-be-ex Emperor and said so to the Commander, sans the ex-emperor part.

When Piett caught sight of the crippled form inside the medical capsule, he gasped and clutched his chest. "Dear God!" he exclaimed. "Is he-what happened?"

"He's experienced severe burns and his legs and left arm have been sliced off," Arica explained.

Again Piett gasped.

Arica and the stormtroopers led the medical capsule that contained Vader to the ship's medical lab. Piett and Alex, currently being held in Arica's arms, also came. For a while no one spoke, but then just as they were entering the lab Piett asked Arica, "Should I inform the Emperor of this? He is after all still waiting and I know you'd like to spend some time with your husband. Or do you simply wish for His Excellency to call back, and you'll talk with him another time?"

Arica sighed. "I'm not really concerned about the Emperor right now."

Piett bowed. "Of course Commander-in-chief. I completely understand." He made to leave but Arica stopped him.

"Commander."

He turned back to her. "Yes Commander-in-chief."

Again Arica sighed. "Tell him the situation and Lord Vader's condition. And that Kenobi is responsible for all of it."

Piett nodded. "And also that Kenobi escaped with young Luke?"

"Yeah that too. Alert the fleet to make immediate speed for Coruscant. I shall see the Emperor shortly."

Piett bowed. "It will be done."

Piett took his leave from the room and Vader was rushed farther in to have tests done to determine his level of injuries. In the meantime, Arica and Alex gave one another comfort by simply holding each other. No words were spoken, not even when Antellica and Admiral Dorina arrived. Besides the sounds of the doctors going this way and that and speaking among themselves, all was quiet.

Finally about fifteen minutes later, one of the main nurses came over and motioned for Arica to follow her. Handing Alex back to his mother, she did so. The nurse led her down the hall just outside where Vader was lying. From the distance, Arica could see he was hooked up to a lot of different cords and wires. Her heart nearly broke in two all over again at the sight. Turning her attention to the nurse, Arica saw that she looked very grave. Whatever she had to say wasn't good.

"As I'm sure you realize, your husband's condition is dyer. The wounds he's received are great and some unhealable. His entire body has been badly burned and the hair he once had on his head will never grow back. The eardrums in both ears have melted and are beyond repair though his eyesight is fine. According to Lord Vader, he said he closed his eyes while he was being burned so that explains that. His vocal cords have been all but been destroyed, so he can only speak in a whisper and he has much scar tissue in the lungs, resulting in him not being able to breath that much on his own. He also lost a lot of blood from having three main limbs cut off. We've placed him on an IV as you can see, and an oxygen unit. All in all, he's in a very bad state."

"Are you attempting to say he will die?" Arica asked in a level, yet almost bitter tone.

The nurse shrugged. "With all he's been through, it would be better for him to die. It's simply-" The nurse abruptly began to choke. She clutched at her throat, trying to free it from the invisible hold that had been placed on it but she couldn't. She fell to the floor dead within seconds.

Arica glared down at the dead nurse a moment, and then made towards her husband. He wouldn't die. Somehow Arica would see to that. No matter what it took, he would live and continue bringing happiness to her life.

On the way to the capital, Arica sat at her husband's side, holding his hand and telling him words of assurance. Antellica and Alex came in a few times to visit, as well as Admiral Dorina and Piett, but mainly it was just Anakin and Arica together by themselves.


	42. The Emperor's Plan

Author's Note: Hey guys, I thought I should let you know that since we're only two chapters and an epilogue (not counting this) away from this episode's end, I'll be taking a two week hiatus from this to edit Episode VII before I start posting it. I don't have an exact date on this yet, but it'll probably be sometime in early March. Thanks forever for the love and support.

-Doreen

Chapter 41 review responses:

Thrawn716: Thanks for the info. I did hear or read about that in an interview or something. As for if it applies here however, you'll have to wait and see.

dmitchell: Yeah, it's sad Obi-Wan won't be able to watch Alex grow up and not be apart of his daughter's life. But Antellica loves her sister far more then she ever could her husband. And she really didn't like her life in exile that much anyway. I do have things planned for Alex, and his path will cross that of his father's later on in life. But as to what occurs in the time, I can't say as I don't to spoil you too much.

Twisted Words: Yes, we will have to wait and see.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 42: The Emperor's Plan

The Emperor had been expecting to be kept up to date on the happenings of Antellica and Obi-Wan Kenobi's capture, but obviously Lord Vader and Lady Zenevieva had other ideas. He hadn't yet heard from them once since they left eighteen and a half-hours ago. He'd given them five and a half-hours after their arrival on Tatooine before contacting the _Executor_, demanding that Vader make contact with him. This command, however, was met with the ship's admiral, Dorina, telling him that "Lord Vader is busy and does not wish to be disturbed by anyone."

And before the Emperor could retort or ask any questions about their current position, the communication had been cut. Naturally, he was furious by this. He'd felt many disturbances in the Force during the time since Vader and Zenevieva arrived on Tatooine, and wanted answers concerning the matter. He would not be told by Lord Vader, and through his commanding officers no less, that he was too busy to update him on the current situation.

He'd called back various other times after that, but none of these calls were answered. He'd also called his Hand, Lady Zenevieva, a few times but was told she was in her quarters and had ordered that no one bother her either. So despite his anger, he decided to give them both the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they really were busy. He decided to try back in a few hours unless they called first.

But they never did. He got no word whatsoever from anyone in the fleet. Almost three hours had gone by when the emperor made to contact the _Executor_ again. Before he could dial the code, however, there was a powerful, almost deathly disturbance in the Force. It was Lord Vader. He was...dying and in horrible agony. As was Zenevieva, though her pain was through that of her husband's. The emperor was greatly confused by this. What intrigued him even more was that the traitor Antellica's Force presence was no longer hidden, though it didn't shrine bright with the light side as he would've expected it to. It was dark and...Sith like. He wasn't sure what to think of this, but than quickly grew suspicious and wondered what treachery the girl had planned now.

A quick search for her husband's signature showed that it was still hidden, though their son, Alexander's signature was no longer being dimmed. The boy seemed to be with his mother and in the same emotional pain that his aunt was in, only in a lesser amount. The strange thing was that Kenobi didn't seem to be with them. The fact that his presence was still hidden while his wife and son's weren't was enough to make the Sith Lord wonder what was going on. And then there was still the matter of Lord Vader.

The Sith master wanted answers and he wanted them now. He didn't care how busy they were. He was going to be told about what was going on. He decided to contact Lady Zenevieva via telepathy, but when he tapped into her mind all he felt was agony and pain. It was the same when he touched Vader's mind. Despite the fact that Antellica's signature was no longer hidden, he still couldn't touch it. A shield still seemed to be in place around it.

Being as he couldn't contact his servants directly, he contacted the _Executrix_ and demanded to speak with either Vader or Zenevieva. Neither were aboard the ship however. He learned this from Commander Piett.

"Then where are they?" he demanded.

The Commander hesitated a moment before replying. "On Mustafar, my lord."

"Mustafar?" he repeated in confusion.

"Yes sir."

"What are they doing on Mustafar? The mission was to go to Tatooine, capture the Kenobis, and return to Coruscant. Where do you hear Mustafar in any of that?"

Piett shifted his weight uncomfortably. "My lord, we came across a few detours on the way."

"Such as?"

The Commander looked even more uncomfortable then ever and for a while didn't speak. The emperor snarled. The fool knew vital information that would be of importance to him. No longer would he be kept in the dark.

"Speak Commander!" he barked.

With a sigh, Piett did so. "I suppose they wouldn't mind if I told you. All right, here it is: On Tatooine, Vader found his son Luke and was told the location of his daughter Leila."

"By whom?" The Sith found it hard to believe that Antellica or Kenobi would tell Vader anything concerning his children.

"I'm not sure sir. Anyway, it turns out that a Jedi named Yoda on Dagabah was holding her captive. The only thing is that by the time we got there, they were already gone."

The emperor growled. The damned Jedi fool. "Go on," he urged.

"Not long after arriving, Kenobi escaped off the _Executor_ with Luke and entered hyperspace. Lord Vader tracked him to Mustafar and, I assume, met him on the planet."

Piett looked as though he was going to say more, but stopped himself.

"Finish the report Commander!" the emperor commanded. "Something happened to Lord Vader and you know it. As such, you will tell me!"

Piett took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Lady Zenevieva began screaming in agony when she felt her husband's pain, and rushed on-world. Just as she was doing so, Kenobi escaped yet again."

"With Luke?" he asked, though he'd already figured as much.

Piett nodded. "I think so sir."

"And Antellica and Alexander, where are they?"

Again, Piett hesitated a moment. "With-with Lady Zenevieva, sir."

"On Mustafar?"

"Yes."

"And why did the two not remain on the ship?"

Piett shrugged. "Perhaps her ladyship wanted to keep a constant watch on the traitors."

"Hmm." Something didn't add up and wasn't right concerning Antellica and Arica. Something he wouldn't approve of was going on. It was obvious Piett didn't know much about it, and he didn't feel like probing the Commander for anymore information, so merely nodded.

"How long ago was it that Lady Zenevieva left for Mustafar?"

"About five minutes ago."

"Very well Commander, I shall wait for her to come back. When she arrives, tell her I am waiting."

Piett bowed. "Yes my Lord."

And here he was still waiting for Lady Zenevieva to answer his call. It'd been about twenty minutes now. The emperor was almost at the point of impatience when the holoform of Commander Piett reappeared before him once more.

"My Lord, I am sorry, but Lady Zenevieva will not be speaking with you until our arrival on the capital, which should be in about ten hours. And the reason is simple: She wishes to spend time with her husband in his dyer condition without interruption. She wanted me to tell you that Lord Vader has experienced severe burns and his legs and left arm have been cut off. He was also wearing a breather mask, so I don't think he can breath on his own either. She also wanted you to know that Obi-Wan Kenobi is responsible for Vader's condition."

The emperor was both shocked and angered by this news. Shocked that Kenobi was able to best Vader and cripple him, and angered that Kenobi had destroyed a perfectly good tool of the Sith. Of course, it couldn't have been him alone. Vader had always been too arrogant for his own good, and he couldn't help but sense that that had played a role in his condition as well.

Thanking Piett for informing him of this, the emperor cut the connection and mused over the information in thought. If Vader were nothing more then an ordinary Sith, like his last two apprentices, Tyranus and Maul, the Sith master wouldn't have cared about the outcome of his condition, rather he lived or died. But Vader was far from being an ordinary anything. He was the Chosen One; conceived by the midi-cholrains themselves. And somehow, he knew that rather he had wanted Vader to die or not, the midi-cholrains would have the final say. They wouldn't allow Vader to die until the prophecy was fulfilled about "balance being brought to the Force."

This prophecy, of course, is something the emperor would never allow to come about, which is the reason he turned Vader to begin with. But just because Vader's real purpose in life would never be played out, that didn't mean the young Sith had no purpose in life. He had a purpose for Vader. To serve and obey him to the utmost. And the more he thought about it, the more he began to see how this "tragedy" would actually work to his advantage.

Even as a Jedi, Vader had always been extremely ambitious and stubborn; violating orders on occasion and choosing to do things his way. Also feeling that he was being held back by everyone, and that because of his potential and who he was, he should progress further and faster then all else. Vader wanted to dethrone his master as Emperor. He always had and Sidious got the feeling that if all had gone as planned with the Kenobis capture, Vader would've attempted to do so when he and his wife returned from Tatooine. But all hadn't gone as planned. Vader was wounded and close to death, Kenobi had escaped with Luke once more, Yoda was on the move with Leila, and something fishy was going on concerning Antellica and her twin.

But the Emperor didn't care about the last three problems. His concern for now was Lord Vader, and what could be done to keep him alive and active. He needed to ensure that Vader stayed beneath him. Be a minion. Nothing more then an errand boy and an alleged apprentice in more then just the word, but in action as well.

Getting up from his desk, he sent a message to his secretary to hold all calls until tomorrow and went to his quarters. Inside, he found Charlotte feeding Drake cut up nerf dogs and corn. She appeared slightly surprised to see him back so early. It was only 2050; he usually didn't return from the office until after 2200 every night.

"Sidious," she greeted. "Hello. I didn't expect to see you till later on as usual. Why are you back so early?"

"Later Charlotte," he said dismissively, making his way over to Drake. The boy was chewing on his food, the reason he hadn't spoken yet. When he finished, however, he greeted him with a formal "Hello father," and took a drink from his sippy cup before adding, "How work?"

The emperor gave a slight chuckle. "Quite well in fact." He then gave his small brown haired head a pat.

"I all done mommy," Drake said pointing to his now empty plate. "All gone."

Charlotte laughed. "Yes honey, it is all gone. You were a good boy and ate it all. Now why don't you go to your room and get ready for bath time. I'll be in shortly."

"Okay," Drake chirped and Charlotte picked him up out of the chair and placed him on the floor. Drake gave his father a nod of acknowledgment before running off to his room.

Once Drake was gone, the Sith master told his consort in brief about Vader. Her reaction was to be expected, shocked and worried.

Charlottle had grown somewhat close to Vader and Zenevieva over the past year as their three children would often play together. Besides that though, there was no interaction between the two families unless it was under business.

"I will be in my study for awhile," he informed as he made his way towards it, "doing some research. Do not bother me. I will join you in our room later on. Be ready for me because it is time for you to become pregnant again."

He sensed slight surprise coming from his consort, but ignored it as he continued on his way, faintly hearing the "Yes my lord" Charlotte had uttered.

The emperor's marriage with the Naboo Moff was civil and respectful being as it wasn't based on love. Neither of the two loved each other; they simply respected and admired one another. Out of their entire two-year marriage, they'd only been intimate once at Drake's conception. Besides impregnating a woman with heirs, the Sith master had no interest in sex; that's just the way it was with him. His decision for more heirs came when he'd taken a look at his son. Drake was a little over a year now. It was high time for more heirs to join the emperor's dynasty.

Besides being a private office, his study was also an archive of his collection of Sith artifacts, ranging from Holocrons to lightsaber crystals. He usually came in here when he wished to engage in deep meditation, but now was not the time for that. He didn't need to meditate because he already knew what he wanted. All he needed to do was find it. This led to his filing cabinet in the room's right corner.

Bending down, he pulled out the lowest drawer and began flipping through folders. When he across one labeled "War Effort", he took it out and stepped away from the cabinet. Seating himself down at his desk again, he began flipping through pages until he found what he wanted. The page he was currently gazing at was entitled 'The Super Warrior Project'.

During the Great Sith War over a thousand years ago, unlike most wars, mostly everyone who fought in it were the actual opponents. Mere droids and insufficient clones were unacceptable. However, towards the end of the conflict, right before the Battle of Korriban, during the meeting that went on concerning a new strategy in the war effort, many ideas and suggestions were tossed around. Droids and clones included. But the one idea that a lot of Sith had agreed on was the Super Warrior Project; a proposition that he himself had presented.

The 'Super Warriors' were to be nearly indestructible as nothing was fully indestructible. They were to stand at 6ft 5in, and wear armor the color of black. They were to be helmeted, masked, and appear monstrous. As to what laid beneath this suit, Sidious had never figured out. Some had suggested the project be a Superdroid of some kind, while others had wanted the suit to be something the Sith themselves wore in battle. A decision was never made however, for at that moment the Jedi had stormed the temple, putting an end to their meeting.

The emperor had retained his project though, and even after all these years had looked for a way to use it various times. It just never seemed to fit into anything he was doing...until now. Thinking back to the Sith's suggestions concerning the project, he decided to use both: Have the project be a Superdroid and be worn by a Sith.

Being that Vader had been so badly injured, the major body parts lost – legs and left arm – would have to be replaced with artificial ones. In the emperor's studies concerning skin that's been burned severely, never does it fully heal. And the more severe the condition, the more true this is. Vader, who valued his looks almost as much as his life, would most certainly not want to show off his burnt skin so the suit, mask, and helmet would go perfectly with his wishes. And if Vader really couldn't breath on his own anymore, a respirator could be built into the suit.

This was a great project in its entirety, but Sidious decided to take it one step further by not having it be completely competent. As a way to continue holding Vader back, he decided to have the tall boots that went with the suit to be a poor fit for Vader's artificial feet and have the claw-like toes and fingertips of the artificial legs and arm lack the electrostatic sensitivity that's usually found in artificial limbs. The legs were to also be so heavy that Vader would have to continuously call upon the Force to aid him in walking. The arm was to be equally heavy so this would give Vader a hard time at lifting much of anything, but not so much that it would make him an invulent. He still had much use for Vader, and it wouldn't help if he turned the young Sith into a useless machine.

Other such matters like eyesight and hearing could be worried about later. All he was concerned about was the building of the suit. Drawing up the design on a sheet of paper, he made various copies of it before sending them off to his private surgical reconstruction center on the other side of the planet.

Once they were successfully sent, the emperor commed the doctors and told them all he knew about Vader's condition and to get to work on the suit right away. He also gave them unlimited access to all funds and products they may need, commanding that the suit be ready within the next nine hours. The doctors protested that the feat was impossible, but he would not hear excuses. What he commanded would be done.

By the time he finished up with all of this, it was close to 2200. Charlotte would've long finished with Drake's bath and reading his bedtime story. She would be waiting for him.

The Sith master grinned evilly. _Well then, there's no point in keeping her waiting any longer._

* * *

When the navy arrived outside Coruscant at 0630 the next morning, Arica informed the Emperor of their arrival. He didn't sleep at all that night – not that he usually ever did anyway. After finishing up with Charlotte, he went to the surgical center to oversee the building of Vader's suit. It was coming along wondrously to say the least. A lot better then he thought it would anyway. 

In fact, he was still at the facility when his Hand called, but because he informed his secretary to transfer her call over to where he was, he was able to speak with her via holoprojector.

Lady Zenevieva pretty much looked the same as she always did, except that there were bags under her eyes, a clear sign that she hadn't slept at all since Vader's injury.

And indeed she hadn't. Notwithstanding Anakin's insistence that she should, she refused to leave his side. Her husband was touched by this act of love, but at the same time he didn't want his wife to turn into a sleep deprived corpse because of him. Eventually, she had to leave his side to contact the Emperor. While she was gone, she had Antellica watch over him.

When she finally got in contact with the Imperial ruler after having her call transferred, she told him Anakin's condition and explained in full detail the events that led up to his and Kenobi's duel on Mustafar to begin with. Though she made sure to leave out much mention of her sister. That was something she would do in person.

This did not go unnoticed. When he asked her about her sister, she said that he would see her and Alex when he saw her and that's all she was saying via comm.

He merely responded with a mocking smile and instructed that Vader be brought to his private surgical center on the Far East side of Galactic City, in the Manarai Mountains.

"I've had it set up that he'll be treated here and am quite pleased with what I've come up with."

Arica wasn't sure how to take the last part, so merely bowed. "We shall see you shortly then."

She was just about to cut the transmission when he added, "And make sure your sister and her son are with you."

"Yes master," Arica all but spat before slamming her hand down on the button that ended the transmission.

* * *

Author's Note #2: Ah, yeah! Action, more betrayal, and rampage can be expected in the next chapter as the anticipated three deaths occur within it. Who-sa! 


	43. Through a Resurrection Comes Death

Author's Note: I was able to get the new Legacy of the Force book, Exile, before it's release date of February 27 Thursday because the book store in my area got it in early and they said they could sell it early. So, I'm really physicked about that. Mainly because it's authored Aaron Allston, like the first in the series, Betrayal. Bloodlines and Tempest weren't that bad, but I'm looking at a new fav with Exile.  
Well, here's your long awaited chapter. You will be shocked, awed, and most importantly not disappointed (I hope not). Definitely, definitely review after this chapter. I'm so so eager to hear your thoughts on it's happenings.

Chapter 42 responses:

dmitchell: Here ya go!

MissNaye: Of course.

Arzu: Here ya go to both! I hope you enjoy.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

Twisted Words: Yeah, I dropped the spoiler on purpose concerning Alex and Obi-Wan. No, he doesn't die yet. But yes, someone in Palpatine's family does die. Who? Read below and find out!

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 43: Through a Resurrection Comes Death

Once Anakin was loaded into another medical capsule, and that was moved into Arica's flagship, she, Antellica, and the still sleeping form of Alexander left the _Executrix_ for Coruscant aboard it. While some of the fleet followed them down onto the capital planet headed for the Imperial Transport Center in Galactic City's core, the rest remained in orbit outside and other sections of the region. As for Arica's flagship, however, that was headed straight for the Emperor's Surgical Reconstruction Center; EmPal SuRecon Center for short.

Despite the early hour of 0630, life seemed to be up and about in this side of the city – the Manarai Mountains. And with an added surprise, it was actually _raining_ on the capital world. It never rained. The falling rain reflected not only Arica's somber mood, but the somberness of the occasion. As her flagship docked on the pyramid, yet circular like medical facility's crown landing platform, a troop of stormtroopers rushed towards it with the hooded form of the Emperor right behind them. Seeing this, Antellica hesitated and suggested she stay on board. However, just as before, her sister would not hear of this.

While making their descent onto Coruscant, Antellica suggested that she and Alex be dropped off at Skywalker Manor when Arica called home informing Andrea of the situation and telling her to bring the twins with her to the medical center.

"I told Sidious you'd be coming with me," Arica said dismissively.

"Thanks a lot," Antellica grumbled.

"Antellica, you know you have to come," Arica said, taking her twin at arms' length. "Not just for the Emperor's sake, but for mine and Anakin's as well. Most especially for Anakin's. Please."

Antellica looked at Arica a moment and sighed before taking her into an embrace. "All right. I'll come."

"That's the spirit," Arica praised. "Besides you don't wanna give Sidious the impression you're too afraid to face him."

As expected, that comment affronted Antellica. "Heck no! I'm not afraid of that stupid old man!" She scoffed. "Why should I be?"

Arica gave her a pat on the back. "There you go."

Lifting Alex into her arms, Antellica followed Arica off the ship with her head held high, ready to face her unforgiving former master. Because despite the fact that she was a Sith again, he was not her master and never would be again. As Antellica's hair was back to blonde, she would be easily spotted.

The emperor stopped briefly to look down at Anakin in the capsule before then motioning for the troopers to continue on. He now stood before Arica and Antellica Grievous, though he addressed Arica first.

"Hand."

"Master." She gave a slight bow.

He then turned his eyes to Antellica and his lip curled. She gazed defiantly back though, and held his gaze unblinkingly.

"Antellica." He spat out her name like venom. She gave a curt nod and returned the gesture. "Sidious."

She made to walk past him, following the troopers into the building, however, he moved in front of her. Arica jumped between them and gave the emperor a level stare. When she spoke, her voice was cold and hissing. "You will not touch her Sidious. She is Anakin and my guest here, and will not be harmed."

He smirked at Arica's boldness. "She is a traitor of the Empire."

Arica merely returned the smirk. "You may view her whatever way you wish Sidious, but you have been warned: Do Not...touch her."

Taking Antellica's hand into her own, she brushed roughly past the 'Emperor' and followed the stormtroopers inside the facility.

The crown level of this gloomy center was where the medical rehabilitation laboratory was located. Anakin was taken within the facility's depths and than inside a dark surgical room where the Emperor explained the procedure his apprentice would go through. He would be donned in a life sustaining suit that would allow him to continue life somewhat like before.

At first, Arica hadn't been so sure about this. But when the Emperor said it was either that or being confined to a hoverchair, she quickly agreed, yet asked her husband via their mental bond for his approval first. He, after all, as she told Sidious, should be the only one allowed to decide since he would be in the situation, not them.

Once Anakin did agree to the suit solution, the process began. The emperor, Arica, and Antellica watched from an above balcony.

When the Sith master strolled off a few minutes later to speak with one of the doctors, Arica turned to Antellica as Anakin began to make grunts and groans from below – the medical droids were currently connecting artificial limbs to his body.

"I can't help but think this is my fault," she said. "If I had just stayed with him on Mustafar, no matter his commands for me to go, this wouldn't have happened."

"You can't blame yourself Arica," Antellica said softly, gently.

"Why shouldn't I?!" Arica demanded, suddenly overcome with emotion. "Look at him!" She gestured below towards her husband. "Look at what's happened to him! How am I supposed to explain this to Lacovia and Hilton?!"

Arica fell into her sister's arms and cried into her shoulder.

Glancing over at Sidious to make sure he was still occupied with the doctor, Antellica placed Alex into a nearby chair before wrapping her arms around her grieving sister fully.

A moment later, the delighted squeals of "Mommy! Mommy!" interrupted this moment of grief.

In spite of her sadness, Arica couldn't help but smile. Her children, though only small toddlers, always had a way to put a smile on her face. Pulling herself from Antellica's arms, Arica quickly wiped away her tears and beamed at the approaching figures of her fourteen-month-old twins, dirty blonde haired Lacovia and dark brown haired Hilton. Andrea was right behind them. Arica bent down and opened her arms to accept them both.

"Darlings!" she exclaimed.

The twins continued to squeal in excitement and mimicked her opened arms as they continued towards her. When they reached her, Arica scooped the pair up into an embrace and twirled them around, giving them both peeks on the cheek. Reopening her eyes, she saw Antellica gazing at her happily, hands clasped together before her. Arica returned the beam and settled the two onto the floor.

The introductions than began. Arica introduced Antellica to Andrea and the twins – of whom were fascinated with how much alike their mommy looked to "her" as they called Antellica since they couldn't figure out her name. They also chattered on continuously about how their mommy was a twin just like they were.

Arica sidestepped all of Lacovia and Hilton's questions concerning their father. She still didn't know how she was going to explain it to them. When the twins caught sight of Alex however, thoughts of their father soon left their minds and they began to shake him awake. After a brief moment of confusion, in which time Alex didn't know who the "little brats" were that were touching him, the three cousins were playing and chatting together happily. Arica had Andrea move the kids to the floor below where a play area was set up.

Once they were gone, Arica and Antellica took to returning their attention to Anakin.

* * *

An hour later, the process was complete. The scarred body of Darth Vader was now encased inside an armored suit of the deepest black. 

As Sidious descended the stairs of the balcony, the table that his apprentice had been lying on while the surgical droids operated on him slowly rotated vertical. At the bottom of the stairs, the head surgeon beckoned to him.

"My lord, the construction is finished. He lives."

"Good. Good." Sidious flowed into the pool of light that illuminated his newly built project. He ignored the sound of Antellica and Arica coming down the stairs behind him as he came to the rim of the surgical table. On it was strapped Lord Vader, fully suited in his long ago created design. Something he would wear for the rest of his days.

To some eyes the suit Vader now donned might have been a pieced-together hybrid of droid and human, encased in a life support shell of gleaming black, managed by a thoracic processor that winked a pale color against the suit's blackness.

To some eyes, its jointed limbs might have looked ungainly, clumsy, even monstrous; the featureless curves of black that served it for eyes might have appeared inhuman, and the under thrust grillwork of its vocabulator might have suggested the jaws of a saurian predator built of polished blast armor, but to Sidious-

It was glorious.

A magnificent jewel box, created both to protect and exhibit the greatest treasure of the Sith.

Terrifying.

Mesmerizing.

Perfect.

As Sidious continued to gaze upon his masterpiece he knew there would be no way Vader could dethrone him now, even if he still wanted to.

Grinning with satisfaction at the thought, he spoke.

"Lord Vader, can you hear me?"

* * *

The first light of dawn in his universe brought pain. 

The light burnt him. It would always burn him. Part of him would always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chewed upon his flesh.

He could hear himself breathing. It came hard, harsh, and it scraped nerves already raw, but he couldn't stop it. He could never stop it. He could not even slow it down.

He didn't even have lungs anymore.

Mechanisms hardwired into his chest breathed for him. They would pump oxygen into his bloodstream forever.

"_Lord Vader, can you hear me?"_

And he couldn't, not in the way he once did. Sensors in the shell that prisoned his head trickled meaning directly into his brain.

He opened his scorched pale eyes; optical sensors integrated light and shadow into a hideous simulacrum of the world around him.

Or perhaps is was the simulacrum that was perfect, and the world that was hideous.

_Arica? Are you here? Are you all right?_ he tried to say, but another voice spoke it for him, out from the vocabulator that now served him for burned-away lips, tongue, and throat.

"Arica? Are you here? Are you all right?"

* * *

The moment Arica saw the table her husband was laying on rotate to a vertical position and laid eyes on him clad in a suit of the darkest black, she gasped. She was wondered, intrigued, and terrified by what she saw, and for a moment did nothing but stare. A gentle tap on her shoulder, however, brought her out of her revive. Glancing over she saw it was Antellica. She looked concerned, but did not speak. She didn't need to. Arica read the suggestion to go down to where Anakin was in her eyes. 

Proceeding towards the side stairs not far down the white-walled hall, Arica didn't sense her sister following. She turned and sent her a questioning look that was returned with one of confusion. _"What?"_

It wasn't intended to come out telepathically, but it did. Arica was also mildly surprised but merely smiled.

"_Will you not come with me Antellica?"_

Antellica offered her a small smile and nodded before following her sister down the stairs.

They heard the surgeon droid tell Sidious that it was a success and Anakin was alive and well. So the droid didn't say the last part. Yet that's what Arica was hoping for.

Sidious was standing about a meter away from where Vader was strapped. He seemed to study him a moment before speaking.

"Lord Vader, can you hear me?"

For a moment Vader remained silent, the only sound being that of the respirator from his life-sustaining suit.

Then a deep, bass-like voice spoke.

"Arica? Are you here? Are you all right?"

For a moment, Arica wasn't sure where the voice came from. Then she realized in horror when she heard Antellica gasp beside her, that it was Anakin who'd spoken. Arica was very much taken aback by this. She'd been told beforehand that the vocabulator that was being installed in Vader's throat would deepen his voice a bit. But not this much.

Catching sight of his wife, Anakin broke free of the straps that held him to the table and took a step forward towards her. His artificial legs were so heavy to lift however, that he found himself nearly toppling over as he made another step forward. If not for the Force, he would've fallen over.

"Arica?" he repeated.

The three emotions Arica felt while gazing upon her husband suited for the first time had gone down to just two: intrigued and terrified. As he came closer though, the intrigue quickly vanished and all Arica felt was terror and fear. The suit her husband would now wear for the rest of his life made him look like a monster.

As he continued towards her, she continued to back away. He didn't understand. Why wasn't she wrapping herself in his arms, saying how worried she was about him and asking how he was? Why was she backing away from him in fear like he was some sort of monster?

"Arica?" he tried again. "Are you all right, my love?"

Arica's eyes began to tear as she realized Anakin thought the reason she was backing away from him had to do with something that was wrong with her; not him. It broke her heart. How was she supposed to tell him he reminded her of a monster?

Arica eventually ran out of space to back away from him, and found herself up against a wall as the hulking figure of her husband continued to come nearer.

Anakin was truly confused over his wife's behavior. He understood that the suit made him look different, but he couldn't look _that_ bad with it on. And if he did – he cringed at the thought – didn't she realize that no matter what he looked like on the outside, he was still the same person and loved her just as much as he always had on the inside?

By now he'd finally reached her. They stood face to face looking at each other. As he took a closer look at her face, he saw that silent tears were running down her cheeks. He raised his left hand to her face and wiped away her tears with his black gloved hand.

"Arica, my love," he tried whispering, but it came out just as loud, "please tell me what's wrong. Is it me? Am I frighting you?"

At that, Arica's eyes welled up to even more tears and he got his answer. He made to hold her, tell her everything was all right, but she wouldn't let him.

The moment he touched her, she jerked away from him and ran away in tears. He called after her, but she did not respond.

Anakin felt deeply hurt and ashamed of his new appearance.

"Ah, don't worry about your wife too much Lord Vader," the voice of Sidious said and he turned to see the Sith approaching him. "She'll come around once she gets used to it."

_If she gets used to it,_ he couldn't help but think.

Nodding to Sidious, Anakin turned his attention to Antellica. She was hiding in the shadows and trying, without much success, to make herself look small and insignificant.

He tentatively made towards her, half expecting the same reaction he got from Arica. It didn't come.

As he continued towards her, she slowly stepped out of the shadows and walked towards him.

When they met, she looked up through the dark lenses of the mask that shielded his eyes from the outside world. But despite that her eyes were locked with his. She simply looked at him a moment and her face took on a smile. Reaching up, she took his mask in her hands and kissed the side of it.

Sighing in a mixture of happiness and relief, he took her into his arms and held her close. Antellica returned the embrace just as warmly.

When they broke apart, he spoke. "Thank you Antellica, for not running away from me. I know I must look...different now, but you know I'm no different than I was before."

"I know," she said softly. "Arica'll be all right. She just needs some space that's all. Time to adjust. She blames herself for what happened to you, you know."

This surprised him greatly. "No, no I didn't."

"You should also know that...he escaped...with Luke."

"I know," Anakin said. "I figured as much when I didn't see Luke around anywhere."

"We tried to catch him but..."  
"I know. It's all right Antellica." He took her into his arms again and they embraced once more.

The emperor was utterly disgusted to see Vader embracing the treacherous Antellica like there was nothing wrong with her. He, however, would put an end to the nonsense. Clearing his throat loudly got them to look in his direction. He noticed Vader tighten his hold on Antellica in a protective fashion. The Sith master nearly laughed out loud.

"I'm going to have to ask you to release Antellica, Lord Vader," he cooed. "It's high time she went to jail for her crimes against the Empire."

Vader seemed to study him a moment before replying. "Really? Well I say different. And what I say is that Antellica and her son come to live at Skywalker Manor with myself and Arica."

The emperor smirked and decided to humor his apprentice. "Come now Lord Vader, surely you know whom we're speaking of: Antellica Kenobi, traitor of the Empire. You can't possibly be serious about wanting her to go free without a sentence."

"Antellica may be a traitor of your empire, but she's not one of mine."

The amusement left Sidious' face as he realized what it was exactly that Vader had said. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean Lord Vader?"

Vader smirked beneath the mask. His dethroning of Palpatine may not have been as he'd always imagined, but it was happening nonetheless.

Catching onto Vader's thoughts, the emperor smirked. "Now then Lord Vader. You can't possibly still be thinking about dethroning me after all you've through the past several hours."

Again, Vader smirked, and though it couldn't be seen, it was heard in his voice. "Think again Sidious, because your time has officially come to an end."

Without warning, Vader threw an extremely powerful Force push at the Sith Lord. Sidious was slammed hard against the nearby wall and Vader told Antellica to flee before he could get up.

"Oh no, I'm not leaving Anakin," she defiantly stated. "Not after what happened to you with Kenobi."

Vader and Veradisia had to duck at that moment for Sidious had regained footing and threw a Force push of his own at them. Instead of hitting them though, it hit the wall on the other side of the room.

Quickly rising from the floor, Vader kept Veradisia down as he kicked Sidious hard in the gut as the Sith master made a lunge at him. The impact of the kick mixed with the weight of the artificial leg and boot covering it had Sidious toppling back to the floor.

Vader took advantage of this display of weakness by reaching down and gripping the Sith hard around the throat, yanked him off the floor and threw him across the room. Sidious crash landed in some of the medical equipment. But he wasn't down long. He hastily made to get up, only he was being kicked back down hard by Vader and Veradisia. They'd backflipped across the room the moment after Vader threw Sidious.

When the emperor was finally able to pick himself back up, he quickly made to activate his lightsaber only Vader and Veradisia called upon the Force at the same time to take it from him. Vader caught it in his hands and activated it; at the same time Veradisia activated her own orange blade.

Growling, Sidious ducked as the two made slashes at him and backflipped to the other side of the room. As the young fools rushed at him, he rose his hands and struck lightning out of them.

The two had already anticipated this so were ready. They rose their sabers before them and deflected the lightning back at the old Sith. But since he continued to pour lightning out at them, it was suspended between the three. Both sides struggled to force the lightning at their opponent.

Sidious, who considered himself stronger then the two of them combined, smirked as he attempted to force the lightning back at Vader and Veradisia. But that's where he let his arrogance cloud his judgment, because despite the fact that Vader's body had been handicapped, his connection to the Force had not and combined with Veradisia's power, the pair were a great deal more powerful then the arrogant Sith master.

The two made eye contact briefly before pulling their lightsabers back slightly at the same time and swinging them forward. Sidious lost his grip on the flow of Force lightning and was struck backwards into the wall. At that same moment, Zenevieva and Da-xia appeared, lightsabers lit as they jumped down from the balcony into the room below.

Unbeknown to Sidious, while they were fighting Veradisia contacted her sister telepathically to come and help out and to bring Da-xia with her. Zenevieva landed on Vader's right, and Da-xia on Veradisia's left.

The slam into the wall had winded and surprised Sidious. He'd clearly underestimated these two. This was affirmed a second time when Zenevieva and Da-xia appeared out of no where with their lightsabers lit and ready to aid Vader and Veradisia.

As the four Sith began to advance on him, he decided to talk his way out.

"You do realize Lord Vader, that if you wish to be successful in this dethroning of yours, you'll have to kill not just me but Padme, Charlotte, and my other four children as well."

"Four children?!" Vader spat. "You don't have four children with Charlotte, only one."

As Sidious continued to be backed into the wall, he cackled. "That's what you think. But you don't know about the other three. You were never told."

Vader knew that Sidious was just trying to distract him, and he wasn't falling for it. So remaining silent, he and his fellow three continued toward the outmatched Sidious.

This was not what was supposed to be happening, Sidious seethed to himself. It'd been his intention to startle the four with the news of his triplets that Charlotte now carried as a way to imply he had older children around Padme's age that he'd never spoken of. Sadly, they didn't buy it.

Sidious' eyes darted between the four perpetually, looking for an opening. There was none. He wouldn't risk backflipping out of the circle that was being formed around him; he could easily get himself sliced in half mid-flip. He wouldn't attempt at Force lightning or pushes again. Now that there were four of them – even the foolishly weak Da-xia – Sidious wouldn't even attempt it. And though his mind was racing as to what to do, he was not at all worried. The secret to immortality would keep him alive no matter how they tried to kill him.

When the younger Sith were upon him, they all brought their blades down at once. But before the blows could even touch him, he made a sudden, surprising move. Calling Da-xia's lightsaber from her, he pared the attacks from Vader, Zenevieva, and Veradisia, and then abruptly swung his body around and slashed at Da-xia's head. No one was able to prevent the attack. Da-xia ducked, but not fast enough as Sidious successfully sliced off her head.

The Sith emperor realized his mistake all too late. The distraction he'd been hoping to cause with Da-xia's death never came. It only enraged the remaining three even more. They came at him in aggressive hatred. The duel was over before it started. Sidious never had a chance against the three of them, and even if it had just been he and Vader, he still wouldn't have had a chance for it was Vader who plunged Sidious' own blade inside the Sith Lord's jugglen and then out the other side of his neck.

Sidious dropped Da-xia's lightsaber and grabbed at his throat. A massive amount of blood was flowing out of it, and he was demanding the midi-chlorians to sustain his life. A second later though, his chest was being pierced into and before he could do anything to stop it the lightsaber had gone straight through his heart and then out his back. The blade was then roughly pulled out of him. Sidious found himself coughing up blood and looking into the triumphant faces of the Grievous twins and the expressionless mask of Darth Vader. He tried as best he could to hang onto his life force, but for the first time in his one thousand and thirty years of living, his life was out of his hands.

Vader lifted his foot and sharply kicked Sidious to the ground. The old Sith fell to the floor, blood still spilling out of his mouth, neck, and chest. Vader stood over him, his wife and sister-in-law by his side, and the sound of a sneer came from within the mask.

"You were a fool Sidious to possibly think you could continue holding me back from taking what's rightfully mine. And now I shall rule as Emperor. As I always intended to. With my wife and family by my side."

And before Sidious could even react, Vader stabbed Sidious' lightsaber into the owner's brain.

The deed was done. Darth Sidious – legendary Sith of the Old Era – was dead. Killed by Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, the 'Chosen One.' Balance had not been brought back to the Force fully, but a large amount of darkness had been eliminated from it.

* * *

All across the galaxy, all Force sensitives felt the death of the Sith Lord. But none more then Darth Lady Baynetta, the firstborn child of Darth Sidious. 

The Sith Lady had been going over her royal morning reports when she felt her father in pain. She doubled over in her chair and clutched at her throat. Her aids, who were nearby, rushed towards her, asking what was wrong and if she was all right but she didn't answer. She wasn't able to. Her father was in pain and so was she.

An instant later, she felt a piercing pain through her heart and screamed because she thought it was going to explode. With her eyes squeezed shut, she was able to get glimpses of her father coughing up blood out of his mouth. She demanded of the Force to tell her who was doing this to him. A vision was then shown to her and she saw and heard Vader, in a life-sustaining suit, and the Grievous sisters killing her father.

Baynetta screamed in agony as he died, but did pick up the soft whisper of "Avenge me" from her father.

Grabbing a hold of her emotions, she rose from the floor and would do her father's dying request. She would avenge him and rule the galaxy solely herself.

The Jedi had a different reaction to the Emperor's death. Though pleased that he'd been eliminated, it came as a great shock to them. Who could have done it? It couldn't be Vader because he was dead. There was no way he could've survived Mustafar. Arica or Antellica perhaps? Padme?

Only time would tell when a new Emperor or Empress stepped forward.

* * *

For a moment, neither Vader, Zenevieva, nor Veradisia moved as they gazed down at the dead form of Sidious. They simply stared. All were in shock. They couldn't believe it had actually happened. Sidious was no more. 

"Oh Anakin!" Arica exclaimed gazing down at the corpse of her former master in happiness, continuing to register in her mind what had just happened. "He's really...gone. This is for real. It's not a dream."

She turned to look at him and hesitated. She still thought the suit made him look terrifying and monstrous, but she had wanted her husband to live by any means necessary; not like this though, not as a part human, part mechanical thing. But the important thing was that he was still alive, even if it wasn't the way she'd wanted it.

Anakin looked back at Arica hopefully, wanting her to accept him back into her life.

She tentatively took a step toward him and reached out a hand, running it along the side of his mask and over his mouthpiece. And though her eyes did tear up a bit, Arica found herself falling into his arms and crying over how sorry she was and how she must've hurt him so badly.

Anakin brushed all this aside and told her not to worry about it. He was just so happy he had his wife back. Breaking apart ever so slightly a moment later, he wiped away Arica's tears and held her in his arms.

"Arica my love," he started slowly, "I understand things will be different with us now, but please-"

"Shh." She placed a hand over his mouthpiece. "We can work around those differences Anakin. I love you and I always will."

"Oh Arica." He pulled her deeper into his arms and they simply held each other.

Antellica, who was happy about Sidious' death and Anakin and Arica's reunion, quickly turned her attention to Andrea. She hadn't known the girl long, but in the brief conversation they had she seemed like a nice person. Anakin and Arica joined her on the floor a moment later.

Arica was heartbroken over Andrea's death. The girl had been like a sister to her. Many times, Arica found herself using Andrea as a way to fill the void Antellica had once filled. And now that she had Antellica back, Andrea was gone. Looking down at her decapitated body and head, her eyes filled with tears as she remembered all the happy and humorous times they'd shared. Like the time Arica caught her having a food fight with the kids and then joining in, and that time Andrea had cheered her up during her first pregnancy when she hadn't been feeling well by putting on a puppet show for her and having the characters talk in all these funny voices. There had also been the time Andrea had done this drunken sailor dance to be humorous during this boring church service they'd been required to attend.

Overcome with emotion as she remembered these memories, Arica fell into her husband's waiting arms and cried. Both Anakin and Antellica comforted her. Anakin was a little upset about Andrea's death too, but didn't cry. It wouldn't be a good idea to do so with the mask anyway.

When Arica finally pulled herself together, Antellica alerted the droids that had fled the room when the fighting began to have both Andrea's and Sidious' bodies moved out of the laboratory. While Anakin ordered Sidious' to be burned, Andrea's was to be buried later on in the week so remained idle inside a room on the floor below.

* * *

The next matter to be dealt with was Baynetta. The three of them knew that she'd most definitely felt her father's death, and would be now even as they spoke coming to the capital to avenge him. But they would be ready for her. 

Upon their leaving of the Surgical Reconstruction Center, they went directly to the HoloNet studios in the Entertainment District of Galactic City to inform the press and public of the Emperor's death.

Shock was what everyone felt at this news and naturally everyone wanted their questions concerning the matter answered. A press conference was scheduled at 1200 that day at the Old Imperial Palace.

In the time that led up to this, Anakin informed Moff Jovovich of her husband's death personally and gave her the proposition for she and her children to live – for he'd figured that the other three Sidious had spoken of were triplets Charlotte was now pregnant with, and she confirmed this when asked – if she stepped down from the rank of the Empire's Queen. He and Arica had always liked Charlotte, which is the reason she was offered this. They knew she would go through with it; there were times when it seemed that she didn't really even want to be married to Sidious at all.

Her reaction to his death was shock, but also happiness that she was finally free of him forever. She happily stepped down from the throne and was even going to move out of the Palace had Anakin and Arica not stopped her. In their eyes, Skywalker Manor was the new Imperial Palace. The old one would simply be used as an office headquarters.

As for the matter of Baynetta, that would be dealt with in an easy fashion. As soon as she arrived out of hyperspace outside Coruscant, the navy would be in position to shot her ship out of the sky. As easy as pie.

Two other things that happened before the press conference was Anakin returning to the surgical center to have adjustments done to his suit to make it more comfortable to wear and walk in. He'd never get back the old flamboyance he once had, but once the adjustments were made he was much happier with the suit.

The other thing that occurred was Anakin finally learning of his wife's second pregnancy. She'd told him before, but he hadn't much paid attention with everything else on his mind. She told him again as soon as the operations to his suit were done. He was overjoyed by the news and twirled her around in happiness.

But only then did he realize the dilemma of an intimacy relationship with his wife in his present state. Surprisingly enough, his manly organ had not been damaged that much and was still active. Yet all the same, how would they be able to do anything intimate together in his condition? Would he even be able to?

When he presented these questions to Arica, she told him not to worry too much. "We'll think of something."

The press conference took place at its scheduled time and all went as planned concerning the empress. While Anakin and the Grievous sisters were answering questions from a crowd of journalists and reporters, the navy, under the command of Commander Piett, positioned itself and shot Baynetta's ship out of the sky as soon as it arrived outside the planet at its scheduled time of 1450 on the button.

Anakin Skywalker, who would go by the title Emperor Skywalker from here on out, was now the official ruler of the Galactic Empire, with his wife Arica serving by his side as Empress Grievous-Skywalker.

Charlotte retained her position as Moff and Senator of Naboo, and Antellica, after her name was cleared, was given the Emperor's former job as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, something she took with much pride and honor, along with the title of Queen of the Galactic Empire, and third in command of the government.

Naturally, everyone wasn't happy with the new Emperor and Empress and opposition arose, but they were swiftly eliminated. The new Emperor also had Breha Organa executed for aiding the Jedi in hiding his daughter for the past five years, and peace was re-established in the galaxy.


	44. The Jedi Go Into Hiding Once More

Author's Note: I would've uploaded this much sooner, but the site was having problems. Than, my computer started acting up and still is, so I'm posting this from the library. This is the last chapter of Episode VI, then we move onto a brief epilogue and Episode VII. More news on the hiatus will be featured in the next update. I'd also like to thank all of you for your support and kind reviews so far. They may not seem like much to you, but they really are.

Chapter 43 responses:

MissNaye: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter's happenings.

Thrawn716: The lightning was deflected by his lightsaber, so did not touch the suit. As for the second question, only time will tell.

arzu: And what's most exciting about it is that it was completely unexpected.

Twisted Words: I can neither comfirm nor deny Padme's death. You'll just have to wait and see.

dmitchell: Again, for the matter of a particular empress, I will say "No comment". As for the hiatus, I'm sorry but I have to edit Episode VII fully, and maybe VIII while I'm at it. Plus, I'm still typing up IX. But I will not, I repeat _will not_ leave you guys hanging on this. I enjoy doing it too much and hearing what you have to say about it.

_Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire_

Chapter 44: The Jedi Go Into Hiding Once More

During this same period of time, what with the New Imperial Order of the Grievous-Skywalkers, the Jedi, meanwhile, went into hiding on the outer rim world Zonama Sekot to train the Skywalker twins there in the path of the Jedi.

It'd come as a large shock to Obi-Wan and Yoda to discover that Vader had not only survived Mustafar, but also dethroned Sidious and proclaimed himself the new Emperor. Upon learning this, they immediately left Chandrila for the outer rim.

Obi-Wan had retreated to the Core world after his duel with Vader on Mustafar. And the journey was one he'd never forget, because it included him breaking the heart of a little boy, thus causing him to hate him.

All the while Obi-Wan had been making their getaway on _Spiraled Avalanche_ after the duel, Luke had been pestering him with questions concerning his father. Only Obi-Wan hadn't bothered to answer because he was more concerned with getting into hyperspace and out of the Empire's clutches. Once this was successfully accomplished, however, he finally turned his attention to Luke. The boy was still barking out questions.

"Why did you just make the jump to light speed? How come I'm not with my father? You tell me what happened, you nerf! Now!"

When Luke finally fell silent, Obi-Wan gave him a pained expression. "I'm sorry Luke," he said after a moment, "he died. Because of that, you are to stay with me."

A brief look of panic seemed to cross Luke's face, but the boy made sure to quickly brush it off with a scoff. "No. You're lying! He's not dead! Just like before, you're doing it again. You're lying. You let me out of here! Let me out of here now! I wanna go live with my mother!"

That statement took Obi-Wan by surprise. It was common knowledge among the empire that Empress Amidala couldn't give a care about her children with Vader. She wouldn't take or want Luke, and Obi-Wan didn't know how to tell the boy this.

"Luke, your mother, she-she doesn't really want you, you see, she-"

"I don't mean Baynetta!"

Obi-Wan was taken slightly aback by the bitterness and hatred in Luke's tone when he spat out his mother's Sith name. Vader had obviously told his son about his heartbreak.

"I mean Arica," he continued.

Again, Obi-Wan was taken by slight surprise. "Luke, Arica isn't your mother," he tried to explain, but Luke wouldn't hear of it.

"Yes she is. Dad said so. He said she's my new mom. So even if what you're saying about dad is true," he held back a sob, "you can't stop me from living with her."

"You can't live with her Luke," Obi-Wan objected. "She's not your mother."

"And you are?" The boy challenged.

Obi-Wan remained silent.

"You think because you'll never see your son and Antellica again, you can take me as a way for revenge."

Obi-Wan became quite irritated at that remark. "That's not true Luke."

"Of course it's true," the boy countered. "And you're mad because you'll have no part of your future daughter's life. Antellica doesn't want you anymore, old man. She-"

"That's quite enough out of you, young one." Obi-Wan found himself biting back anger. "Return to the back and leave me in peace."

Luke scoffed. "You can't tell me what to do."

"I can and I will." The anger was now starting to be heard in Obi-Wan's tone despite his better wishes. "Now return to the back immediately."

"No!" Luke shot back. "I'm not doing anything you say. You shut up and let me do all the talking for a change."

"I will not put up with anymore of your defiance, young one." Obi-Wan was on his feet. Grabbing Luke by the scrape of his neck, he carried him to a back closet and pushed the boy inside. "When I come back to retrieve you, I expect an apology."

The door was slammed in Luke's face and Obi-Wan Force sealed it shut so he couldn't come out. As he stepped away from the door, however, he heard the unmistakable sound of Luke crying. Obi-Wan started to feel ashamed of his actions towards the boy, but it had to be done. Returning to the cockpit, he spent the remainder of the journey meditating.

Twelve and a quarter hours later, _Spiraled Avalanche_ came upon Chandrila, and Obi-Wan let Luke out of the closet, not at all surprised when he didn't receive an apology from the boy. Actually, he didn't receive anything from him. Luke merely kept his head down in defiance and said nothing. Obi-Wan choose to shrug this off and not say anything. After all, he didn't wish to start another bickering match.

Upon reaching the Hanna Royal Palace in the world's capital city of the same name, Queen Nagida herself greeted them at the door. Obi-Wan was slightly surprised she'd known he was coming beforehand when he hadn't called ahead. This query was answered at entrance inside the palace's throne room. Within was the small green form of Master Yoda, and standing beside him, slightly taller, was Luke's twin Leila.

At the twins catching sight of one another, they both froze and examined each other from afar. It was obvious the recognition was apparent to both; you could see it in the way they looked at one another. After a moment of this, Leila clapped together her hands excitedly and gave a delighted squeal before bounding over to Luke at a run. Luke, for the first time in the past few hours, was actually happy. He met his twin halfway and they hugged, happy to be back together after all their years apart.

Obi-Wan smiled at the scene. Bringing the twins back together was the best thing that could've been done for them. It was risky yes, but despite the risk, it would be better in the long run.

Luke and Leila were given their due privacy as the adults moved into another room to bring each other up to speed on recent galactic events.

The Jedi knew it wouldn't be safe to stay on Chandrila for long, despite the Queen's wishes for them to remain as long as they liked, even offering them her palace as refuge to live at permanently if they wished it. Obi-Wan and Yoda both declined this generous offer, saying that if they took her up on it, she would be in the same amount of danger they were in, and they didn't wish to bring that upon her. She understood and they left the next day after learning of the changes in the empire.

The reason Obi-Wan and Yoda choose Zonama Sekot as a place to hide was because of its location in the galaxy. It was the last planet in known space before you moved onto the Unknown Regions, or as it was now known, Imperial Space.

Ever since Arica Grievous-Skywalker's discovery of planets in the Unknown Regions, that part of space had been dubbed the Imperial name by the late Emperor Palaptine; something that would probably be kept within Emperor Skywalker's rule.

The planets within this area of space were owned directly by the crown, and the only people allowed to venture within had to have clearance from the crown itself. Ships were positioned at each end of the sector to ensure that this law was kept. If not, the Jedi would've hid out there. But Zonama Sekot was perfect. It was uninhabited by humans; the only species that dwelt within it being that of the natives that occupied the northeast and west parts of the semi-tropical world – the Ferroan (pale-blue skinned humanoids with gold eyes) and Langhesi (red-skinned humanoids indigenous to planet Langhesa). Besides a few other species of animals, the planet was isolated. And besides scientists that came to the planet from time to time, no one was interested in going to a living planet. They would be safe there.


	45. Episode VI Epilogue

Author's Note: This is it! The end is here, at least of this episode anyway. As for the hiatus, it's still set for two weeks, in which I hope to get much accomplished with this. Since Episode VII only has thirteen chapters, there probably won't be a hiatus between that episode and VIII, though I can guarantee a hiatus between VIII and IX, and IX and X.

Epilogue

Exactly nine months after the dethroning of Palpatine – 5.11 IE – the Imperial Queen Antellica Grievous gave birth to a healthy baby girl, whom was named Anneliese (pronounced Ah-na-lee-za) Olencia Chelsea Grievous. The day after that, the Empress Arica Grievous-Skywalker gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom was named Troy Zachary Stavros Grievous Skywalker. And a week after that, Moff/Senator Jovovich gave birth to a two girl, one boy triplets set: Bellatrix Parvati, Braxton Cameron, and Blondelle Nefertiri Jovovich.

Like Antellica, Charlotte did not give her children their father's last name, only hers, and she even went as far as having Drake's 'Palpatine' last name removed legally. Antellica did the same with Alexander, having her surname replaced with Kenobi.

All in the galaxy continued to go well in peace as the House of the Emperor and Empress Skywalker continued to prosper and multiply.

A year and two months after Troy was born – 7.0 IE – the Imperial rulers welcomed a daughter who was named Gabriella Vanessa Melania.

A year and three months after that – 8.3 IE – another daughter was born to them, Elektra Anastasia Renae, and another, River Ilithya Tanzania, a year and two months after that – 9.5 IE.

A two year, four month hiatus period took place before any others were born – 11.9 IE – another set of twins, but boys this time – Dylan Link Phoenix and Cole Arezzo Eli

A year and six months after that – 13.3 IE – yet another girl was born – Philomena Haney Aliana.

It was at this point that the empress was through having children. She didn't want any more. And when her husband jokingly asked her what she'd do if he impregnated her again, her coy reply was that he didn't want to know.

As the years went by, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda trained Luke and Leila Skywalker in the path of the Jedi. Both took to their training very well, and while Luke had defiantly rebelled against the Jedi at first, he eventually grew out of this through much urging from his sister.

The twins grew very close and formed a special unbreakable bond through the Force and themselves. Obi-Wan and Yoda were both very proud of the two and knew in time, great things would become of them and that they'd be able to tip the scale of the Force, bringing it back into balance.


	46. Episode VII

Author's Note: What do ya know? I'm posting eight days earlier than expected! Why? Because I finished editing early. My computer's still down, however I can use it in safe mode only. I'm again posting from the library, but that's okay. For now. I think my PC's probably going to be looked at this weekend. But then I'm not entirely sure.

In the epilogue, I changed one thing. It was a typo. Anakin and Arica's youngest child and daughter's name is Philomena, not Philamena as I put. Anyway, besides that everything else was fine. Thanks a million for the reviews. As previously said, I enjoy reading them so much.

Well, here we are at the start of a new episode. It's so exciting! Once again, I thought I'd inform you that this episode has fourteen chapters and spans over the course of two years. I estimate we'll probably breeze by this one in no shorter time than a month. I'm also adding another disclaimer: Star Wars is the sole creation of George Lucas and no other. Despite what many may think, my parents included, there is nothing wrong with writing fan fiction so long as you're not making money off of it and do credit the original creator. It's not plagiarism, it's called fun. Hasn't anyone heard of alternate universes?

* * *

_**The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 2-The Domination of the Sith**_

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire

* * *

_

Dramatis Personae 

Alexander Grievous; Commanding General of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human male)

Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader; Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lord of the Sith (human/cyborg male)

Anneliese Grievous; Commanding General of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human female)

Antellica Grievous / Darth Lady Veradisia; Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Dark Lady of the Sith (human female)

Arica Grievous-Skywalker / Darth Lady Zenevieva; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lady of the Sith (human female)

Charlotte Jovovich; Grand Imperial Moff (human female)

Cole Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire (human male)

Drake Jovovich; Empress' Hand, Sith Knight (human male)

Dylan Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire (human male)

Elektra Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire (human female)

Firmus Piett; Commander of the _Death Star_ (human male)

Gabriella Grievous Skywalker; Second Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire (human female)

Hilton Grievous Skywalker; First Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire (human male)

Lacovia Grievous Skywalker; First Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Emperor's Hand, Sith Knight (human female)

Leila Skywalker / Leia Organa: Jedi Knight, Leader of the Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic, Princess of Alderaan (human female)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Knight, Leader of the Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (human male)

Obi-Wan Kenobi; Jedi Master, Leader of the Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (human male)

Philomena Grievous Skywalker; Fifth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire (human female)

River Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire (human female)

Troy Grievous Skywalker: Second Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire (human male)

Wilhuff Tarkin: Second-in-Command Grand Imperial Moff (human male)

Yoda: Jedi Master, Leader of the Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic (male unknown tridactyl species)

* * *

Chapter 1: The Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic

Year 18.0, Imperial Era (IE)

The relative calm and peace that had been established in the galaxy since the dethroning of Emperor Palpatine by Darth Vader almost thirteen years previous was for the first time abruptly broken on the Empire's eighteenth year anniversary. On that fateful day, Emperor Skywalker announced that the Senate was being disbanded completely. No longer would control of the galaxy be kept through democracy loving Senators, but through an assembly of Regional Governors.

Before, these governors, most of whom had been replaced when Skywalker dethroned Palpatine for their love of the late Emperor, had only had a moderate amount of control of the system they were assigned to; now they were given direct control of its entirety. Fear is what would keep the systems in line; fear of a possible war outbreak.

Word of this new Act spread across the galaxy like wildfire; through the depths of the Inner and Mid Rims to the far out reaches of the Outer. All the way to the world that laid at the edge of the Outer Rim, Zonama Sekot, and was mostly uninhabited with the exception of two Jedi from the Old Order that were presently all but known as dead, and the firstborn twin Royal Prince and Princess of the Imperial throne, currently assumed "missing."

(For many years, search parties had been sent out to look for the four, but all had come up empty handed. The Emperor refused to believe his children to be dead, knowing they were out there somewhere, so simply dubbed them as "missing.")

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda were the names of the first two, and when they learned of this new Imperial Act, they knew the time had finally come for they themselves to also act. The inactive royalty, the Emperor's firstborn twins, Luke and Leila, were presently some months shy of turning eighteen and, under the direction of both Jedi, had been molded into accomplished Padawan learners. Kenobi and Yoda believed them to be more than ready for Imperial warfare.

Upon being asked how they felt concerning the matter, each twin had a different reaction. Leila, poised and proper as always, voiced that she also believed herself to be ready, but would not object if the Jedi Masters thought otherwise. Luke, on the other hand, didn't even attempt at hiding his joyous satisfaction at the prospect of leaving Zonama Sekot, and said he believed himself to be more then ready for what was out there. And even if Leila wasn't as outspoken on the matter, it was obvious she wanted off Zonama Sekot just as much as Luke did, if not more. She simply didn't say anything as a way to make herself not come across as a complaining adolescent.

It was in this way that Luke and Leila were very different. While Leila was outspoken to the point of feisty bluntness, Luke was outspoken to the point of discontent in the sense that he was always finding something or the other to complain about. Another difference was Luke's quick to anger attitude. Leila was the more rational one, wanting to know the entire situation before firing up in anger. Luke was always jumping to conclusions, acting and than thinking.

Though both had their own flaws, they each complimented one another in their separate abilities and personalities. And though they had the occasional spat from time to time, in the end of the day they truly were glad to have each other.

Without a doubt, however, something they both agreed on was getting off Zonama Sekot. Fascinating planet though it was, with its lush jungles and grassy plains that the twins enjoyed exploring, and interesting natives – the pale-blue skinned humanoid Ferroans, and the red-skinned Langhesi – whom they'd all met on occasion though they usually kept to themselves, after living on it two months shy of thirteen years, they were both utterly exhausted of Zonama Sekot and wanted a change of scenery.

The next few days were spent with the Jedi group of four making preparations to leave the far out world – packing up the few belongings they called their own (clothes and such), refueling their star cruiser, _Spiraled Avalanche_, and assuring that it was all right to fly again.

The final thing done before they left was inform the natives of their departure. However less the Jedi and natives socialized, they were acquaintances and held the utmost respect for one another. The Jedi thought it only fair that the natives know of their departure. Both tribes had already been told why the Jedi were here to begin with, so knew this day would come eventually. A small bonfire celebration was held on the eve of their leave at the Langhesi's village in honor of the Jedi with the Ferroans also present. It was full of nourishment, conversation, and dancing. The natives wished the Jedi good fortune and welcomed them to come back anytime. After a good night's sleep, the Jedi left the next morning bound for the Core.

It took roughly two weeks to reach, in which time they contacted Queen Nagida of Chandrila to inform her they were coming. The Queen, who'd been an ally of theirs since the beginning of the Empire, was shocked to hear from them. She'd long thought they were dead when nothing had been heard of them over the long years, despite the fact of being told they were going into hiding. She was quite pleased to know they were returning to the scene and more than welcomed them onto her planet.

"If ever there was the time to rebuild the rebel alliance," she'd said, "it is now."

_Spiraled Avalanche_ arrived on Chandrila a few days later and docked at the Queen's private landing bay behind her home to avoid being searched by Imperials.

Ever since the "Governance Act", as it was being called, had been passed and the Senate disbanded, all systems in the Empire were currently being flooded by Imperial agents and stormtroopers. They were stationed there by the Emperor for two reasons:

1)-For the safety of each system's Regional Governor, and

2)-so the Emperor could assure that the systems stayed in line.

Though the second reason wasn't said outright, it was implied.

Things had gone bad in the galaxy. It was just like when the 'No Alien Act' was passed all those years ago, except that unlike before there were no alternate organizations the people could turn to. And they were much too afraid to start anything themselves out of fear of death. Through his Regional Governors, the Emperor ruled the galaxy with an iron fist. The last traces of democracy had gone, dictatorship is what fully ruled now. But not if the Jedi could help it.

Meeting with the Chandrilan Queen and some respected members of her court, the Jedi began to make plans concerning the rebellion's rebuilding. They would travel to various planets in the empire with the proposal for them to join. This would be hard to do naturally, to work around the Imperials as not to arouse suspicion at first. It was also sure to be dangerous, but the Jedi knew it could be done.

The four of them set out on their missions the next day, together as a unit, going to a large group of planets in the Inner, Mid, and Outer Rims as well as the Core, Colonies, and Expansion Region, and secretly meeting with the planet's leaders concerning the Second Rebel Alliance. As expected, mixed reactions were received. Most of the leaders were too fearful to join no matter how much they wanted to. Those planets were left with the invitation of should they change their mind to contact them. Other planet leaders were suspicious. Not so much of the alliance itself, or the older Jedi leading it, but the younger leaders, Luke and Leila. At the learning of the twins' identity, it took a lot to convince them that the two weren't acting as spies for the Empire and were actually against it. These simply found it too hard to believe that the firstborn Royal heirs would want to overthrow their own father. After much more explanations and assurances, however, some joined while others wanted to think it over more.

A medium-sized amount of other systems joined as soon as the Jedi proposed the alliance. And one system, Yavin, even went as far as offering one of its small, uninhabited moons as a base of operations. This was most appreciated because for a while they hadn't known where they were going to station the base. And the Yavin system was located in the perfect position to have one. It was in the Outer Rim, out on its own in space. The surrounding planets and systems being more then ten light-years away.

Nevertheless, other planets weren't as loving concerning the Rebellion. They were true supporters of the Empire all the way and claimed this alliance as treason. More then once the Jedi had to escape planets such as these under the gunfire of Imperials, but they always made it through.

The treason that came with the Rebel Alliance's reformation traveled quickly through the Empire and in no time Emperor Skywalker was being informed of it. Not much information was known, except that it was being led by four Jedi: a middle-aged Human male, a small green alien of an unknown species, and two young Humans who appeared to be in their late teens, a male and a female.

The Emperor was both furious and pleased by this news. Furious that the Jedi were still alive and causing chaos in his Empire. Yet also pleased when he thought about the younger Jedi with Kenobi and Yoda. His oldest children were alive and well. All that needed to be done now, besides eliminating this budding rebellion before it became too large, was for the twins to be gotten hold of and brought to him. Once he, their father, was finished talking to them, the Jedi's whole plot of turning his children against him would fail and the Jedi would die.

Smiling evilly behind the mask, Emperor Skywalker ordered the Intelligence operatives that alerted him of the news to find out all the information they could concerning the alliance. Afterwards, he had bounties of five hundred billion credits put out on the four Jedi. All for capture only, and singularly. He would deal with each of them himself, but most especially Kenobi for putting him in the condition he'd been enduring for the past almost thirteen years now. Having to be confined to a life-sustaining suit to stay alive for the rest of his days, and only being allowed out in a special oxygen-engulfed room. Going through the many tests of a possible cure and restoration of his limbs, only to have his hopes dashed and be told that he alone was a special, incurable case, and that he was fortunate to even be alive in the state he was.

He and all those around him – his children included – had grown accustomed to him in the suit, but Anakin still had anger phases every once in a while over it. Arica, of course, would always calm him down, but he didn't think he'd ever have any peace on the matter until he had Kenobi's head.


	47. The Galactic Civil War Begins

Author's Note: Another library update. I'm really hoping my PC'll be fixed soon. But until then... Also, thanks for the reviews, you guys. I intend to continue keeping this up-to-date in spite of my non-working computer.

Chapter 46 review responses:

MissNaye: Hmm, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Twisted Words: The actions begins in chapter 3, and thanks for the review.

Darkvampirewitch: Huh? The beginning I didn't understand, as the only language I'm fluent in is english. The end I got however. I guess all I can say to what you put is thanks for the review.

Thrawn716: I'll simply say we have a ways before any major deaths start occuring.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 2: The Galactic Civil War Begins

Year 18.0 – 20.0, Imperial Era (IE)

As time went by, the Rebellion against the Empire grew vaster and more public despite the Emperor's opposition and threat to kill all those who participated in it. About half of the Imperial government's numbers denounced their ties to the empire, some even going as far as having their Regional Governors either killed or locked away in prison. Something needed to be done to set these bodies of citizens straight. Killing thousands of innocents via stormtroopers or the fleet wouldn't do. People were too accustomed with that. A larger scale example needed to be made; something magnificent and elegant, yet terrifying at the same time. Something like...Palpatine's old Death Star project.

The failed battle station was still in orbit of the Mustafar system. Skywalker had never gotten rid of it. He didn't know why. Maybe he always felt that it might be of use someday. And it would appear as that day had finally arrived. That would be the example the empire made. The Death Star would be reconstructed, but made more efficient then its earlier designs.

Calling a meeting with Second-in-Command Grand Imperial Moff, Wilhuff Tarkin, the Emperor placed him in charge of the operation.

Skywalker had almost killed Tarkin in the semi-uprising that took place among Imperial officials following Palpatine's overthrowing. Yet the only thing that had stopped his hand was the arrogance of the man. Tarkin could have cared less if Palpatine lived or died or who ruled the Empire. All he cared about was his position to the throne under the Royals. And on top of that, the middle-aged man of about sixty was an incredible asset to the government, having many connections to numerous across the galaxy. It would be foolish to get rid of him.

The only bad thing the Emperor did in Tarkin's eyes was give former Imperial Queen and Regional Governor, Charlotte Jovovich his current job at the time, Grand Imperial Moff of the Regional Governors. This led him to go back down to the second-in-command position, a rank he had quickly succeeded sometime earlier. That he hadn't liked, and didn't hesitate to say so. Tarkin didn't think a female needed to be given that rank of power and argued that he'd held the position perfectly fine for many years. There was no reason for him to be suddenly replaced.

Skywalker, however, had done this on purpose because of Jovovich's former political jobs. When Palpatine was overthrown and she stepped down from the rank of Queen, this left her with no type of employment. Since of this, he gave her Tarkin's job. But even when this was explained to the man, he still didn't like it. However, it's not like he could do anything about it, so merely accepted his new job with a forced civil attitude.

When the Emperor presented Tarkin with the Death Star reconstruction proposal, the Governor hadn't been too sure about it at first. Mainly over the fact of how many problems they'd encountered with it the first-go-round. It was only after much assurances and credits being handed over that Tarkin finally agreed.

Under the overseeing of about half the fleet, the old space station was torn down and reconstructed with the use of all new parts.

And it was a good thing too that the Emperor chose to rebuild this project, because not long after production began, civil war broke out between the Rebellion and the Empire.

What was being called The Galactic Civil War extended over the next two years, in which time the Death Star came along with much success, and the Empire continued to stomp out the treacherous rebels.

Antellica Grievous actively served as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy while her teenage children, Alexander and Anneliese Grievous, served as her assistants as a way to stay near her while she traveled.

The firstborn Imperial Princess of the Emperor and Empress, Lacovia Grievous Skywalker, served as Hand of the Emperor, while Grand Imperial Moff Jovovich's firstborn son, Drake Jovovich, served as Empress' Hand.

Though the rebels weren't making much progress in the war, they continued to fight fruitlessly on anyway.

In a move that shocked practically all, Leila Skywalker returned to her semi-homeworld of Alderaan, halfway through the war's first year, to reclaim her seat as Princess of the planet, thus making it a rebel world.

It was common knowledge now that Bail and Breha Organa had adopted Leila as an infant, after the Jedi took her from her birth father. Yet even though Bail and Breha weren't her actual parents, they'd still adopted and named her Princess and heir to world's throne. Being as there were no more Royals left to take this once Bail was killed and Breha imprisoned and later executed – the rest of Antilles-Organa family (Bail's three sisters, a consort brother-in-law, and nephew, along with Breha's parents, brother and sister, brother-in-law, and niece) had since been killed by unknown means that were actually carried out by Lacovia and Drake – a Regional Governor had simply taken over to rule the planet.

When Leila returned to the Core World, however, the Regional Governor was overthrown and the people followed Leila as their new ruler.

Alderaan was the second Core World to leave the Empire after Chandrila. Other worlds in the Core, such as the five planets in the Corellia system, and Fresia soon followed suit, and before long the only Core Worlds that remained loyal to the Empire were Coruscant and Labor.

Labor, of course, was personally owned by the Royal family as a vacation spot for the super-rich so it's not really like the planet could leave the Imperial union even if it wanted to.


	48. Leila

Author's Note: This is much, much longer a chapter than the previous two thus far. I know you'll love it, and thanks so much for the perpetual reviews. The dislike of going to the library every or every other day is somewhat made up for with the reviews, so thank you.

Chapter 47 responses:

MissNaye: You'll just have to keep reading to find out!

dmitchell: An interesting point you raise, and it'll be answered as this episode moves along.

Twisted Words: Plenty of action in this chapter. As for the second comment, you know by now that I'm not going to reply to that.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 3: Leila

Year 20.0, Imperial Era (IE)

On the day that marked the second year of the war, the Emperor was sent word from Tarkin that the Death Star was nearing completion.

"Only a few more tests," the Moff said pleasantly, "and it'll be ready to launch."

Because of this, Skywalker thought it a good idea to come and oversee the final stages of the station personally. He was scheduled to leave the next day with sixteen-year-old son Hilton – Arica was to remain on Coruscant to tend to their younger children (that ranged from the ages of 6-14) and keep order in the Empire – but something happened that made him leave early.

The rebels had attacked the Empire's starship manufacture corporation on the Outer Rim world of Kessel. This facility was highly important because it was one of bases where products for the fleet and Death Star were made; the other two were Kuat Drive Yards and the Sienar Fleet Systems, both in the Core.

Tarkin had been there at the time meeting with some of the engineers concerning the layout of the Death Star and any possible flaws it may contain when the rebels attacked. In the confusion of battle, on the planet and in space, the plans Tarkin and the others had been going over were stolen and the ship carrying the thieves escaped. Thankfully, the fleet, under Supreme Commander Grievous' orders, had destroyed all the other rebel ships.

Though the escapee ship had jumped to hyperspace, with the Force, Grievous was able to reach out and disengage its systems for the time being. The ship now laid a few thousand miles ahead of them, but due to the largeness of the fleet in size and speed they'd reached it in no time. Making a quick jump to lightspeed, only to come out an instant later. They were upon the small ship in no time. There would be no escape.

* * *

Leila Skywalker, 19, was currently in the cockpit of her Rebel fleet ship, _Freedom Fighter_, trying to calm down her crew. They'd just escaped Kessel with their first major victory against the empire: plans to its dreaded battle station project, the Death Star. The Rebels had received word about it several weeks previous by spies in the Outer Rim. It was rumored that the Emperor was having this space station built as a way to strike fear into all who heard of it. Another rumor was that this "Death Star" was so powerful it could extirpate an entire planet with its massive firepower. 

Leila had scoffed when she first heard this, calling the claim "impossible". But to this Yoda was quick to rebut, telling her never to underestimate the power of the dark side.

"A powerful thing it is young Leila," he said, "never forget that."

Master Yoda, wizened and old but small in size, had been the one figure in Leila's life that she'd known ever since she was a baby. There were others from her childhood she remembered vaguely, such as her adoptive parents, Bail and Breha Organa, but they, like so many others, were now dead and gone.

Leila's early childhood in a nutshell had been very interesting, going from place to place, and living with a variety of people and in multiple environments.

The first two months of her life she didn't remember all that clearly, with the exception of images and feelings. Images of a handsome young man with dirty blonde hair and a loving smile. Leila always felt warm love when she thought of him, as well as two young women, one with long blonde hair, the other with medium length black hair.

The other two people she remembered from that time period she wished to forget. A woman with long dark hair and the same color eyes that showed hatred and disgust whenever they looked upon her, and a man in shadow with deep yellow, unnatural eyes that always made you shrink back in fear whenever you saw them.

Thankfully, she hadn't had much contact with those two, just the young man and a baby her exact age that was her other half. Her older twin brother, Luke. Leila always smiled when she thought of him. He was her best friend, the part of her she'd always been yearning for ever since they'd been separated at the end of this two month period.

For then she'd gone to live with Yoda on a strange mosey, swamp-filled planet that she now knew as Dagabah. In the nine months she lived with him there, only a few times did she have contact with other people in environments she wasn't familiar with. A man with a ginger beard and hair twice (Obi-Wan), the blonde woman from before once, the Organas' once, and a lot of other loving people she remembered from a large gathering once. Most of which were now dead.

After the nine months with Yoda, she was taken to Alderaan to live with the Organas'. Never once did she see him again in the 21 months – 1 year, 9 months – she lived with them.

Despite her young age, Leila found Alderaan a much more likable place to live then Dagabah. Instead of being cooped up in a small house, only being allowed out on occasion and having a strange green creature who laughed a lot for company, she was constantly around loving humans who cared and pampered her as the Princess she was. She was able to play and run around in beautiful gardens, swim in cool streams, and dress in elaborate little dresses. She wore a tiara on her head, ribbons in her hair, and everyone she met bowed and called her "milady". Leila could've gone on living like that forever. But alas, forever only happens in fairy tales.

When Leila was four months shy of her third birthday, Breha abruptly rushed into her room one day. Frantically, she told her they had to leave. Leila didn't understand and started to ask questions, but they were never answered. Her adoptive mother simply picked her up and hid her face in her shoulder as she then ran them out of the Palace.

Notwithstanding that she couldn't see anything, Leila could hear just fine, and what she heard confused her even more. Screams, yells, and explosions came from all around her. She wanted to know what was going on but whenever she tried to look up Breha would push her head back down and say, "No darling! You don't need to see this."

Alderaan was always such a peaceful place, which is why she didn't understand the uproar.

When Breha finally put Leila down she saw that they were aboard a small starship. Her adoptive mother rushed to the cockpit and Leila quickly followed, still asking confused questions. Breha finally told her later on that they were leaving Alderaan and going into hiding. When Leila had asked why, the Queen gave a sad sniff and said that someone wanted to kill them. But when Leila asked "Who and why?", Breha simply gave her head a pat and suggested she get some rest. Leila did so, and when she woke found herself on "the swamp planet" once more.

The next four months she and Breha stayed on the planet with Yoda and he started her Jedi training. Leila had discovered her Force abilities long before Yoda told her about them. Various times she found herself able to float toys and other such objects around her room, as well as pick up on people's thoughts while around them. She never said anything about her abilities to anyone though. Somehow, she'd got it in her mind that people would think her strange if they knew.

Within the four months on Dagabah, Yoda taught her numerous other things to do with her abilities and instead of being ashamed of them, she soon found herself growing proud of them. Breha was also proud, though it was bittersweet. Leila knew that hiding on Dagabah wasn't doing well on her adoptive mother. She just wasn't used to the environment and wasn't doing a good job at becoming used to it either.

Though Dagabah was far from the glamour that Alderaan offered, Leila didn't mind it and enjoyed taking strolls along the swampy rivers and examining the strange creatures that occupied the planet.

It was during one of these little adventures of hers that she came across a dark cave she'd never seen before. It was in a part of the planet she'd never been to before, and for a moment wondered how she gotten there. Telling herself that her feet had simply led her there, she hesitated a moment before entering. She felt cold and as though danger was near upon doing so but pressed on anyway. The further in she got, though, the more these senses came out at her.

She was just considering going back when she heard something move ahead of her. She hesitated, still thinking she should go back, but her curiosity got the better of her. She proceeded forward and looked to discover what had moved ahead. When she came across a dark open clearing a few seconds later, she wished she had gone back for the sight that greeted her stroke fear into her heart and mind. Two figures stood before her, figures of people she'd feared ever since she was a small baby. They were the figures of the two people she remembered from her first two months of living; the figures she wished to forget – the woman with the long dark hair and evil eyes, and the man in shadow with the unnatural yellow eyes.

They'd caught sight of her the moment she appeared in the clearing and were now coming towards her, the evil woman's eyes were flashing dangerously and the man in shadow was cackling evilly.

Leila began to back away from them in fear, trembling. Then in a bold, yet foolish move, she turned and began to run away from them. She knew she was being foolish the moment she started running, but she didn't care. She was so absorbed in getting away from the evil people that she wasn't watching where she was going. She tripped over a loose root on the ground and fell on her face. She quickly made to get up but found that she couldn't. An invisible force was holding her down. When she turned from her stomach to her back, she saw that the man in shadow had his hand outstretched towards her. He was using the Force to hold her down.

Despite her scared state, what she found to be odd was that they were still coming towards her at a slow pace. They'd never quickened it, even when she was running. Leila tried and tried to break free of the Force grip that was holding her down, but she just wasn't strong enough.

As she continued to fight against it in vain, the evil people came closer and closer to her. When they were practically upon her, she screamed, "Master Yoda! Help me!"

The next thing she knew she was being knocked unconscious, but from what she didn't know. It certainly wasn't the evil people, but how she knew that she didn't know either. She just did.

Leila woke a few hours later to find herself inside Yoda's small hut, lying down on his small living room sofa. Yoda and Breha were on either side of her. Yoda had told her that he'd sensed a disturbance in the Force and went to find her.

She'd still been shaking in fear at the thought of the two evil figures, but Yoda gave her assurances that everything was all right, and as long as she kept away from that area of the planet all would remain that way. Leila wanted to ask questions as to who the people were but, obviously foreseeing this, Yoda said that when she was older there would be a lot about herself that would be revealed, just not now.

From then on when Leila went on her little adventures on Dagabah, she made sure to steer clear of that dark place.

A few weeks later, around the time of her third birthday, Leila was sitting at the edge of one of the swamp rivers not far from Yoda's house trying to convince one of the nearby lizards to come over and let her pet it. She wasn't having very much success. However, just as the lizard finally decided it wanted to trust her and began to approach, Breha appeared. The sudden approach scared the little lizard off. Leila huffed and was about to let out a complaint until she saw the look on Breha's face; it was sad and full of regret.

"Mommy, what's-"

But before she could get out anymore, Breha took her into her arms and hugged her tight. "I'm so sorry Leila," she said into her shoulder. "I'm sorry I wouldn't be able to watch you grow up into the beautiful young lady you will become. I'm sorry, but I must go."

"Go?" she repeated in confusion. "What are you talking about mommy? Go where? And why did you call me 'Leila'?" The look on her face went slightly sly. "I thought you said my name was 'Leia'?"

No matter what anyone said, Leila knew what her real name was, and it wasn't 'Leia' like everyone said it was. She simply remained silent on the matter because everyone told her that her new name was 'Leia' and that it was important she remembered that.

"A lot of bad things could happen if people knew what your real name was," her adoptive father Bail had once said.

She, of course, hadn't known what he was talking about, but went by his wishes nonetheless. This is why she was slightly surprised to hear Breha calling her by her old/real name now.

"Never mind that," Breha said brushing it off. "I must go. If you have any questions, ask Master Yoda. You were the best daughter a woman could ask for. Thank you for giving me that chance to have a taste of what motherhood is like. I love you Leila. And I always will." She kissed her on both cheeks. "Goodbye my dear."

Breha then headed off to the small star cruiser they'd arrived on and boarded it. Leila did not yell after her or try to hold her back. Somehow, she'd always known this day would come. She simply stood there and watched her go.

"May the Force be with you," she whispered to herself.

Within the next twenty-two months – year and ten months – Leila succeeded wondrously in her Jedi training and even learned to construct a lightsaber under Yoda's fine direction.

Two months shy of her fifth birthday, Yoda and Leila had been inside the house meditating. All had been going just fine until Yoda abruptly announced, "Coming danger is. Leave we must."

Leila did not hesitate or ask questions, she knew better then that. She merely nodded and rose from her cross-legged position on the floor. After retrieving their lightsabers, and in Yoda's case his gimmer stick, the two left the house and went to where Yoda's small starship was hidden in some trees. They were off-planet in no time, and fled to the Core World of Chandrila where Leila met the luxurious Queen Nagida. In her company, Leila finally felt like a Princess again, not that she didn't enjoy being a Jedi, but it was a nice switch.

Not long after that, Leila had finally been reunited with her twin brother, Luke. He'd arrived on Chandrila with Obi-Wan and their reunion had been wonderful.

They didn't stay on Chandrila long, leaving the next day bound for the Outer Rim world of Zonama Sekot, where they spent the next twelve years and ten months living. In which time, Leila was finally told her true identity, but not by Yoda and Obi-Wan but by Luke. The two Jedi had assumed Luke would tell her, so offered both of them the chance to ask whatever questions they wanted answers to. The twins took them up on their offer and had the Jedi tell them all they knew about their birth parents, the Emperor, and Antellica and Arica Grievous. They were told all this as they turned five.

When the Rebellion restarted two years ago, Leila had requested that she reclaim her rightful throne as Princess on Alderaan as a way to gain some type of political experience. Leila was a Jedi first and foremost, but politics was something that had always interested her. And being as the Rebel Alliance was more a political issue then anything else, Leila thought it'd be good that at least one of the Alliance's four leaders have some type of active experience in the matter.

It was through all this that Leila came to be in her fleet ship, _Freedom Fighter_, with a score of other rebels, being pursued by Imperial forces. They'd made a quick jump to lightspeed upon exiting Kessel, only to be pulled out a moment later by a trick of the Force. The Imperial Navy's Supreme Commander, Antellica Grievous, was Force sensitive which explained the sudden move. Leila had been trying to get them back to Yavin quickly so the Death Star plans could be annualized, but it seemed the Empire had other plans.

Imperial Star Destroyers were surrounding_ Freedom Fighter_ and she knew that the tractor beam of the Supreme Commander's flagship, _Executor,_ was about to be activated. If Leila wanted this mission to be a success despite the odds, she'd have to act quickly.

"Delete all files on all the main computers," she commanded of her crew. "And set up a squadron of gunners at all the ship's entrances. I, meanwhile, will make sure these plans get off the ship."

As her orders were carried out, Leila rushed to the escape pod canopy in the back of the ship. Taking the datatapes that contained the valuable plans out of her pocket, she opened one of the pods and placed them inside. Shutting it, she activated all the pods to have each of them fly out in fifteen seconds. It'd be too dangerous to put any Rebels inside the empty pods; the Imperials scanners would pick up lifeforms and shoot them out of the sky. No, they did a better chance staying inside the ship and fighting. Leila knew it'd be a risk when she set out on this mission, but she was ready to take it. It'd been a lot to convince her overprotected brother that she could do this on her own, and she would make sure that it stayed that way.

* * *

As Supreme Commander Antellica Grievous, 36, looked out the bridge viewport of the Super Star Destroyer, _Executor_, the long blonde haired woman, at about two meters in height, give or take a few inches, and donned completely in black, saw twelve escape pods descend from the Rebel fleet ship, _Freedom Fighter_. The gun crew was about to fire upon them when she told them to hold. 

"The pods are merely are a diversion," she informed. "There are no lifeforms aboard; ignore them and continue pulling in the ship."

The crew did so and _Freedom Fighter_ was successfully pulled into the _Executor's_ hangerbay a few minutes later. Grievous, a squadron of stormtroopers, and Imperial agents were there to meet it a moment later.

Under her command, the troopers stormed into the ship and killed all of the pathetic Rebels that had gathered at the entrance to fight. Once they were all dead, the Supreme Commander, agents, and some more troopers boarded the ship and headed for the cockpit.

While doing so, Antellica reached out into the Force to find the Force sensitive responsible for this mission but found none. They were probably cloaking themselves. It was no matter; she'd just have to keep her eyes peeled.

Upon reaching the cockpit, the rebels inside were killed almost instantly. The agents then set to work on the computers inside, searching for the plans. They were disappointed, however, to discover that all files on the computers had been deleted.

Antellica growled in rage when she learned this and stalked out of the cockpit angrily. Spotting a lone rebel hiding behind a door and attempting to recharge his blaster gun, she made towards him. Just as she was about to swing the door open, however, the rebel burst out, blaster in hand. He looked slightly surprised to find himself face to face with the legendary Antellica Grievous, but didn't hold onto his shock long. He made to run off and fire bolts over his shoulder as he did so, but Antellica didn't give him the chance. Reaching out with the Force she tripped the man and threw aside his blaster gun. Upon reaching him, she bent down and, grabbing him by the throat, slammed him against the nearby wall.

"Where are the plans, you rebel scum?!" she demanded.

But either the rebel refused to talk or couldn't with the strong grip on his throat, Antellica never knew for he began to turn a deathly pale color and gasp for air that wasn't coming to him.

Disgusted, Antellica threw him at the wall on the other side of the hall with a yell of fury. The sound of a bone cracking assured her that he was dead upon contact.

"Tear this ship apart until you find those plans!" she yelled of the troops standing behind her. "And bring me the passengers! I want them alive!"

* * *

Leila, meanwhile, was hiding out around the escape pod canopy considering her means of escape when suddenly she saw a group of stormtroopers scouting the area. Cloaking her presence, she moved silently out of her hiding spot and snuck past them. It was her intention to somehow sneak off the ship and hide somewhere on the _Executor_ until the heat cooled off. Then, she'd escape on one of cruisers in the hangerbay and go to the Outer Rim world of Serenno – the planet the pods fell down in – and retrieve the plans. She'd then make her way back to Yavin. 

Satisfied with this plan, she crept forward out into the hallway and, after assuring that the coast was clear, sprinted down it silently at a run. Turning to the right at the end of the hall laid one of the ship's five exits. The gunners that had been covering the door were sprawled out before it obviously dead.

Leila held in a sigh of sadness. These men had given their lives to defend justice. They would not soon be forgotten.

Sending her sadness into the Force and clearing her mind, she proceeded forward. She couldn't help but think that something wasn't right though. No Imperials were guarding this exit. Why?

Leila recognized this instantly as a trap set up by Antellica Grievous. She turned, with the intention of going to one of the other exits, only to find herself face to face with the woman herself. Being that Leila hadn't sensed Grievous sneak up behind her, she let out a startled cry of surprise that uncloaked her presence. Instantly, she found herself surrounded by stormtroopers and Imperial agents.

Looking at Leila was like looking at the deceased Empress, the girl's mother Padme Amidala, Antellica mused as she gazed upon the Princess/Jedi. She didn't say anything for a moment, simply taking in the girl's appearance. Being that Leila had been the newly stated Princess of Alderaan for about half a year now, Antellica was mildly surprised to not see Leila in any type of elaborate outfit or hairstyle. All she wore was a dressy casual outfit of black pants and a halter top of the same color. The only accessories that went with this was black heeled boots that were cuffed under the pants and a simple necklace of platinum silver that had a diamond centered heart at the bottom of it. Her long brunette hair was styled up in a ponytail like braid with the exception of two small braids that came down on either side of her face.

In Antellica's eyes, the girl looked like nothing more then a stylish Jedi, not a royal Princess. And so she addressed her as such.

"Leila Skywalker, were you the only rebel leader of this operation?" she asked.

Leila snapped out of the revive she was in upon being caught off guard and captured at Antellica's question. She held her head high and placed her hands on her hips at answering. "Yes, that's right."

Antellica smirked slightly at the girl's arrogance. "And the plans? Where are they?"

Leila gave a small laugh. "You can't possibly expect me to answer that question."

"No, I suppose not."

With a strike of Antellica's hand, Leila was sprawled on the floor. The hit wasn't that hard, but enough to cause bleeding to the lip, as Antellica saw when Leila pulled herself up off the floor with the support of surrounding stormtroopers.

Being that Leila was the Emperor's daughter, Antellica wasn't to hurt her too much. Actually, Anakin's orders had been to leave his children completely unharmed, but Antellica wasn't sure how this order was supposed to be carried out. Say one of them attacked first in self-defense, what were they, the empire, supposed to do, just stand there? Antellica was sure Anakin wouldn't be too upset about her striking his daughter. She was just so ticked off at the girl's arrogant behavior, but that should have been expected being the daughter of a Skywalker.

"Know this young Leila," Antellica snarled, "we have ways of making you talk."

Leila's only response was another small laugh. "I'm sure."

Antellica gave her a disgusted look before signaling for the troopers to disarm her of the lightsaber that rested on her hip and bind her hands.

"You may not wish to tell me where the plans are, but I bet when your father gets here you'll be singing a different tune." Antellica was pleased to see the look of shock on Leila's face and continued. "Oh yes, he shall be meeting us at the Death Star, right outside the Mustafar system."

Glancing over at the head trooper she commanded, "Take her to the detention cell I have prepared on the _Executor_."

The trooper saluted and led off the young traitor, followed by the rest of the squadron. Antellica proceeded to walk back down the hall they'd come from and head back to the cockpit of the ship, all the while conversing with _Executor_ Major Whitman.

"Holding her is dangerous," Whitman was saying. "If word of this gets out it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion."

Antellica couldn't help but partially agree with this, still... "Now that Leila's in Imperial custody, our chances at finding the Rebel's secret base are very high."

Whitman didn't seem convinced. "She'll die before she tells you anything."

"Ah Major," she said with a sudden light in her eyes, "there in lies the solution. She won't be telling me anything. She'll be telling her father. And believe me, His Excellency, the Emperor will get her to talk. You, meanwhile, I want to send a distress signal and let it be known to the general public that all aboard _Freedom Fighter_ were killed."

By now Antellica and Whitman had made it to the entrance of the cockpit. Commander Murray was there to meet them. "Supreme Commander, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship and no transmissions were made. Escape pods were jettisoned before we hauled the ship, but as you yourself said, no lifeforms were aboard."

Antellica found herself becoming disgusted with herself for not seeing this before. "She must've hidden the plans in one of the escape pods. Send a detachment down to retrieve them on Serenno. See to it personally Commander. They'll be no one to stop us this time."

"Yes miss."

Antellica left Whitman and Murray to carry out their orders. Exiting _Freedom Fighter_ and reentering the hangerbay of the _Executor,_ she learned that Tarkin had just arrived back. With the exception of the three Star Destroyers that would stay in orbit around Serenno, the rest of the fleet jumped to hyperspace, arriving around the Death Star six hours later.


	49. Battle Plans

Author's Note: More reviews please. How hard is it to leave behind a few words of your thoughts on the chapter? I almost didn't update today since only receiving one for the last chapter, and another for the one prior.

Darkvampirewitch (for Ch.47): I battle with writer's block on occasion also. I think every writer does. However, Han Solo will be in this, later on and not in this episode, but the next.

MissNaye (for Ch.48): We shall see...

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 4: Battle Plans

Battle Station – Death Star, Mustafar system orbit

When Tarkin and Supreme Commander Grievous had left for Kessel the day before, the running of the fleet and overseeing of the Death Star had been left to Grievous' teenage children, Alexander and Anneliese. Both had recently been made Generals of the Navy, and in a few months time, the fleet would be divided into three squadrons, Antellica and her children running each.

Antellica was immensely proud of her children and their accomplishments in the military. Both had always wanted an active part of it, and after graduating from school early attended the Academy on Labor. Despite their ages – Alexander, 19 and Anneliese, 14 – they were very well respected among the Empire and fleet for their mature and professional no nonsense attitudes.

Both teens were in the Death Star's hangerbay to greet their mother and Tarkin when they arrived via the Supreme Commander's shuttle.

Antellica's darling son Alexander had gone from the adorable four-year-old who dreamed of being a music holostar, to a charming and handsome young man who still played his guitar on occasion, but was more interested in being a militant officer of the navy and a successful Sith Knight then anything else.

As for Anneliese, she was Antellica's little girl. Antellica loved and adored her daughter so much, not that she loved Alexander any less, but the two of them had a strong unbreakable bond that had been forged between them when Ani (pronounced Ah-ne) was born. Antellica remembered gazing into the eyes of her little girl for the first time and feeling such love and warmth, especially being the fact that unlike with Alexander, she had Ani around people she loved and whom loved her back in return.

Anneliese knew nothing about her father, which was something Antellica seemed to be punished with every time she gazed upon her. While Alexander had taken to looking like his mother with dirty blonde hair, yet his father's blue eyes and skin tone, Anneliese was a pure female image of her father, sans the brown eyes of her mother, with auburn hair and Obi-Wan's same exact smile. Antellica was always reminded of ex-husband every time she looked at their daughter, though she tried to keep it out of her mind. All Anneliese was told about her father was that he died not long before she was born. Whenever she'd ask for more details on the manner, Antellica simply told her that it was too painful to discuss and not to bring it up again.

Anakin and Arica didn't understand why she kept the truth from her daughter in telling Kenobi as the traitor he was, but Antellica had her reasons. She didn't want Anneliese getting any ideas about perhaps running away to find and meet her father because the matter of that special other parent was something Anneliese always wished for. Antellica saw it every time Anneliese was around Anakin and his daughters. The way he dotted on them and called them his beautiful princess angels. Anneliese wanted that.

Now Antellica had done well in raising her children, she knew, but there was only so much a single parent could do. This longing Anneliese had for a father wasn't as bad as it once was when she was younger, but Antellica knew she still thought about it from time to time. More then once Antellica had considered marrying again for Anneliese's sake, not her own. Alexander, Anakin, and Arica, however, had quickly, and quite firmly, put a stake in this analogy saying she was fine single and didn't need to get married again because she was fine the way she was.

Despite herself, Antellica had grown slightly more overprotected of Anneliese then Alexander. She always feared that if Kenobi were to come for her children and Anneliese learned of his relation to her, she'd go away with him without a moment's hesitation. Alexander she wasn't worried about. He knew who his father was and had no intention in having anything to do with him, a point he made quite clear numerous times. Antellica knew she'd have to tell Anneliese the truth someday, but when that day would be she had yet to decide.

Antellica hugged both her children upon arriving on the battle station while Tarkin went on ahead. After which, she asked how things were out here.

"All's been quiet," Anneliese informed. "The governors arrived safely and are currently getting a tour of the space station from Commander Piett."

Antellica nodded. Tarkin would be meeting with an assembled group of governors after some tests were run on the station.

"Yeah, no exciting action like what you went through," Alexander said. "I heard it was quite the battle."

Antellica detected disappointment in her son's voice for not being there and gave a chuckle. "Don't worry Alexander, you didn't miss anything worth boasting about. Just a defiant Princess and some missing plans, that's all."

Anneliese and Alexander both appeared perplexed at the Princess part, so Antellica nodded to her shuttle's ramp. Leila was now being brought down it. She glared when she saw Antellica, but the Supreme Commander had nothing more to give her than a mere slight wave.

Alexander gazed awe stroke from his mother to Leila and back again. "You captured Leila Skywalker?! Do you realize what this will now do to the war effect with one its leader's down?"

"Precisely Alexander," Antellica said. "Now that we have her, the pathetic rebels may be eliminated in no time at all, and for good this time."

"What a glorious day that will be," Anneliese said, eyeing Leila with distaste.

The look was returned as Leila was led on.

As Leila was taken to the detention block on the fifth level above the Core, Antellica joined Tarkin in the overseeing of the Death Star's final tests. Alexander and Anneliese, meanwhile, returned to their posts with the fleet – Anneliese stationed on the _Executrix_, Alexander on the _Executor_.

While all other tests had succeeded, the only one that failed was the one that had been failing continuously for the past six months now. The test in question was the battle station's turbolaser.

An ongoing debate had been going on between Tarkin and the Emperor concerning the matter. While Tarkin thought it a good idea to use a plasma gas beam in the laser engine, Skywalker disagreed, saying he wanted the legendary crystal of Elderin that had been found in the Unknown Regions eighteen years ago to be used. According to the Emperor, only that would be satisfactory to the station, a belief that Tarkin continued to argue against. In his eyes, no magical crystal could do what a plasma gas beam couldn't and so stubbornly disallowed the crystal to be installed despite the fact of the tests' perpetual failure. The emperor grew impatient with Tarkin's stubbornness, and had threatened that if the plasma beam wasn't removed after the next test, he would remove Tarkin from command of the project and take over it himself. Tarkin, however, had been convinced that it would work this time so naturally was angered and frustrated when it failed again.

Muttering a profanity under his breath, the gray-suited Moff stormed out of the room before the officers could ask of the governor what they were to do next. Antellica went ahead and gave the order that the crystal be installed. Work was set to that right away.

Tarkin would be heading for the conference room on the third level above the Core to meet with the governors that had arrived for their annual meeting. These monthly meetings were usually held in the Old Imperial Palace on Coruscant, but due to the Death Star's nearing completion, the emperor scheduled for it to be held here with only a small group of the most respected and high ranking Moffs.

Antellica was about to go join them in hope of seeing Grand Imperial Moff Jovovich when an officer suddenly called, "Supreme Commander Grievous!"

Antellica turned to see the space station's own Commander, Firmus Piett, approaching her. He was the former Commander of the Super Star Destroyer _Executrix_ before Anneliese took over a year ago. Piett was a good acquaintance of the Imperial family, thus being promoted as the station's Commander after the emperor's personal request.

"Yes Commander Piett?"

"The Emperor's shuttle has arrived."

Antellica gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Thank you Commander."

With a nod, Piett went on his way and Antellica took a lift down to the Core level of the station where the hangerbay was located.

Antellica guessed that Anakin hadn't ordered a greeting party because besides her, and a few officers here and there whom were busy going about their work, there wasn't anyone else to meet him.

As she came up before the customary triangular flagship shuttle that only Imperial importance held, the boarding ramp lowered. The Emperor, Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader, 42, donned in his thirteen-year-old life-sustaining suit of the deepest black, strolled down a moment later soon followed by the First Imperial Prince, Hilton.

Antellica gave a slight bow to the both of them, causing Hilton to smirk. "You don't bow to us any other time, Aunt Antellica." His tone suggested mirth. "Why start now?"

Antellica looked up and into the face of her oldest nephew with a sly grin that matched his own. "I don't know." Her tone suggested the same as his had. "I guess I'm feeling suddenly subordinated with your royal highnesses arrival."

Hilton laughed. "I forgot how good you are at making a magnificent person like myself feel special by treating him as the royal god he is."

This quip brought a laugh from both Antellica and Anakin. Antellica opened her arms and beckoned to her dark haired, medium heightened nephew. "And I forgot about that little ego of yours."

Hilton accepted his aunt's embrace fondly. "Well, at least I'm not as bad as Troy."

This comment amused Antellica. "Indeed not."

Troy, of course, was the Emperor and Empress' child after the twins, Lacovia and Hilton. He was Anneliese's age, only a day younger, and as arrogant as ever. He always carried a pocket mirror around with him to check out his reflection every few minutes, and was under the illusion that every girl that looked at him wanted him. He strutted around like he owned the streets he walked on and was always boasting about one thing or the other, one of these things being that he was too arrogant to ever fall in love with anyone because he was too obsessed with himself. He was a nice guy besides all that, just a tad bit egocentric at times. He also had a dark sense of humor, where he had the tendency to insult people in a facetious manner. Arica found his attitude to be cute while Anakin voiced that Troy had gotten his ego from him being as Anakin had been something like that at Troy's age. Being the center of attention was another thing Troy loved, which fit in perfectly with his career as a holodrama/model star.

Troy wasn't the only royal in the entertainment business. Thirteen-year-old Gabriella was also a holodrama star, as were Elektra, 11, and River, 10. Dylan and Cole, 8, however, were mostly satisfied with being Princes only, while Philomena, 6 did modeling for clothing catalogs. Arica, meanwhile, managed all their careers. Hilton had done acting on occasion when he was younger, but not usually. He was currently majoring in business economics at the University on Coruscant.

Yet despite how successful their careers were, show business weren't major career choices for the five royal heirs involved. It was something they simply did for fun and a way to make their own money. Most likely by the time they were all adults, they'd probably retire from this for something else more interesting and purposeful.

In addition, notwithstanding all nine Grievous-Skywalker heirs' different career paths, each and everyone of them were also Sith as well under their parent's training. This was a little known fact by the outside public, but not a secret. People just weren't interested in the fact too much unless they were talking about Lacovia.

Once Antellica disengaged from Hilton, she and Anakin embraced. However, after which she brought him up to speed on everything, in which time they strolled to the conference room on the third level above the Core.

Thoughts originally angered at the missing Death Star plans, this soon changed for the Emperor at his discovery that Leila had been captured by Imperial forces in the conflict.

His daughter was here on the Death Star. Finally, after all these long years, he'd be able to see her again. And after thinking it thoughtfully through, Anakin realized what a perfect opportunity this was. Eventually, the Jedi fools and Luke would discover that Leila was being held here, and as a result, a rescue team would come for her, most likely being led by one of the Jedi. Only the rescue wouldn't succeed, the party being killed, and the Jedi tortured for stealing his children all those years ago. It was this prospect that satisfied Anakin. He told Antellica she'd done well and to continue the debriefing.

The rest of the way to the conference room, she did so, informing him of the rest, including the test failure and the crystal installation.

Upon arrival outside the conference chamber doors, the trio walked in without announcement and began to listen in to the conversation inside; the governors' oblivious to their presence due to their heated debate.

"Until this battle station is fully operational we are vulnerable," a lower-in-command Moff was saying. "The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped. They're more dangerous then you realize."

"Dangerous to the star fleet yes," Grand Imperial Moff Jovovich agreed, "but not to this battle station."

"The Rebels will continue to gain support from various systems across the galaxy-"

"The various systems across the galaxy are no longer any concern to us," Tarkin cut in. "The Hands of the Emperor and Empress are currently dealing with that. Fear is what will keep the various systems in line; fear of this battle station."

"And what of the Rebellion?" the same Moff asked. "If the rebels have a complete technical readout of the station it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness, and exploit it."

"The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands," Anakin said speaking for the first time since he, Hilton, and Antellica had arrived.

As expected, everyone, seated around a large, circular black table in a room of the same structure, jumped at the sound of the emperor's loud, booming voice and quickly made moves of reverence towards him.

"Emperor Skywalker." Tarkin quickly rose from his chair. "I express my apologizes for everyone present that you were not greeted into this meeting properly. We didn't know you had arrived yet." He gave a bow. "Welcome."

Anakin nodded and waved a gloved hand, gesturing for the meeting to continue.

"Any attack by the rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, whatever data they've obtained," Moff Colten of the Neimoidia system haughtily stated. "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it."

While the entirety of the Neimoidia system, at the number of four worlds, had been decontaminated soon after the Clone Wars and left deserted during Palpatine's rule, Skywalker had had the system of planets rebuilt beyond their former glory; allowing civilians to live on the worlds once more. The same had been done with Kashyyyk once the entire wookie race had been quietly slaughtered due to the emperor's growing tiredness of using them as slaves.

Anakin studied Neimoidia's self-assured Moff a long moment before speaking. The man's brother was one of the main designers on the station, an obvious reason why he stood so firmly behind it.

"I wouldn't get too proud of this technological terror that's been constructed here," he said in a level tone. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

Colten, despite himself, scoffed. "Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Emperor. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't helped you conger up the stolen datatapes. Nor given you a clear discovery of the rebel's hidden for-"

But Colten wasn't able to finish saying "fortress", for at that moment a Force choke began to suck all the air out of his throat.

At about the halfway point of Colten's mockery of the Emperor, Anakin circled slowly towards the Moff, intending to make an example out of him.

The foolish forty-something was presently clawing fruitlessly at the grip on his throat that continued to grow tighter by the second.

"Enough of this!" It was Tarkin's voice that suddenly rang out. "Emperor, release him!"

"I don't think so Tarkin," Anakin growled. "An example is being made here, and I intend on finishing it."

The Emperor snapped his gloved hand that had a moment before been shaped like a claw. Colten's hands and head fell to the table with a thud. The governor was dead.

Waving to the officers stationed at the door, Anakin motioned for them to retrieve the body. "Dispose of it," he commanded with distaste.

As the officers rushed to do so, Skywalker circled his way around the room, looking into the faces of all those twenty some governors present.

"Let that be an example to all of you. Dare to insult the Emperor, and the price is death. This bickering you are doing is pointless and accomplishes nothing. I promise you, I will have the location of the rebel base by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke."


	50. Reunited at Last

Author's Note: Finally, my PC is fixed! I'm coming at ya'll from home now. This is much better than the library. Also, I've figured with my daily updates with this, we'll be done Episode VII on Wednesday, March 21. After which, I'll take another hiatus till the month's end to edit Episode VIII, so it'll be ready by April 1.

Chapter 49 responses:

Thrawn716: He does in this chapter, hence the title.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks, I was wondering when I'd hear from you again.

dmitchell: Hmm, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 5: Reunited at Last

After the meeting, Antellica and Hilton joined it's surviving Moffs in the technical room once more for the next session of tests on the Death Star. And while the emperor had been invited to join them, he declined saying he had more pressing matters to attend to. Those matters, of course, being that of his daughter and the whereabouts of the Rebel Alliance.

He had to admit he was a bit anxious to see Leila again, all grown up. He wondered what she really thought of the Rebellion against the Empire and if she even remembered him. He also wondered how accomplished a Jedi she was, and if out of the twins she was the stronger Jedi because of her two years more experience then Luke.

He pondered these many things among with others as he made his way to the detention level on the fifth floor above the Core. Leila was in detention block AA23, one of two detention blocks on the station. The other was on the fifth level beneath the Core, AA86.

When he arrived, the officers stationed in the detention block's entrance acknowledged his entrance with bows and salutes.

"Your Majesty!" the officer in charge greeted. "We were alerted of your coming beforehand and welcome you. The rebel in question is in cell 2187. Is it your wish for anyone to accompany you inside?"

"No," he replied. "I am more than capable of dealing with my daughter myself, thank you."

The officer bowed. "As you wish milord."

Anakin gave a nod to him and passed by into the detention block. When he came to the cell that contained Leila, he paused a moment before pressing the door's activation key.

The sight that greeted him was a young woman of nineteen, sitting cross-legged on the black sitting block that connected to the wall behind her. Her eyes were closed and hands out on either side of her form, thumb and pointer finger circled in an O. Obviously, she was meditating.

Anakin was mildly surprised to find her so casually dressed. In all the holopics he'd seen of her, she was always so elaborately costumed, her hair usually almost always in a cinnamon bun hairstyle. But then all the pictures he'd seen of her was when she was acting her role of Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan. She wasn't doing this now. She was simply Leila Skywalker, Jedi Knight, Leader of the Second Alliance to Restore the Galactic Republic, and First Daughter of the Emperor.

Leila's eyes opened a moment later and locked with his silently. For a moment, the two simply looked at one another, their stares reaffirming that each knew who the other was.

With a wave of his hand, Anakin had the door to the cell slide shut behind him and than proceeded slowly into the small room. Never once did Leila take her eyes off him as he came closer and closer to her. Her gaze on him was expressionless.

When he came to being no more than three meters in front of her, he stopped and simply stood. Leila's expression never changed. After a moment, he asked, "May I sit?"

The sound of his voice seemed to break her out of the revive she was in. She shook her head slightly as though clearing it and blinked. "Sit?" she asked.

"Yes, sit." He gestured to the spot beside her on the block. "May I sit there?"

Leila rolled her eyes and gave a small laugh. "Do I really have much of a choice? This is, after all, your space station, not mine."

Anakin gave a wry chuckle and sat down beside her.

Gazing at her, he began to wonder where to begin. For the past almost twenty years he'd yearned to be apart of Leila's life, and now that he was with her again, he wasn't entirely sure what to say.

"So...Leila, tell me a little about yourself."

"Excuse me?" She definitely hadn't seen that coming.

Anakin sighed. "I do believe myself to have been quite clear with my request, Leila."

"Tell you about myself?" Leila repeated in disbelief, refusing to believe what she was hearing.

He nodded.

"I thought you came here to interrogate me about the Rebel Alliance," she accused.

"What makes you think that?"

"Why else would you be here?"

"I want to know and spend time with my daughter."

Leila was skeptical. "Really?"

Again, he nodded. "Yes."

Leila studied him a moment, looking into his mask as if for an answer, wanting to believe what he was saying to be true, but knowing if it was impossible.

"What do you want to know about me that you couldn't have just found out from a computer file?"

Anakin shrugged. "Your life growing up, interests you have, your outlook on life. Things like that."

Again, Leila studied him, looking for deception but finding none. Shrugging, she went through with his request.

For the next two hours, they talked about various things, mainly concerning Leila's upbringings. Anakin also, upon request, told Leila about his life before he was Emperor, as a slave, Jedi, and servant boy for Palpatine. He also made sure to explain in great detail how he'd gotten to be in his present condition with the life-sustaining suit.

Both listened intently to what the other had to say, and as time passed by, they found themselves growing more comfortable in each other's company.

At the end of this two-hour session, Anakin decided to have Leila moved to a room in his quarters three levels below.

"Why?" Leila asked, suddenly suspicious again.

"Because I don't want you to stay in this cell," he explained. "You are my daughter; a Princess by both blood and adoption. Such figures do not belong in environments such as this."

Leila smiled slightly. "Yes, but in all this chatter you seemed to have forgotten that I am also your prisoner."

"You are only my prisoner if you choose to be Leila," he said. "Remember that. From everything I've told you about the Jedi, it can easily be said that they put me in the position I'm in now."

"True, but-"

"And when they stole you and Luke from me when you were mere infants," he added. "That wasn't very Jedi like. They did it out of revenge. And then lying to you, saying your parents were dead and that's why they took you."

"Yes, but later they told us the truth," Leila countered. "And their reason for lying to begin with."

"Which was...?"

"To protect us," she answered, to which Anakin gave a dry laugh.

"Protect you from what? Me! I wouldn't hurt my own flesh and blood. I've never done anything but love. It's others that do all the taking away and hurting. After all I've told you, you can't possibly still be siding with the Jedi."

"This isn't about sides...father."

Anakin sat back somewhat and even Leila surprised herself.

"Look," she continued, "I just-I don't know. Maybe I'm just so confused I don't know what it is I should be thinking. Just give me time. I-" She stopped and sighed, not knowing what else to say.

Anakin nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I understand."

Leila looked up at him. "Really? Do you really understand, or is that something you're just saying?"

"I'd say I have an idea of how you're feeling."

Leila shrugged. "Fair enough."

Anakin led Leila out of the cell and detention block, and they took a lift down to the second level above the Core. The entire level was reserved for his use as living quarters. Besides himself and Hilton, no one else stayed on this level as of the present. Antellica had a suite on the sixth level beneath the Core.

This fact led to Leila asking about her younger half-siblings, to which Anakin was more then happy to answer and said he'd arrange for Hilton to come see her sometime in-between the youngster's hobby of strolling about the space station.

Leila was allowed to pick whichever room she wanted in her father's quarters. She chose the room closet to the library due to her love of books. A love it seemed she shared with her half-sister, Lacovia.

"That's one of her favorite past times," he said as the two strolled around the massive room Leila picked out with a black décor. "Besides killing people that is." He gave a small laugh, but stopped at Leila's look of disgust. He cleared his throat and continued. "Ever since she was a little girl, she'd curl up with a book and read for hours."

An image of a five-year-old Lacovia chatting excitedly about a new book she got filled Anakin's memory. It seemed only yesterday that Lacovia was that small little girl, but alas it wasn't. As he'd learned long years before, watching his nephew grow, children grew up so fast with no ways of stopping it. He thought this again as he looked at Leila, who smiled and he wished more then ever that the mask was gone and he could smile back. Alas, that was not the case and never would be.

Clapping her on the shoulder once more, he left with the promise that he would return soon and that there should be some food in the kitchen chambers she'd find of interest.


	51. Decisions

Chapter 50 responses:

Thrawn716: You mean is Lacovia an extremely violent person who kills without any thought, empathy, or remorse? Pretty much. But more on her later. She doesn't have that big a role in this episode.

MissNaye: More on that in this chapter.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 6: Decisions

Following her father's leaving, Leila found it strange thinking that, she waited a moment before going to the kitchen and eating an instant freeze dry meal of Corellian Potato fries and a cheese nerf burger. As she ate, she thought of the recent turn of events concerning the Emperor, yes indeed her Sith Lord father.

Leila's memories of her dirty blonde haired young father were few, and as the years went by she found that it was harder to remember them. She was under the distant impression that her Jedi teachings were pacifically making her forget those memories. This was something Luke agreed with, but whenever they expressed this to Obi-Wan and Yoda, it was dismissed as nonsense. They'd said that while the duo's Jedi training had nothing to do with it, there was no real reason for the twins to try remembering the memories anyway, they were part of a past life. A life they no longer had any part of.

While Leila had let the subject drop, Luke questioned why the Jedi were so eager to have him and Leila forget the only memories they had of their family. Obi-Wan repeated that they were from a past life and it was not wise to dwell on the past.

"Dwelling on something of the past will not bring it back, or make it into a reality," he'd added. "You'll find life to go much easier when you keep the past where it belongs, in the past."

Luke, who had actually had a semi-relationship with their father as a boy, never liked the Jedi's idea of using he and Leila as a way to get back at him by having the twins lead an assault against the very person that brought them into existence. He also didn't like the idea of going against the Empress and her sister either. Despite all his teachings against the matter, he felt quite firm in his belief that there was still good in the three of them and that they could be saved.

Yoda and Obi-Wan disagreed, saying he was letting a past experience cloud his judgment. Leila had remained neutral on the matter. Part of her agreed a hundred percent with her two Jedi teachers, yet at the same time there was still that other part that stood behind her brother in how he felt.

Her musings were suddenly interrupted by an outside presence entering her mind. There was only one person she shared a mental bond with through the Force, and that was Luke.

Looking over at the holoclock that hung above the small stove she'd previously used and was standing beside, she gasped. It'd been nearly nine hours since the Battle of Kessel. If her mission had been a success, she'd have been back on Yavin hours ago. Everyone was probably so worried, wondering where she was.

"_Leila? Leila, are you there?"_

"_Yes Luke, I'm here," _she answered._ "And no, I'm not hurt."_

"_Thank goodness! There were reports all over the HoloNet that you'd been killed."_

Leila smirked lightly at the prospect of Luke worrying himself sick over her. _"Remember what I told you about the HV, Lu-lu,"_ she thought in a singsong voice,_ "take everything you see on that program with a grain of salt."_

Lu-lu was a pet name Leila had been calling Luke since they were children, though she rarely called him that anymore. Luke's pet name for her was Le-le.

Luke obviously wasn't amused. _"This isn't funny Leila. Where are you? You should have been here hours ago. Everyone's been-"_

"_-so worried about me,"_ she finished with an eye roll. _"I thank you and the alliance for your concern Luke, but I can assure you I'm quite fine. The Emperor made sure of that."_

Leila sensed shock coming from Luke. _"The Emperor?! You-you saw him?! Had contact with him?!"_

"Of course I did, and as we've been trying to convince Yoda and Obi-Wan all these years, he really isn't that bad a person, despite all he's done."

She then proceeded to tell Luke all that had happened over the past few hours. When she finished, he was silent a few moments before speaking again.

"_So...should we come rescue you or not?"_ he asked slowly.

"_Rescue me?"_ Leila scoffed._ "From what? Anakin's a nice person who's simply been hurt and taken from too many times."_

"_I know,"_ Luke said softly. He hesitated before asking, _"And the alliance?"_

Leila sighed. She knew this subject was going to come up sooner or later. She needed to make a decision. _"What about it?"_

"_The plans Leila,"_ he clarified. _"Where are they?"_

She found herself hesitating a bit, but why? Wasn't she still a member of the Rebel Alliance? Or had she, since being reunited with her father, decided to turn her back on it and join the Empire? She wasn't sure, but at the same time wasn't as confused on the matter as she had been an hour ago.

"_They're on Serenno,"_ she said at length.

"_I'll make sure a reconnaissance group goes to retrieve them,"_ Luke said. _"I, meanwhile, am coming to join you."_

"_Join me?! But Luke, what about Yoda and Obi-Wan? The alliance? You can't just-"_

"_Leila, they stole us from our father,"_ Luke cut in bitterly. _"They lied to us, and are simply using us for their own means, which they call the means of the galaxy. I am tired of it, and have put up with it for too long. We both have."_

"_But-"_

"_But what Leila? But what?"_

Leila sighed, knowing she wasn't going to win this argument. _"All right, fine. I'll tell him you're coming."_

"And I'll see you soon."

The connection broke and after Leila finished with her meal, she retrieved a book from the library and returned to her newly acquired chambers. Kicking off her boots and collapsing onto the bed, she realized she suddenly wasn't interested in reading. Exhaustion soon took over her senses, and before another five moments could pass by, she'd fallen asleep.


	52. Revert to Plan B

Author's Note: Things get a bit interesting in this chapter and the future of the Jedi is danced around. I wonder if any of you can figure out what it is.

Chapter 50 responses:

Thrawn716: I always preferred the Sith over the Jedi too. Not that I'm an evil person, but I have a bit of a dark side when it comes to villainy and goody-goodies.

Twisted Words: Yeah, since the chapters in this episode aren't overly long I've pretty much decided to do daily updates. Once we reach VIII though, I'll still keep things frequent but the chapters will be much longer.

MissNaye: Definitely, and the final straw will be thrown in this chapter, hence its title.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 7: Revert to Plan B

Outer Rim System, Yavin

The Yavin system was a 3-planet group in the Outer Rim that contained a gas giant of the same name, which was orbited by the system's twenty-six moons.

The fourth moon of the system, Yavin IV, was one of the only three habitable moons in the system; the other two being Yavin VIII and Yavin XIII.

Since Yavin IV orbited the gas giant Yavin Prime, the tiny jungle moon experienced two different forms of nightfall. When rotating on an axis and not facing Yavin star though still staring at the pale orange giant of Yavin Prime, the light of Yavin IV dimmed to a plasteel glow, resulting in twilight nights.

However, when Yavin IV moved behind Yavin Prime, which also eclipsed the sun, it experienced a dark night. Once every several months, because of Yavin IV's rotation and its orbit around Yavin Prime, the moon experienced long dark nights in which temperatures dropped rapidly, thus causing enough turbulence in the atmosphere to generate powerful storms which ravaged the jungle-covered surface.

Yavin also experienced a beautiful phenomenon known as "rainbow storms" which occurred when the radiant beams of the system's sun poked through the hazy upper atmosphere of Yavin Prime, causing the sunlight to become polarized. Thus when the sunlight met the ice crystals in the moon's upper atmosphere, sparkling showers of rainbows appeared on the surface.

The surface was made up of four continents, which accounted for sixty-seven percent of the moon's surface. These continents were mostly covered in large sprawling tropical jungles with tall canopies, though there were also a few mountain ridges dominated by volcanoes.

In addition, Yavin had six interconnected oceans, which covered the remaining thirty-three percent of the moon. A landlocked sea was also on Yavin.

Yavin IV's large sprawling tropical jungles teemed with an abundance of life. Whisper birds above the thick jungle canopy. Packs of arboreal Woolamanders fed on fruits in the thick jungle canopy. The trees were also home to another rodent specie known as Stintarils. Large and shaggy herbivores known as runyips rotted through the underbrush beneath trees.

The moon's rivers also teemed with life including strange mucous salamanders, crystal snakes, crustacians known as anglers, crawlfish, and eels. Swarms of vicious piranha-beetles scoured the sky in terrifying swarms hunting for prey.

Yavin IV experienced two extreme seasons; a wet season, which caused violent storms, and a corresponding dry season.

The only native intelligent species were the tribal Critokians.

The ancient and abandoned Massassi temple that was once used by the native Massassi tribes to worship Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord who had enslaved and mutated the Massassi using Sith Alchemy, was the only structure on the moon. And it was inside this structure that the Rebel Alliance was based.

It was close to dusk, and all occupants inside the base were either changing their posts or preparing for bed. One of these occupants, however, was doing neither. They were neatly packing up their few belongings – clothing and a lightsaber – and preparing to leave.

Luke Skywalker, 19, had just finished conversing with his twin, Leila, whom was on the Emperor's space station project, the Death Star. After learning of her events in the Empire's grasp, his mind was set to leave the Rebellion. He didn't care what any of them said concerning the matter. He was leaving, and that was that. All the alliance had been causing over the past two years was death and violence, the very thing they were _supposed_ to be fighting against. This war against the Empire was no different then the other during Palpatine's reign. Countless deaths and brutal violence. And what had it accomplished?

Nothing. The rebels were defeated, and the Empire continued to rule. It would end up the same way this time as well, and Luke had no intention of being on the wrong side when that happened.

So, he would not tell the alliance where the battle station plans were. After all, what was the point? He would leave and join his sister and father on the Death Star.

Collecting the tote bag that contained his few possessions, Luke snuck out his room and, cloaking his presence in the Force, silently headed for the hangerbay.

Practically no one was inside, just a few techs here and there. The question that presented itself to Luke was what ship he should take with him on his way. He owned an X-wing star fighter – the alliance's star vessel of choice in battle; they received these and many other warships from the Corellian Fleet Yards in the Core – but wasn't entirely sure he wanted to take that with him to keep.

One idea that came to mind was stealing one of the high-class cruisers belonging to the royal and political members of the alliance. But Luke quickly reprimanded himself for thinking that. He was no thief. Another idea was to take the star cruiser that he, Leila, and the Jedi had used over the years, _Spiraled Avalanche_. Though not as new as it once was, it was still in good working order and if he took it he wouldn't really be stealing because the four of them owned it jointly. Plus, once he got to the Death Star, he could return it to its original and rightful owner, Antellica Grievous.

Satisfied with his decision, Luke went over to where _Spiraled Avalanche_ was docked and used the Force to lower the boarding ramp. He gave the hangerbay one last look around and turned to board the ship. But just as his foot was about to come down on the ramp, a voice spoke behind him.

"So that's it, is it Luke? You're just going to throw away your life with the alliance and join the Empire all of a sudden? Do you really think this is what Leila would have wanted you to do?"

Luke huffed out a sigh and turned to see the last Jedi of the Old Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, standing behind him.

Many years had passed since he first met the two, and while they hadn't exactly been young then, they certainly weren't now. Obi-Wan was currently in his late 50s and the ginger hair and beard he'd once possessed had gone white with age. While his voice and looks hadn't changed that much, he was nowhere near as fast or coordinated with a lightsaber as he once was. Both Luke and Leila had beaten him various times in duels.

The small, wizened old green alien Jedi that was Yoda wasn't as fast as he once was either, and hadn't ever wielded a lightsaber once over the time Luke had known him. He said he was getting too old for it. Luke guessed eight hundred and ninety-six years old was indeed too old for anyone to wield a lightsaber at.

The small Jedi was likable enough, cracking jokes on occasion. Luke and Leila always thought if they weren't funny, they were cute. Obi-Wan didn't seem to share in this belief. Rarely would you see him crack so much as a tiny smile anymore. The dry sense of humor he'd also once possessed was practically gone. Obi-Wan had changed drastically in character since Antellica left him. He was heartbroken and sad that he couldn't be apart of his children's lives and had never even met his daughter, Anneliese, Antellica having left him and resuming her former life before the presently fourteen-year-old was born.

Now Obi-Wan had never actually admitted to these things, but Luke could tell. He felt slightly sorry for him, but then at the same time he didn't. Luke couldn't help thinking that if he hadn't helped in he and Leila's kidnapping maybe the heartbreak wouldn't have happened. But then again, maybe it would've. It was hard to tell.

While Luke didn't exactly hate Obi-Wan anymore, he wasn't exactly chumming with him either. They shared a civilized relationship and understood one another. It was in this that Obi-Wan knew Luke would never fully forgive him for taking him from his family and what he did to Anakin.

"I don't need you criticizing or reproving me, Obi-Wan," Luke said in response to his questions. "I really don't."

He made to go back up the ramp, but Yoda's voice stopped him. "Go you must not. Needed here you are."

Luke turned and looked down at the small Jedi in defiance. "I belong in the Empire with my father and family."

"Leila gets captured by Imperial agents and suddenly you want to join the very same people who captured her?" Obi-Wan asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"Leila isn't the same Leila she was when you last saw her, Obi-Wan," Luke said. "Her views on the alliance have changed. She's met our father and, like me, doesn't think he's a bad person."

Obi-Wan miserably closed his eyes at this pronouncement. He should have never let her go on the mission to Kessel alone, no matter how determined she was on the matter.

Yoda, however, banged down his gimmer stick on the floor in indifference. "Filled her mind with things Vader may have, but turned she has not."

"I didn't say she did," Luke protested, but Yoda didn't stop to listen.

"Walking into his hands you would be if leave us you do. If join him you do, you will become an agent of evil."

By now Luke had grown quite angered with the pair of them. "You speak of our father as if he's a bad person. Well I know better, and so does Leila. And neither of us will stand for your use of us as pawns in your game of revenge. All you did was take from and use him because he was your fabled 'Chosen One'. You are not using Leila and I in the same fashion."

Disconnecting his lightsaber from his utility belt, Luke threw it onto the floor before them. "I won't be needing that anymore. Farewell Jedi. And may the Force be with you," he mocked.

Boarding the ship, he left Yavin and the alliance, never to return.

* * *

At _Spiraled Avalanche's_ disappearance into the night of space, Obi-Wan let out a sigh. He turned to Yoda. "He is lost then." 

"Yes." Yoda also sighed and sadly looked up at where the ship had been a second before. "To plan B, we must revert to."

Obi-Wan sighed, not liking this at all. This was not supposed to happen. The twins were not supposed to leave the alliance and Plan B was never supposed to be used. It was simply a backup plan they had if their original should fail. But Obi-Wan and Yoda had tried all they could to make sure it didn't fail. Obviously, they hadn't tried hard enough.

"Bring together a meeting," Yoda said. "And then evacuate we should..."

Most of the Rebels were shocked to learn of Luke's leaving, others saddened, and some angry, saying they should have foreseen this long ago.

"But what are we to do now?" Pooja Hutinson, the former Senator of the Mid Rim world Ord Mantell asked. "With our two most vital leaders gone, how are we to know where the Death Star plans are, and where are we to go? We can't possibly stay here. The system will be swarming with Imperials in no time."

"I agree," former Senator Bacta Ullman said. "We cannot stay here. But as to where we should go, I haven't a clue."

"The Outer Rim world of Chad," Obi-Wan answered. "A base has already been set up there and other worlds should we have to continue moving across the galaxy."

"And the traitors?" former Senator Ian Bassid queried. "Did they know of these secret bases?"

"No," Yoda stated. "Know of our backup plan they did not."

"Backup plan?" a few of them asked.

"When we're safely on Chad, then will we reveal it to you," Obi-Wan said. "But for now, we must evacuate."

The evacuation began and was finished in an hour's time. In this duration, they received a transmission from a rebel spy on Kessel, informing them that after the attack on Leila's ship escape pods were sent down onto the nearby world of Serenno and how the Empire believed the plans to be in one of them. He added that he would've sent them this vital Intel sooner, only he had to be sure he wasn't caught.

Because of this discovery, it was decided that a strike team be sent to the planet to recapture them. Obi-Wan volunteered to lead this mission.

Before the remaining two Jedi parted, they had a brief talk, over viewing their plans.

"And remember master, if I die, go on without me," Obi-Wan said.

"Understood Obi-Wan." Yoda took Obi-Wan's hand into his own clawed one. "May the Force be with you."

"And you master."

Obi-Wan then left with his strike force, set for Serenno. Yoda, meanwhile, left Yavin IV for Chad with the Rebel Alliance.


	53. Betrayal Executed

Chapter 52 responses:

arzem: Even though you reviewed for chapter 1, what was said within it had to do with chapter 52. As for Baynetta, I will only again say "no comment". Thanks for the review though.

MissNaye: Absolutely. But Leila still has to decide rather or not she wants to belong in the empire or not. That's decided in this chapter.

Thrawn716: Yeah, I'm a fan of the Legacy comics too. They're pretty cool, but so short. Just when you get into them, they end.

Twisted Words: You'll have to wait one day longer, as Plan B isn't revealed until the next chapter.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 8: Betrayal Executed

Death Star, Mustafar system orbit

At the Emperor's leaving of his oldest daughter, he returned to the technical room where he found Antellica, Hilton, and Tarkin still waiting. Upon arriving, he was told that the tests had been a success. All stations aboard the Death Star were operational, and awaiting his orders as to what course they should set.

By now Anakin had expected to have the location of the Rebel Alliance, but he didn't. He and Leila hadn't even touched the subject during their talk. He wanted his daughter to trust him and not think he was simply using her for Imperial means.

"So, did she tell you the location of the rebel base?" Antellica asked.

Anakin turned to her, and for a moment said nothing. "No," he finally said at length. "She's still debating rather she should leave the alliance or not."

"Leave the alliance?" Tarkin repeated in surprise. "She's actually considering it? I'm impressed, Your Excellency! I didn't expect you to have _that_ much success with her."

"Well I am her father after all," he pointed out. "If anyone could make her see reason, it's me. In answer to your question, let's simply stay where we are for now. I'll give her another hour. After which, we will most definitely have our answer."

"As you wish my lord," Tarkin said with a bow.

* * *

After the meeting concerning Leila and the Rebel base came to a close, Hilton was told by his father that Leila wanted to meet him. So instead of returning to the cafeteria with his aunt, the teen headed solo for their royal quarters. 

Upon arrival, he tapped into the Force to figure out where his older half-sister was inside. He found her presence in the library.

That's not far from the kitchen, he remembered.

Since it was on the way, Hilton stopped in to grab some veggie sticks and fizzle drinks before going in the library. Inside, he found Leila on a ladder against a high bookshelf, looking over the spines of books.

"Hey!" he called up to her.

The abrupt sound of a young man's voice startled Leila so much that she almost fell off the ladder. Using the Force to keep herself upright, she placed her hand to her chest a moment and looked down at the person who'd spoken. It looked to be a teenage boy a few years younger then herself; maybe sixteen. He had short dark brown hair, blue eyes, and was medium in height, about 5'6'. Leila assumed this was Hilton; an assumption that was confirmed a moment later when he spoke again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Hilton. Dad said you wanted to meet me."

"Yes I did actually," Leila said with a nod as she climbed down the ladder.

When she was off and on solid ground again, Leila raised an eyebrow at the snacks and beverages that sat on one of the reading tables. Hilton was currently sipping one of the cans of fizzle.

"You know, technically speaking, you're not supposed to eat or drink in a library," Leila said.

Hilton smirked. "True, but technically speaking, this isn't exactly a real library. It's merely a small collection of books located in a home residence."

"Small collection?!" she repeated in disbelief. "Have you looked around?! There must be at least a thousand books in here!"

"One thousand and one to be precise," Hilton said. "But I say small because the library at Skywalker Manor has at least ten thousand more books then this one."

"Wow!"

"I'm not much of a book person myself," he continued. "But I'll read the occasional one if it perks my interest."

By now Leila had reached him and, because they couldn't figure out what else to do, shook hands. For a while the two stood in awkward silence in an attempt to figure out what else to say to each other, when Leila suddenly gestured towards the veggies.

"Mind if I have any?"

"No, not at all." He handed her the bag they came in. "I'm sorry for not offering you any sooner."

Leila smiled. "That's alright."

Sitting down atop the table, she began to eat. Hilton sat down beside her and opened one of the fizzle cans before offering it to her. She accepted it with a gracious smile. "Thank you Hilton."

After yet another moment of silence, Leila spoke again. "So Hilton...I understand you're majoring in business economics at the University of Coruscant."

"I am actually," he said. "I've been going for the past year now. Though I'm on break at the moment, for the length of a week. So rather then staying at home with everyone on the capital, I decided to come with dad to check out theDeath Star project. It's very well put together, I must say. A lot better designed then I previously anticipated."

Leila nodded and the conversation then reverted to her. Hilton was curious about his older half-sister and she was more then happy to answer any questions he had. They also spoke about Luke a bit, Antellica's children, Grand Imperial Moff Jovovich's four children – Drake, 16, the Empress' Hand, and the triplets, Bellatrix, Braxton and Blondelle, 14 – and the other members of the Grievous-Skywalker clan.

Hilton was just telling Leila about the time when he and Lacovia were having a joint fifth birthday party with Drake at the Jovovich's mansion, the former estate of Empress Amidala, when they were joined by a visitor, only they didn't know it yet.

"With the help of all the other kids, besides Elektra who was only nine months at the time, we were causing absolute mayhem in the entire house while the adults were outside talking," he explained with a laugh. "Instead of eating the cake, we thought it'd be fun to smear it across the walls and play dodge ball with it."

Leila clapped a hand over her mouth and gasped. "Oh my gods! But didn't you realize you'd get in trouble for doing all that?!"

"Yeah, I think we knew," he replied. "But we wanted to do it anyway."

Leila laughed and Hilton let out a few chuckles before continuing. "We got in so much trouble. We had to scrub the walls, floors, everything. Plus we were all grounded."

Leila laughed again, but soon stopped when she heard a throat being cleared. And it wasn't Hilton because he'd stopped laughing and was now silently observing the floor.

Glancing towards the entranceway of the room, she saw it was the Emperor. As he then made his way towards them, Leila found herself suddenly growing nervous, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was because of the aura of superiority that always seemed to swirl around him. Or maybe it was the fact that, despite their conversation, Leila had yet to make her decision over the matter of the Rebel Alliance. Whatever it was, she was determined not to have it affect the way she acted around him or felt in his presence. But then she thought about Luke. He said he was going to make sure a reconnaissance team went to retrieve the plans. If Leila told where they were, there was sure to be a battle between both sides. Is that what she wanted? Leila couldn't stand violence, but at the same time if she did nothing and the rebels got the plans, there was sure to be a battle anyway. One in which the Rebels attacked and possibly destroyed the Death Star and everyone within it.

He was practically before her now. Swallowing her nerves, Leila blurted out, "The rebel base is in the Yavin system, on the fourth moon. And the plans are on Serenno. Luke will also be here within the next five hours."

Anakin was slightly taken aback by all this information. His intention had been to come in and try to persuade Leila into talking. It seems he didn't need to.

Leila now had her head downcast, wondering if she'd done the right thing or not. Anakin reached forward and lifted her chin in his hands. She kept her eyes lowered however.

"Thank you," he attempted to say softly, yet, of course, it came out just as loud.

Leila didn't say anything, simply remaining silent. Anakin understood and left her alone, gesturing for Hilton to do the same.


	54. Rebel Triumph

Author's Note: Can you believe it's snowing here! So much for a prelude to spring. Hopefully, it's nicer where you faithful readers live. Thanks a bunch for the splendid reviews. If I get four by tonight, I'll post Chapter 10 early.

arzum: Keep reading to find out!

Thrawn716: The chapters I wrote for this episode, except for the last two, aren't that long. I'm not even sure why. Once we reach Episode VIII, however, we'll have some nice long perpetual in length chapters.

G-Anakin 13: I know it was surprising, but not completely unexpected.

Twisted Words: I know you didn't review, but I realized after responding to your last review, I fed you misinformation. Plan B won't be revealed till Chapter 10, not 9. Sorry.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 9: Rebel Triumph

The information Leila gave her father concerning the Rebel Alliance was acted on immediately. The Death Star plus Supreme Commander Grievous' third of the fleet jumped to lightspeed headed for the Outer Rim system of Yavin, while General Anneliese Grievous' third of the fleet headed for Serenno. General Alexander Grievous' third of the fleet, however, would remain in orbit of Mustafar, awaiting the arrival of Luke. At first, Alexander had wanted to go to Serenno but when he found out about Luke jumped at the chance to remain behind. This was only natural being that Alexander and Luke had been best friends as children on Tatooine. Once Luke arrived though, they were to join the fleet at Yavin unless orders changed.

Orders hadn't change when Luke arrived five hours later being that the Death Star and fleet were still twenty minutes away from the system, so Alexander's squadron headed for Yavin as planned.

Luke and Alexander had a marvelous reunion, catching up and talking about anything and everything. When Luke learned of the Empire's plans to attack the Rebels on Yavin, he was a little optimistic, expressing his doubt that they were still there.

"What do you mean?" Alexander asked.

Luke told him about his last conversation with Yoda and Obi-Wan. "After something like that, would you stay in hiding at the same place?"

Alexander sighed heavily. "No, I suppose not."

But when Luke sent a transmission to the Death Star, and thus his father, explaining this, Anakin expressed his desire to go anyway and make an example out of the system of planets. For though Yavin IV had been unoccupied except by the Rebel base, the system's two other habitable moons, Yavin VIII and Yavin XIII, were quite well inhabited with enemies of the Empire.

At Luke's stating that they may not be there either, Anakin scoffed, "Where, my son, are the Rebels going to find room to harbor two moons' amount of civilians?"

To this, Luke had no answer.

When the Death Star and Supreme Commander Grievous' fleet arrived in orbit of Yavin, the system was blockaded and every single planet and moon destroyed.

It was by this time that General Anneliese Grievous' third of the fleet arrived at Serenno to find a bit of a surprise awaiting them. The three Star Destroyers that had remained behind at the planet after the Battle of Kessel to retrieve the plans that were suspected to be on the planet were gone. No trace of them could be seen anywhere. Anneliese ordered scout ships be sent down onto the planet to find out what was up while she contacted her mother's fleet and the Death Star to tell them the situation.

The fact of three Star Destroyers going missing right under the nose of an Imperial world like Serenno was enough to make even the Emperor disturbed. And what the scouts found on the planet was even more troubling.

Each system and planet in the Empire had a battalion of stormtroopers that acted as the world or area's planetary defense system. If any type of out of order activity take place on the planet, the Commanding officer of the troopers would be alerted and the problem dealt with. However, when Anneliese joined the scouts down on the mountain/rainforest/savannah/misty river/ocean planet it was to find all of Serenno's Imperial troops dead.

Security holographs of a few hours before showed a group of rebels, led by Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, breaking into the Imperial Base and killing all inside.

After more extensive digging in the archives, holographs of a space battle taking place over Serenno a few hours previous were found. In them, the three Star Destroyers were destroyed by the extensive firepower of numerous Rebel ships.

Despite the fact that it was all spelled out in front of her – the Rebels had somehow known the plans were on Serenno and came to retrieve them before Imperial forces could – Anneliese chose to find witnesses on the planet to back this up.

Only the super wealthy lived on Serenno. It was like a paradise world for those who had money to throw away in large volumes. An estimated fifty homes were on the planet in all with an industrial zone in the capital. The most elegant place of residence on-world once belonged to the planet's Count; former Jedi, Sith, and CIS operative, Sar Dooku. After his death, however, it fell into Imperial hands.

Various workers in the industrial factories were pulled aside in and outside the buildings and interrogated by Imperials. It was the same story from everyone:

Imperial forces alerted the workers at the factory via intercom that a Rebel attack was taking place outside the planet and it was advised that everyone remain indoors. About ten minutes later, numerous ships could be seen arriving on the planet. Most of them went to the Imperial base while others flew about the planet as though looking for something.

No one knew much of what happened after that. All they said was that an hour later the ships were leaving. No one knew what to think because no message was released from the Imperial base concerning if it was all right to come back out and that the danger had passed.

Eventually, people ventured out on their own and they saw everything was fine. Life then continued to go on as it had before the Rebels arrived.

The Death Star and Commander Grievous' fleet arrived outside Serenno once done at the now non-existent system of Yavin. A shuttle containing Emperor Skywalker, Hilton, Leila, Antellica, and Tarkin arrived on the planet a short while later at the Imperial base. There, Anneliese relayed to them all she'd learned concerning the attack. Anakin, naturally, was furious when he learned who'd led the attack, but it was Leila who said to him, "Your fury and anger isn't going to accomplish anything concerning what happened or where the Rebels are now."

He knew his daughter was right, but didn't like the idea of being reprimanded by a child so simply acted as though he hadn't heard her.

A message was sent to Alexander's fleet to revert course from Yavin to Serenno. When they arrived, a meeting would be held at the Imperial owned Dooku's Castle concerning the recent events. In the meantime, clues were searched for around and inside the Imperial base and more civilians, including police officers and other ranking officers, were interrogated.


	55. Base on Chad

Author's Note: Okay, so many the last chapter didn't have much to review over, but this one does as Plan B is finally revealed. You may have figured it out by now, then again maybe not. Any who, this chapter's slightly longer, so enjoy.

Chapter 54 responses:

MissNaye: Don't we all, but...he always does seem to have a way to slip out of the most plausible situations.

arzu: Same here.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 10: Base on Chad

Originally, the Rebels were supposed to have split up after they evacuated Yavin with Obi-Wan's strike team going to Serenno to retrieve the plans, while Yoda led the rest of them to the safety of their new base on Chad. Right after leaving, however, Yoda was shown a vision of the deaths of the entire force if they went alone, so decided to change course and join the strike team in their mission. For together, they'd stand much better a chance then apart.

The Rebels were able to take the three Star Destroyers stationed outside Serenno by surprise at their sudden attack, and under the continuous fire power of their ships, knocked the three vessels out of orbit before back up could be sent for.

With the ships down, they were able to enter Serenno without being under fire. While Obi-Wan's group ambushed the Imperial Headquarters in the heart of the industrial capital city, Yoda's group searched the planet via air for the twelve escape pods that had jettisoned from _Freedom Fighter_.

It took a while to find them, even with so many ships spread all across the planet, but after about three quarters of an hour they were finally found, sprawled in the high forest mountains and covered with bushes.

Land troops were sent down to look through the pods, but the plans weren't in any of them. This was to be half expected; because the pods had crashed onto the planet the plans could've flew out whichever pod they were in. Either that or the plans had been destroyed. But after looking a little longer, though, the data tapes that contained the plans were found in a pile of sticks not far from the stump of a tree.

With their success in hand, they left for Chad. It was on the way that Obi-Wan and Yoda both felt a large disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices had suddenly cried out in terror, and then were just as suddenly, silenced. And this didn't just happed once, but several times. They knew something dreadful had happened. The Emperor had used his Death Star on several planets, and from the order they happened, it seemed that all of them were in one system. Yavin perhaps?

Now that Vader had his oldest twin children in hand, one of them was bound to tell the Dark Lord what he wanted to know concerning the Rebel base. Obi-Wan and Yoda were most glad they'd never told the twins about their back up plan. That was the only thing that would save them now.

The Rebel fleet arrived outside Chad seven hours after leaving Serenno. The base that had been set up on world was located in the underground gold mines that were used fifty some odd years before – 30 NRE.

The galaxy system that contained Chad was of the same name and featured not one, but four worlds: Chad, Chadra, Chad III, and Chad IV. Chadra was the homeworld of the Chadra-Fan race. What marked the planet Chad as different from its three brother worlds was that unlike their terrain of oceans, marshes, bogs, and bayous, Chad was mostly urban with several forests here and there. It also housed, out of the four, the largest population of Humans, even after the semi-tragedy the planet endured half-century ago.

During what's referred to as Chad's golden era, the world was overloaded with prosperity. The gold and precious metals found in the mines beneath the cities were used to make expensive jewelry that sold all across the galaxy. Life was wonderful on Chad. The miners were highly paid, and the gold continued to grow in the planet's soil. But life didn't stay this way. Because of the greed of the world's royal family, the gold that grew in the soil began to be used more and more for their use alone. Now when gold was mined it was sent to the Palace, and not the jewelry making corporations across the galaxy. The Royals would have gold made into everything; goblets, gowns, slippers, ornaments, lamps, tables, etc.

The once successfulness of the planet began to decline, but the Royals hardly noticed; they were too concerned with their own greed. Day after day they demanded that more gold be brought to the Palace until one day terrible things began to happen. The miners went on strike due to their lack of pay, and the Royals demanded that they be executed unless they brought them more gold. After which, an all-out war took place on the planet between the citizens and the Royals. Many were killed, including the Royals, but the war did not end with the death of the Royals and their loyalists, as it should have. Many more began to get the same greedy spirit that the Royals had within their hearts and more fighting and killing was orchestrated on the planet. It got so bad that the Republic had to send a group of Jedi to decontaminate the planet. They got off as many non-violent civilians as they could, but eventually had to leave due to the attacks on their ships.

Once in space, the decontamination was done. Everyone on the planet was killed, and sadly the gold growth was destroyed as well. Strangely enough, the mines that had been used for the gold remained intact. The surviving citizens on the Republic cruisers were returned to the planet and it was reconstructed close to its former glory, though it would never be as successful as it once was.

As the years went by, the planet declined in popularity, and now in the twentieth year of the Galactic Empire the planet of Chad was practically unknown. This was a wonderful place for the Rebels to hide. Elected officials ran it, and because the planet was so small – no larger than a moderate-sized moon – and unknown, it didn't really have any part of the Empire. In the official Imperial records, Chad was listed as a member planet, but it wasn't really. For if it was, a battalion of stormtroopers would be stationed on the world, acting as its planetary defense system. But there were none. Never had been, and probably never would be.

The Jedi had sent word to Chad's Planetary President, Dijon Ming, to let him know they were coming, so upon arriving at the planet's Old Royal Palace – it currently served as the President's home during his terms of office – a troop of planetary officers and politicians along with the President himself were outside waiting. They were welcomed warmly and invited inside for dinner. Most of the rebels wanted to rush into having the Death Star plans annualized, but Yoda urged them patience.

"Done afterwards it can be."

During the two-hour meal, the members of the Rebel Alliance ate, drank, and were merry; for the time being forgetting about the war. The Jedi were going to mention the lengths and full extent of their backup plan to everyone since they were all assembled, but thought against it. It would be better to wait until later, and only speak of it to their most respected and trusted members. That would include the President of Chad himself since part of it involved not only the planet he served, but his Force sensitive daughter as well.

After the meal, while the alliance members were getting ready to board or in the process of boarding the cruisers they'd came in, Obi-Wan and Yoda pulled President Ming aside to discuss his daughter, Callista.

"You'll remember the proposal we made to you if the plan concerning Luke and Leila failed?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes I do," Dijon said with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I heard about Leila's capture; too bad about her. She was such a fiery voice of reason in this growing dark galaxy. But where is Luke? I don't recall seeing him since your arrival."  
"He isn't here. The plan failed. Luke and Leila are no longer apart of the Rebel Alliance." Obi-Wan said this in a hard, emotionless voice.

President Ming looked shocked. "What?! You're joking! But why-how?"

"The 'why' and 'how' matter not," Yoda answered. "All that matters now is the reconstruction of the Jedi Order. A great asset young Callista would make."

"Ever since you first mentioned it, that's mainly all she's talked about really," Dijon said. "Wanting to be a Jedi; so she approves of the idea."

"And you?" Obi-Wan asked.

Ming sighed. "She's my firstborn child. The life of a Jedi is a dangerous one, but this planet does owe the Jedi its survival of the gold era so...yes I approve."

"Thank you Dijon," Yoda said. "Anytime now, Callista may join us."

"Just make sure it's within the next week," Obi-Wan added. "That's probably when we'll officially start the training once we contact the rest of our Force sensitive patents."

A fact that Luke and Leila had never known was that Obi-Wan and Yoda knew numerous Force sensitives across the galaxy whom were interested in becoming Jedi – young and old alike; an estimated fifteen to be exact. The original plan had been once Vader and his empire was defeated, Obi-Wan and Yoda would reveal to the twins the other Force sensitives and the Jedi Order would be resurrected. Never had Obi-Wan and Yoda truly wanted the Order to be rebuilt during the middle of war, but they had no choice. It had to be done, for they were getting too old to do this sort of thing alone anymore.

During the time it took to get to the underground base and set up, the Death Star plans were annualized in the main computers. Wondrously, they came out positive; a weakness had indeed been found in the design of the space station. Because of this, an immediate meeting was set up to discuss it in the conference room.

"The battle station is heavily shielded, and carries a firepower greater then half the star fleet," Senior Commander Rostoni said to the assembly of Rebel members gathered: all the main leaders and pilots participating in the mission. A computer screen that showed a diagram of the Death Star lay behind him.

"Its defenses are designed around a direct large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defense."

As Obi-Wan gazed around the room, he saw that a few of the pilots were looking at one another disbelievingly.

"Pardon me for asking sir," one of them spoke up, "but what good are snub fighters going to be against that?"

"Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small, one-man fighter to be any threat," Rostoni answered, "or they'd have a tighter defense. An analysis of the plans, provided by our pickup mission on Serenno, show a weakness in the battle station. But the approach will not be easy. You're required to maneuver straight down this trench," he pointed to a trench located around the Core of the station, "and skim the surface to this point." He pointed to small shaft located at the end of the trench circle. "The target area is only two-meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction, which should destroy the station. Only a precise it will start a chain reaction."

All the while Rostoni was speaking, the computer screen behind him was demonstrated all he was saying. It was to give the pilot's an idea of how to do what he explaining in action.

"The shaft is ray-shielded so you'll have to use proton torpedoes," Rostoni advised.

This statement caused most of the pilots to scoff and make sounds of unbelief. "That's impossible, even for a computer!" one called out, while others muttered other incoherent objections.

Yoda stamped his gimmer stick down hard on the floor in irritation. "No! Nothing is impossible! Only impossible in your mind. The Force, guide you it will. With your instincts go you. Trust in them, and successful our mission will be."

Everyone in the room went over Yoda's words a few moments before seeming to accept them while nodding.

Commander Rostoni sent a gracious smile in Yoda's direction before turning back to the assembly. "Then man your ships, and may the Force be with you."

Obi-Wan was about to alert the alliance's various spies across the galaxy to determine the position of the Imperial fleet when an officer came running in saying the HoloNet was doing a special on the Rebellion's "hijacking" of the Outer Rim world of Serenno.

"It's on live right now," the officer explained, "and it seems that's where most of the fleet and Death Star is; in orbit around Serenno."

Obi-Wan and Yoda both watched some of the HoloNet news special just to make sure it wasn't a trick of the empire to lure them someplace in hopes of trapping them. It didn't seem to be, and after watching a few more minutes, they were assured that it wasn't. Vader was too furious about the plans being stolen to set a trap, so the Rebels would simply do it instead.

Within the next hour, the Rebel fleet had left Chad, en route to Serenno and, hopefully, the end of the war.


	56. Enemies From Within

Author's Note: Sorry the update is so late in the day. I got busy.

Chapter 55 responses:

arzu: The Death Star battle will be in not this chapter, but the next. So it'll be revealed who blows it up or not than. As for Han Solo, as was said before, yes he will be in this story starting next episode. Only his entrance comes in a bit of a twist of time, which probably doesn't make any sense. All I can say is you'll see once we reach VIII.

MissNaye: We shall see...

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 11: Enemies From Within

Outer Rim World, Serenno

Not long after the Rebels left Chad, General Alexander Grievous' squadron arrived at Serenno. A flagship was sent down from the _Executor_ containing Luke and the General himself, and a wondrous reunion soon followed between Luke, his twin, and Antellica, but mostly especially with his father. Both were absolutely thrilled to see one another again, and after a tight embrace Anakin took a step back to take in his son's appearance.

While Luke wasn't an exact clone of how Anakin looked at nineteen, he did look a lot like him. The same blue eyes and sandy blonde hair, though Luke's was mildly long; not as long as Anakin kept his during the Clone Wars and early years of the empire, just a tad bit shorter. The height factor was the other thing that set them different. Luke wasn't puny, but he wasn't quite as tall as Alexander, who stood at two meters. Luke was about 5'7', some inches taller than Leila who stood at 5'4'. They'd each obviously taken after their other gender parent on that category, because while Amidala hadn't been overly short, she hadn't been overly tall either at about 5'5'.

Once the reunion was over and Luke was introduced to the others, they all went inside the elegant building that was Dooku's Castle.

Before the Empire hunted down and killed the family line, the Counts of Serenno had a magnificent estate with rose bushes not far from the seashell-littered shores. The palace it encased was luxurious enough, with several levels and fine architecture.

The Imperials ventured into it's conference hall where a meeting was then set up concerning where the Rebels could've possibly gone after they left Serenno. Various other officers besides the Royal family were in the room, all seated about a rectangular shaped table.

"What I'm still trying to figure out is how they'd known the plans were on Serenno to begin with," Alexander said, idly looking around the room as though an answer would simply present itself. His eyes set on Leila, and he began to look suspicious. "Who all knew where the plans were before you told uncle?" he interrogated.

Antellica was about to protest at her son's sharp tone, but Leila commented before the older woman could.

"I told Luke, who probably told the alliance," she said casually.

"Actually, I changed my mind and didn't tell them," Luke said quickly. "I simply packed my bags and was on my way."

He gave a brief description of his closing conversation with the Jedi before Alexander spoke again.

"Then how did they find out?" He shot another suspicious look in Leila's direction and Luke, figuring what he was implying, was quick to defend her.

"If you're trying to insinuate what I think Alexander, you can be silent."

Alexander appeared somewhat taken aback at Luke's harsh words, but he didn't stop there. "Leila is not a liar. What she told you is fact, and unless you have proof to back your suspicions, don't entertain bull."

Luke sat himself back down and a few moments of silence followed. Anneliese gave a few coughs, Hilton was smirking, Antellica was examining her fingernails, and Leila and Alexander were locked in a staring contest; daring the other to look away. Tarkin, meanwhile, was drumming his fingers on the table and Anakin was looking approvingly at Luke who seemed pleased with himself. The other officers in the room either had their heads down or remained stone faced.

After another moment, Leila finally turned her gaze away from Alexander in disgust and addressed the room at large.

"You wanna know how they found out? I suggest you question a worker by the name of Cedric Heyday at the Kessel Fleet Systems."

Tarkin looked mildly surprised. "The engineer Heyday? Why?"

Leila smiled knowingly at Luke, who took up his cue. "He's a Rebel spy."

"What?!" Everyone except the twins exploded. They, meanwhile, continued to look humored.

"You'd be surprised how many spies you have among your ranks." Leila allowed a slight smirk at a few of the officers in the room. She put out her hand and began to count on her fingers. "Let's see, there's Major Whitman-"

"Whitman!" Tarkin, Anakin, Antellica, Anneliese, and Alexander all cut across her sharply.

"Yes, Major Augustus Whitman is the older brother of Senator Pooja Hutinson," Luke informed. "The 'Whitman' last name is simply an alias used to deceive the empire."

While most in the room were boiling in fury, Hilton commented, "So Hutinson's brother didn't die in the Alien War like she says."

"Oh no," Luke affirmed. "Pooja has the tendency to lie about things to generate sympathy. Her parents supposedly died in a speeder crash right before she was elected as Senator for the first time." He gave a dry laugh. "No they didn't. She simply said that as a way to generate sympathy votes."

"But the crash site," Hilton started to object.

"Fake," Leila answered. "Pooja simply hired actors to play out the scene. It was the actors she hired whom died."

"Pooja used to be an holodrama actress herself as a child," Luke commented. "It's how she can fool people into believing her about things. You never know when she's acting for real or not."

"Well after Whitman's dealt with Ord Mantell will follow," Anakin growled.

"But it's such a beautiful world," Leila complained. "Can't you just kill the people inside and then capture the planet for Imperial use like you did with Labor and the Neimoidia system?"

Alexander gave a disgusted snort, but for the most part he was ignored. Anakin, meanwhile, gave his daughter a thoughtful stare.

"If I led an assault mission on the planet," she continued, "to kill all inside, would you let Ord Mantell survive? Because it is after all the people you want killed, not the planet."

"Hmm." Anakin began to think over Leila's words. A mission like this might be good for her. Not only would she be turning on people that considered her to be their hero, but it'd also show if she had any lingering feelings for the alliance or not.

"Very well Leila," he said at last. "You may lead a mission to obliterate Ord Mantell. But I'd also like Lacovia to go with you to-"

"Make sure I'm doing as instructed and not turning spy for the Rebel Alliance," Leila finished.

Anakin gave a chuckle at her cleverness. "Something like that."

Leila was about to start listing off more Rebels in the Empire when Alexander suddenly exploded, "I do not get this!" he roared. "Hasn't it ever occurred to you that while on this mission Leila could use the time to brainwash Lacovia into practically anything? You all know how desperate Lacovia is to meet her older sister; she's bound to believe anything that comes out of Leila's mouth."

Leila was instantly on her feet. "I'm sorry Alexander, but do you have something to say to me?" she snarled, making her way over to him.

Alexander was also on his feet, and this time Antellica did protest over her son's behavior.

"Alexander Chad Michael, sit down this instant!" She never called him by his full name unless she meant business.

Alas, Alexander did not seem to care about his mother. He was too preoccupied with staring down Leila as he made his way towards her. Their eyes were locked in a fierce glare.

"I said sit down!" Antellica sharply ordered her son, but again she was ignored.

"Yes, I do have something to say to you," Alexander spat in reply to Leila's question. "I think you're a treacherous bitch and-"

But whatever else Alexander had to say about her, they never knew for right at that moment Anakin reached out with the Force and began to choke his nephew. Antellica was beyond frantic with her protests.

"Anakin, please stop this! Don't hurt him! Leave him alone!"

"I will not stand for him belittling my daughter right in front of me," Anakin growled, tightening his Force grip on Alexander's throat.

"But he's my baby," Antellica cried. "Don't hurt him! Please don't!"

"Then teach your _baby_ to hold his tongue when others are discussing things which do not concern him." He abruptly let go of his grip on the young man, and because of the abruptness Alexander fell face forward onto the floor.

Antellica was at his side in no time. Leila, meanwhile, gave him a look of disgust before going back to her chair.

Antellica attempted to help her son up, but he pushed her away. He'd never been so embarrassed in his life.

"Do not push me Alexander!" Antellica sharply reproved as she picked herself up and stalked after him, grabbing his arm to turn him around to face her.

Alexander's only reply was slapping his mother across the face. Anneliese and Hilton were instantly on their feet, running towards her and many in the room gasped. Anakin growled and made to choke Alexander again, only he fled the room before he could. Anneliese yelled a profanity at his departing back before turning to her mother to make sure she was okay.

"Yes Anneliese, I'm fine," Antellica assured. "Really."

Nonetheless, Anneliese and Hilton both helped her back to her seat.

Another moment of silence went by before Anakin spoke again. "Luke, Leila: I'd like the two of you to compile a list of all the Rebel spies you can think of."

They both nodded. "We can do that," Luke said.

"I'd also like you to think of any possible locations the Rebels could have gone to," he added. "Were there any number of systems you had listed as backup planets? Worlds you could go to if you suddenly had to evacuate."

Both shook their heads. "Oddly enough, no," Luke said. "Leila suggested it once..."

"...But Obi-Wan shot down the idea, saying they would worry about it only if and when it occurred," Leila finished. "That's all that was discussed on the matter."

"Hmm." Anakin decided even attempt to hide his slight disappoint by this news.

"But there may be another way we can find out." With a mischievous grin, Leila eyed a few of the officers seated.

"Because you see father," Luke continued, "there happen to be three Rebel spies in this very room as we speak."

"Where?" Anakin growled as Tarkin asked, "Who?"

Leila rose from her chair and pointed towards a mixed skin officer. "Captain Chi Hitachi of the Star Destroyer _Avenger_."

The Captain made to rise from his chair, but was held down by surrounding officers.

"Lieutenant Fanja Nomanda of the Star Destroyer _Darkvenge_," Luke announced, pointing to the nervous colored man. He also was held down.

"And Clone Commander 3K421," Leila finalized. "The real clone was killed a year ago. A Rebel by the name of Ned Litterall has been posing as him ever since."

These three Rebels were quickly apprehended and the man dressed as the stormtrooper was stripped of his uniform. After being unarmed, they were all thrown before the Emperor. Anakin kicked them each hard in the gut and jaw before Force throwing them into a nearby wall. They crumpled to the floor like the pathetic lifeforms they were. Anakin then gestured to Antellica and she raised her hands to have electricity sprout out of them. The treacherous scum began to scream and moan loudly, but the Sith Lady gave a death ear to them.

Finally, after roughly a minute, she ceased and grabbed the stormtrooper impostor by the throat.

"Where's the Rebel Base?!" she demanded. "Talk!"

With the last exclamation, she threw the Rebel into a pole fixture at the center of the room (the table was circled around it). The moment the man's neck made contact with the pole it was all over. He died almost instantly.

Turning away from the death, Anakin saw that the two surviving Rebels had different expressions. While Hitachi was shaking, Nomanda had his head held high and was defiantly looking back at the emperor expressionlessly. Anakin reached down and gripped the man hard around the throat.

"I could swash you like a bug if I wanted to," he growled. "Is that what you want Rebel?"

Even if Nomanda wanted to talk, he couldn't because he was being choking too much.

"You are worthless!" Anakin pronounced throwing the man. Nomanda joined Litterall dead next to the pole a moment later.

Grabbing the last remaining Rebel by his chin, Anakin slammed him on the ground and ripped through his mind, searching for the information he wanted as the man screamed in agony. Surprisingly, Hitachi didn't know where they were now. The last he'd had contact with them was a few days ago when they were still stationed on Yavin IV. In frustrated fury, Anakin cracked the man's neck in two.

"The Rebels cannot hide forever!" he boomed. "They will be found! And when they are, they will be CRUSHED!"

As Anakin pronounced "CRUSHED," the decorative glass window that ran alongside the room and into another room crashed to the floor in a million tiny pieces. Various meeting members jumped at this action, causing Anakin to snarl at their patheticness as he stalked out of the room in a huff.


	57. The Element of Success: Surprise

Author's Note: This chapter's short, short, short. As to why is said below in a second author's note.

Chapter 56 responses:

G-Anakin 13: It was a bit, wasn't it?

MissNaye: Thanks.

Twisted Words: I read your review in my email than deleted it, thinking it'd be listed in with the reviews online so I could respond to it fully there. Not! It hasn't came up yet. Sorry. I remember some of the things you said but enough to respond to them. I'll cover them next time.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 12: The Element of Success: Surprise

Further discussion of where the rebel base could perhaps be located never occurred the next morning due in fact to the alliance making a surprise attack on the Death Star. The Imperials on Serenno didn't even find out until ten minutes into the effect. The Emperor immediately left the planet with Tarkin, Alexander, Anneliese, and Antellica in tow.

Alexander had apologized to his mother sometime previous about pushing and slapping her the day before. Antellica said it was all right and she forgave him. She smiled and gave him a hug, only to then slap him across the face and push him to the floor.

He'd looked up at his mother in shock and confusion, but she merely offered him a sarcastic smile. "Now that we're even I can officially forgive you."

She then left her son to pick himself up off the floor.

Alexander hadn't been mad, though, he knew he deserved it. Just a little shocked because his mother wasn't genuinely a violent person when it came to her children. He didn't get a chance to apologize to Anakin due to the Emperor's rush to get off-planet and join the battle above.

The only person who was supposed to leave the planet besides the fleet officers was Tarkin. However, Luke also came, but only because he stowed away aboard the flagship.

Anakin hadn't wanted Luke, Leila or Hilton to come along, but stay on the planet at the castle. While Hilton and Leila hadn't minded, Luke kindly declined. He wanted to fight.

"You need to take a break Luke," Leila had told him.

"I must go with them Leila," he said. "It's my duty."

Sighing, Leila had nodded, and wished her brother well.

Anakin, however, wasn't as easy to persuade, and not at happy when it was discovered that Luke had stowed away. He didn't want his son to be in danger and was furious that Luke obviously didn't see this.

But he did see this and was touched, but all he same... "I've taken care of myself practically my entire life. And I can continue to do so now, despite your best wishes."

Though he was slightly abashed by these words, Anakin knew them to be true and finally gave in.

Antellica and her children returned to their posts in the fleet with the officers while Luke and Anakin joined the battle in the Empire's star fighter of choice, a TIE Avenger. Tarkin, meanwhile, choose to return to the Death Star.

* * *

Victory did not smile upon the Empire that day. The Death Star was destroyed with over five thousand people on board, Tarkin included. Some, like Piett however, had evacuated when the measure of attack increased to life threatening so not all were lost. Though many rebels had been killed in the battle as well, several X-Wings escaped without a trace.

* * *

They had done it! As impossible as it had seemed beforehand, they really had actually done it; destroyed the empire's dreaded Death Star. And though practically all of the Rebel fleet had been destroyed and the Empire's wrath was sure to be great, the Rebels couldn't help but feel a real sense of victory and began to think that they really could win the war against the empire after all if they worked hard enough. 

The two lone X-Wing pilots that survived the battle – Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter, both of whom had insisted that they work together to destroy the space station – were welcomed back onto Chad with honors and praise.

A daylong festivities celebration followed with even Obi-Wan and Yoda getting into the spirit of it. But the Rebels couldn't celebrate forever. Sooner or later they'd have to get their focus back on the war, but until then they'd celebrate their victory.

* * *

The Emperor was furious. After the battle he, Luke, and what was left of the Empire's TIE forces, returned to the _Executor_. Everyone was in shock over what had just happened. Anakin was in too much fury for words so simply gave the brisk command that the fleet be deployed across the galaxy. The _Executor_, meanwhile, would return to Coruscant.

* * *

Author's Note#2: I am not at all good at writing battles and such, especially space ones, the reason this chapter's so short. Sorry. Also, look forward to the return of Arica in the next chapter. Also review!  



	58. The Empress and Her Children

Author's Note: A much, much longer chapter, mostly meant to introduce Anakin and Arica's seven other children. Enjoy!

Chapter 57 responses:

MissNaye: Oh yeah. One of these days, the Jedi are really going to be sorry.

Fallen Senshi: Thanks, I'll have to think about your offer. I just may take you up on it.

dmitchell: They'll be a lot of Jedi-Sith action in the next episode with hits being taken from both sides. I'm currently editing it at the present and I can't wait to start posting it.

arzum: Definitely, though they won't officially become Sith until the next episode

Twisted Words: When it came to my alternate of ANH, I knew there were some things I wanted to change. Yet other aspects I needed to keep the same for future plot lines, ala the Death Star's destruction. But don't worry, another will be constructed and not be taken down so easily. Concerning your last review, Luke and Leila are definitely turning out to be more like their parents as time goes by. And this will only continue as the story progresses. Yeah, Alexander's quite the handful, isn't he? But I think he becomes more likeable of a character is the next episode.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 13: The Empress and Her Children

Galactic Core – Imperial Capital, Coruscant

Empress Arica Grievous-Skywalker, 36, former Supreme Commander of the Separatists Droid Armies of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems, Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy, and Emperor's Hand to Palpatine during his reign, was presently at a photo shoot her youngest daughter, Philomena, was participating in.

Arica's life had changed drastically since becoming Empress. After she finished delivering all nine of her husband's, the Emperor's, Grievous-Skywalker heirs, she took an active role in their raising and later the managing of several of their careers in the entertainment industry. Then, once the war started, she began managing the government when her husband was off on missions. Most of her time was now spent juggling these two things. Arica did very much miss being active in the Empire's military field, but her children were always her main priority now. They brought her so much happiness.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Philomena squealed in glee as she ran to her mother.

Arica smiled brightly and crouched down to meet her six-year-old daughter in a hug. "Darling!"

"Did you see the shots mommy?!" Philomena asked excitedly. "Of me sitting with the pot of gold in my lap and the rainbow behind me?!"

"Yes I did Phila!" Arica exclaimed in just as much excitement. "And you looked absolutely beautiful in them! Ravishing!"

Philomena excitedly clapped her hands and began to dance around. "I know! This is so cool!"

"Little Miss Skywalker," the head photographer called, "please come over and join the rest of the children. It's time for the angel display shots."

"Oh goody!" Philomena chattered. "Well, gotta go mommy!"

And with another squeezing hug and kiss, Philomena was skipping off.

Philomena was an adorably cute and funny little girl with shoulder length auburn hair and brown eyes. She was the perfect child model, and at everything else she did as the empire's youngest Princess and heir.

The shoot lasted another two hours with Philomena consistently explaining to the confused photographer why it was she that needed to be the star of all the shots that were taken, even the individual ones of the other kids.

"You see Bobby, I'm the star here," Arica overheard her daughter saying. "I'm the special one. I'm the one that's being paid in gold and silver coins. As such, I deserve the spotlight at all times."

A few of the other children's parents gave Philomena looks of disgust, but once Arica flashed her eyes at them, daring the civilians to say something, they humbly lowered their heads and walked away.

When the shoot was over, Arica and Philomena left the photography studio and headed to Biscuit Baron to grab a bite for themselves, Elektra, River, Dylan, and Cole. All the while, Philomena was chattering on about how she was right concerning the photo shots and how the "dude Bobby" was wrong. He'd made her sit out of the individual shots by having security hold her down.

"I am a Princess!" she said with a little fist clenched. "Who are those kids?! They're nobodies!"

Growing tired of her daughter's raves, Arica eventually told Philomena to settle down and not worry about a bunch of pathetic people who were simply jealous of her.

Their next stop was downtown Galactic City's Central Park. The park had just been planted there three years ago when the Emperor ordered the tarring down of several buildings to satisfy his children's need of wanting a park to play at. Elektra and River were at the park filming scenes for their next movie. Cole and Dylan were with them. They'd wanted to go with their sisters so they could play at the park instead of coming with their mother and youngest sister to the photo shoot.

When Arica and Philomena arrived, Elektra and River were in the middle of filming a scene that consisted of tackling a bad guy in a park and demanding that he let go of the people he had held hostage inside his brainwave alteration machine that, if a success, would turn all people into slaves for his purpose only. He'd then take over the world, and live out his life barking at his slaves to do his bidding. Elektra and River played kiddie crime-fighters in the movie, and were trying to stop him.

They were currently fighting the man in hand-to-hand combat martial arts when Arica and Philomena sat down next to the director on the grass covered ground and began to watch.

Shoulder-length curly blonde haired Elektra, 11, or the character she was playing, Krista, was doing a cartwheel towards the man, while medium-length blonde haired River, 10, aka Carly, was the giving him a horizontal kick swing across the face. Right after that, "Krista" reached him and backflipped, her boots coming into contact with his neck and chin. As he collapsed to the ground, the girls lifted him up and threw him towards the nearby ring around the rosy ride. He fell hard onto it and let out a moan of pain. As the duo than began to flip through the air towards him, he whipped out a blaster and started shooting at them; only the bolts were real.

Arica sat back a bit in surprise as she watched the girls jump around to dodge the shots. Never in any action film the kids had done had real blasters been used during scenes. Only fake ones that looked real and shot out darts.

Arica glanced over at the director, but he was intently watching the scene in front of him with a smile plastered on his face. Obviously, he was pleased with the way it was going. Arica wasn't practically concerned about the girls getting hurt – all nine of her children were Force-sensitive – it was the other children she was concerned about. The director shouldn't film scenes like these in environments that would be a danger to civilians.

Thinking about the other children made her realize she hadn't seen Cole or Dylan in the park anywhere. And as she continued to look around, she still didn't see them. She decided to wait till the scene was over before saying anything or looking around.

Turning back to the scene in front of her, the bad guy was still firing at the girls. When they reached him a moment later, however, he whipped out another gun and shot it into the air. The dart inside the gun opened and turned into a parachute. The villain began to be lifted into the air, but "Krista" and "Carly" tried to stop him from escaping by pulling on his legs. He kicked them squarely in the face and they fell back onto the ground, clutching their faces in pain.

The bad guy flew away on his parachute laughing hysterically. "I'll never tell you where the hostages are you fools!" he yelled through his laughter. "And soon, I saw be the King of the world! Ah-ha, ha, ha-Ahh!"

The villain's abrupt change in tone from hysterical laughter to a frightened scream caused everyone to look up in alarm. One of the ropes of the parachute had caught onto a freight air-train zooming along a track North East of the park at an angle. One second the guy was there, the next he wasn't. The train was pulling him along as it zoomed through the capital planet.

The director and the rest of his crew were quickly on their feet. The camera guy was about to turn his video recorder off when the director barked, "No, no! Leave that thing on! I want all the action I can get my hands on! That'll be all for today girls. I'll see you tomorrow at the studio bright and early."

And with that, he and his production crew jumped into various vehicles and were off, heading in the direction of the freight air-train.

All that was left in the park now, besides the little kids playing around, was Elektra, River, Arica, and Philomena, the last of whom was dancing in circles around her older sisters. Elektra and River started dancing around with her, but Arica hardly noticed. She was too preoccupied over the location of her twin sons.

"Girls, would you happen to know where your brothers are by any chance?" she asked of her older daughters, all the while looking this way and that for any sign of Cole and Dylan.

Elektra and River stopped dancing (Philomena soon followed suit) and looked around in confusion.

"They were just here," River said, looking around. "I know it. Where did those little brats head off to this time?"

Dylan and Cole were accustomed to running off and doing their own thing, notwithstanding the fact that they were only eight-years-old.

Elektra sighed. "I think I know. The video game convention down the road they kept talking about. I guess they decided to go by themselves. The little trolls."

Arica was furious. "I told them I'd take them later."

Elektra and River both shrugged, though it was River who spoke. "Maybe they couldn't wait."

Arica huffed, gesturing for her three youngest daughters to follow her out of the park. "Yes, and now I can't wait to whoop their behinds."

No matter what they did, Arica would always love her youngest sons, but there were times when they really aggravated her.

Example #1: When the boys were four, and becoming a bit more active in their Force skills, they'd caught their mother unawares one night. She was all dressed up for a press event and making her way past the family manor's 50 by 25 meter swimming pool towards the garage, her mind on anything and everything _except_ the boys when suddenly she was being lifted off her feet and plunged into the pool. The boys had tried to brush it off, saying they were trying to pick up some rocks that were near her at the time.

"You were in the way," they both tried convincing, flashing their signature little grins.

Arica had been furious, and at that moment Anakin and the rest of the kids had come out to see her off. Taking one look at her, they all started to laugh. Anakin said he was going to ground them once he found out what happened, but when Arica had come home early from the event out of boredom, she found the three of them in the living room watching cartoons.

At her demand to know what was going on, they'd all jumped. Anakin said that since the boys were only four, they couldn't control their powers all that well.

"I'm sure it was just an accident," he'd said. "Right boys?"

"Yeah, that's right," Dylan said.

"Yeah, just an accident," Cole added.

Example #2: When the boys were six, a few months after the Senate was disbanded, the Royal Imperial family had been having a quaint dinner at the home of one Roberto Holiday, the founder/CEO of the elegant Holiday Hotels.

As a joke, the boys thought it'd be funny to use the Force to have all electricity inside the house go out just as the hotel mogul was going on about superstitious nonsense, like during the night at times he heard voices telling him his fortune and company was going to be taken from him. Spirits of his jealous rivals would come into the house and cause mischief, running water, writing threatening messages on the walls, turning the power off.

That's when Cole and Dylan chose to strike. Roberto had gone into a frenzy, screaming at the top of his lungs about the house being bewitched and throwing holy water all over the place to rid his home of the spirits; screaming that they return to the fiery pits of hell.

Once Anakin and Arica realized that the power going out was the boys' doing, they turned it back on, only for the twins to turn it back off again. For a while the lights were coming on and off and on and off. Roberto was going into more hysterics, grabbing a butcher knife and swinging it around like a lunatic, screaming that if the spirits didn't leave his house he'd kill them.

It took a while for the Imperial rulers to calm the man down while the lights continued to flicker on and off, something the boys were doing on their own now. While they, Troy, Gabriella, Elektra, and River laughed hysterically, Lacovia was looking disapprovingly at her younger siblings and yelling for them to shut up while Hilton smirked and Philomena gave a few coughs and sniffs of disapproval.

It wasn't until both parents hollered that if they didn't stop this instant, they'd be sent to the coaling mine on Malastare to mine more coal that they stopped.

This was no empty threat. Arica had indeed sent them there a year before for two days until they started crying and saying they were sorry. Technically, Arica hadn't ever left the planet or lost her sons from sight, she just made them think that. The coal mining experience was nothing they wished to relive, so when the smirks vanished from their faces and the lights stayed on neither parent was surprised to hear hollers of protests and begs consisting of the word "No!"

As Arica and Lacovia continued to scream for the kids to shut up, Anakin continued to calm Roberto. For a while it seemed to work. Then he abruptly turned the knife on Anakin and everyone else in the room, still screaming madness about them and everyone else wanting to take his money and company from him.

"Well I'll kill you all!" he'd yelled. "You won't kill me, I'll kill you!"

Due to the endangering of the Royal House, Anakin had Roberto arrested and later killed when the hotel mogul attacked him during trial. The Holiday Hotels belonged directly to the throne now, something Cole and Dylan enjoyed boasting about, saying that if they hadn't pulled their prank the family wouldn't own the company. Comments such as these caused Arica to send them to Malastare again.

The boys had done many things over the years to terrorize their mother – setting animals loose at a local zoo; having a pie come hurtling in her face while speaking at a press conference; flying around the capital in jet-packs while she chased after them; bringing their pet Dinko (a small reptilian scavenger that was extremely vicious, tenacious, and not recommended for use as a pet, though some exotic pet shops sold them anyway, including where the boys got the "mini dragon" from: Coruscant's Pets' "N" Pieces), Fiery Phil, to an elaborate ball and setting him loose on the guests...

The list was endless, yet despite all this the boys could be sweet and did always make Arica laugh. She'd always have a special place for them in her heart. But that didn't mean she would spare them from her angered fury.

When she and her three daughters arrived at the 'E3: Extreme Video Game Convention' that was being held at Galactic City's Recreation Center, she told the girls to stretch out and look for their brothers with the Force. They were easily located. Arica found them doing interviews with the press while Dylan was jumping up and down on a skateboard, and Cole, for a reason he only knew, was kicking viciously at the floor. It wasn't until she got closer that she saw it was an invisible skateboard he was trying to flip over with his foot.

Motioning to the girls, the four of them moved into the crowd that was assembled around the twin eight-year-old Princes.

"So tell me boys," a teenage Human male reporter said to the twins, "besides the awesome video games, food, and hot chicks-"

"You got that right man," Dylan whooped and then began eying a red haired woman who appeared to be in her early twenties and wearing only a black bikini that showed off her long legs.

Cole gave a wolf whistle and turned boastingly to the teenage reporter. "That's my future wife right there."

"Yeah right man," Dylan argued, "that's my future wife. Look at them long legs she got. Perfect for running my hands over."

Some of the people nearby, including the teenage reporter, looked shocked to hear such words coming from an eight-year-olds' mouth, but the boys didn't seem to notice or care. They were too busy eying the red haired woman who'd just bent over to pick up a bag she'd dropped.

"Man, look at that tight ass," Cole panted. "I'm getting hot just looking at it."

The parents nearby looked beyond floored and clapped their hands over that of their children's ears before walking off. Arica had a hard time to keep from laughing.

Dylan now had his tongue out dangling as the woman stood back up. Noticing she had an audience of admirers, the woman let a seductive smile lit her lips and cupped her large chest in her hands, squeezing them.

Cole was now rolling on the floor, swinging his hips around, while Dylan started whooping and jumping up and down excitedly.

"Man, those tits are so fucking hot," Cole said to the beyond baffled reporter. "I just wanna take 'em in my hands and squeeze 'em."

"Come here baby!" Dylan yelled as 'red' began to dance, "Let me suck your double Ds and spank your tight ass!"

"I wanna fuck your butt!" Cole yelled. "Gimme some love baba!"

"Boys!" Arica roared, not believing what she was hearing and refusing to take anymore of it. She pushed her way through what was left of the crowd. She no longer found their antics to be amusing.

"Mom!" they both yelled, jumping back in shock. They didn't even seem to notice their smirking sisters; their eyes were too focused on their livid mother.

"What are you- How did you- How did you find us here?!"

Arica ignored their stuttering. "What is this to you?! A strip club!"

She turned in disgust to the red haired woman and spat on the ground in front of her; Philomena, Elektra, and River followed suit.

"You disgust me whore!" she spat. "Put some clothes on you slut!"

Arica slapped the woman hard across the face and kicked her to the ground before whipping around sharply and glaring at the boys. Growling, she made to grab them by their short blonde hair, but obviously foreseeing this they sped off of their skateboards. With a roar, Arica gave chase, shoving people out of the way in the process. They raced all around the recreation center; Arica snatching a skateboard of her own from a teenager, before she cornered them around some bags of trash in the back.

Dragging them by the ears to the family speeder where the girls were already waiting, she reprimanded them for their nasty language and behavior.

"The two of you are Royal Princes," she said. "And that is not the way a Prince should act, especially not at your age."

She told them off some more as their speeder made for one of the artificially made islands floating in the Western Sea. This area of Coruscant was mainly used for tourists on holiday, but there were a few entertainment studios there as well, including several talk show studios, like the one they were headed for now – The Kyle O'Grady Show. Only thing was, Arica wasn't sure if the boys were listening to her or not. All they seemed to be doing was rolling their eyes in the backseat and playing with their skateboards.

Upon arriving at the studio, she informed the boys that their father would be informed of their actions later on that day. Their response?

"Whatever mom."

Arica sighed in frustration. She hated that she could never intimidate the boys the way their father could, but maybe Troy could help. If he knew what his brothers did, he'd probably hold them down across the knee and spank them. Then dunk their heads in fruit juice and yell that they clean the entire 75-level manor. He'd also have a hot iron ready if they were defiant.

Since the Galactic Civil War began two years ago, Anakin and Lacovia were always off on missions, and then when Hilton started going to the university a year ago that pretty much left Troy in charge to help his mother when she was busy or needed help with the kids. Moff Jovovich's triplets, Bellatrix, Braxton, and Blondelle, would help every once in a while, but not often due to their own commitments which included university studies and such.

Troy was accustomed to being the man of the house, something he'd sometimes forget to step down from when his father returned. The father-son relationship they shared was pretty nice, but they did have their occasional argument. Most of the time, Troy was lambasting his father for being away so much.

"You're missing your children grow up and you don't even seem to care," he'd yell.

Naturally, this wasn't the case and Troy knew it. This was simply his way to vent off anger when he was really mad about something. For a fourteen-year-old, Troy had a lot on his shoulders with his various careers and what not. But besides that, he always found time for his favorite person in the universe: his mother. He worshiped her beauty and always said she was the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, while he was the most beautiful man.

"But with the most beautiful woman as my mother, that's only natural," he'd say with a wink.

This caused Arica to laugh. His ego was always amusing to her, even if at times he was a little stuck up.

He and Gabriella were currently finishing up a holovision appearance on the Kyle O'Grady Show in promotion for the duo's latest, but separate projects – one a HV original drama (Gabriella's), the other, a cinematic drama (Troy's).

The royal group of six were let into the large studio right away upon recognition and led backstage where they'd have a clear shot at seeing Troy and Gabriella seated on a circular type couch with the shows' title host, formerly an anchor for the HoloNet News. The sound of laughter is what greeted them upon arrival. Troy and Gabriella were laughing at something O'Grady had just said.

Noticing their entrance, one of the show producers, Cyrano Bangalore, waved them over to where he was standing behind camera with a bright smile. The kids ran over while Arica walked. Bangalore was always fond of kids, having four of his own, and would give the youngest Imperial Royals candy and toys whenever he saw them. As expected, he whipped out five candy bars, handing one to each kid. After they all said "thank you" in hushed whispers, they moved in position to stand beside the backstage cameras for an even clearer shot of their siblings and started to eat. Arica stood behind them and started to listen in to the on-screen conversation. Troy, Gabriella, and O'Grady had stopped laughing enough to continue talking.

"We're almost out of time here today," the host said, "but before you go, I just have to know something."

"What's that Kyle?" Gabriella purred, brushing aside a lock of shoulder-length dark hair from her medium-skinned face.

"When are the two of you going to start dating?"

Most of the audience started laughing again, and Troy and Gabriella joined in. Troy, medium brown haired and handsome for his age, was able to stop for a moment though to say, "Are you trying to insinuate incest, Kyle?"

"Nooo!" He was quick to correct. "I didn't mean dating each other. I meant people in general."

"Oh!" Troy exclaimed.

"Are you asking me out, Kyle?" Gabriella asked.

"Actually, I've had a girlfriend before," Troy said. "Zenon Da'xia. You've heard of her of course."

"Of course," Kyle echoed. "Who hasn't? But as of the present, are you both looking for anyone?"

"I'm a kid still Kyle," Gabriella said. "I just turned thirteen last week. I've got plenty of time for that sort of thing."

"Troy started dating when he turned thirteen though," Kyle pointed out.

"That's Troy," Gabriella said. "But me, I don't feel ready for that yet. However, you'll be the first to know when I do decide to, all right?"

"Splendid! And you Troy? Anyone new since Zenon? Looking at all?"

Troy shook his head. "Not really. Not at the moment. Maybe later. But hey, I also just celebrated a birthday. There's plenty of time for dating."

"What do find attractive about a girl?" Kyle wanted to know.

Troy glanced at his watch before answering. "She has to be rich and beautiful, or else I'm not interested. Also, I have to be the one who makes the approach. If I'm interested, I'll come to you. You don't come to me. The other way around just sends the wrong message no matter how fabulous they think they are. I'm royalty, they aren't."

"Would you consider dating a Princess or other sort of royal lady?"

"That matches me and my status?" Troy laughed. "When Hutts fly!"

"She doesn't necessarily have to match you and your status," Kyle started.

"Actually, she does," Troy said.

"But-" Kyle tried to say, however, Troy again interjected. "Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. We did not come on your show to talk about our love lives, or lack there of. We came here to converse over our new drama projects, of which we've already spoken. So, if you don't mind, we'll both be going now."

And shocking all, Troy and Gabriella got up from the couch and left the set with a greatly surprised Kyle O'Grady gaping after them.

The fanfare of clapping, whistling, and yells sounded from Elektra, River, Dylan, Cole, and Philomena at their older siblings exit. Arica only smirked. Troy and Gabriella's faces both lit up at the sights and sounds of their family and hurriedly greeted them with hugs and kisses.

To celebrate a wondrous day of work, Arica decided to take the kids to the seaside Tropicana restaurant not far from the studio to eat an early dinner. Since the Royal family went to this restaurant a lot, they had their own private table reserved for only their use every time they went.

A half-hour into being at the restaurant though, Anakin contacted Arica via their strong mental bond to inform her of the _Executor_ being an hour away from Coruscant and all that had happened over the past few days. She was shocked, angered, and intrigued about the latest happenings between the Empire and Rebels. Some of it was just so unthinkable – the Death Star's destruction – while others – Luke and Leila's betrayal of the Rebel Alliance – simply intriguing.

Leaving the restaurant a few minutes later, Arica explained everything that Anakin had just told her to the kids on their way back to Skywalker Manor. While all of them were truly shocked over the Death Star's destruction, this was soon forgotten when they learned that they'd finally get to meet their older half-siblings, Luke and Leila.

"It's cool that they're one of us now," Dylan said.

At Dylan's voice, Arica was reminded of what happened at the recreation center and her lip curled.

Obviously sensing a change in his mother's mood, Troy asked her what was wrong. With a snarl, Arica explained the distasteful events of the 'E3: Extreme Video Game Convention', with Elektra, River and Philomena adding things here and there.

To Arica's pleasure, Troy went into a tirade of how the boys were disgusting and should have never, ever done something like that, especially in a public place with cameras everywhere.

"Do you realize what something like that does to your reputation?" he asked. "The two of you are eight-year-old boys-"

"Soon to be nine," the boys objected.

Troy rolled his eyes. "Do you really think that makes a difference? Besides, you've only been eight for about three months now. You boys are young children, Princes at that. But Princes or not, no eight-year-old-"

"Soon to be nine," the boys shouted again, but Troy ignored them.

"-boy needs to be caught talking in such a disgraceful matter."

And on and on he went with Gabriella adding her own thoughts on the matter here and there.

When they arrived at home, the Royal bunch all went off about their own separate ways to change into more elaborate outfits to meet the Emperor in.


	59. The Other Side of the Beast

Author's Note: Here it is, the last chapter of the episode and start of a 10-day hiatus that will end April 1 with the beginning of Episode VIII. I'm about halfway through editing it now, and am about to continue for a half-hour before Idol comes on.  
So, what can be expected from the upcoming thirty-nine chapter plus an epilogue episode? The return of the Jedi in full-force, Han Solo, Hapes, Dathomir Witches, and much much more.

Chapter 58 responses:

MissNaye: It is pretty exciting and of course happens in this chapter as it's the finale.

dmitchell: Yeah, I'd probably freak out too if my kid was talking like that.

Twisted Words: It was the intent to add a little humor with the chapter, if only a little before darker times commence. I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.

_Episode VII: Heirs of the Empire_

Chapter 14: The Other Side of the Beast

During the _Executor's _journey back to the capital, Anakin did not speak to anyone, keeping locked inside his private quarters with the order not to be disturbed by anyone under pain of death.

He was back where he started. With the Death Star destroyed, all that remained was the fleet. And while they were virtually indestructible all at once, the Rebellion's continued barrage against them could slowly, yet surely lower their numbers. It was time to enlarge the fleet. The hundreds of thousands of ships it currently featured simply wasn't going to cut it anymore. The number of millions would be much more satisfying. This, of course, would require the hiring of a myriad of officers and crewmembers, but with the continued thrive of the Imperial Academies, he knew it could be done.

Sending a live order for more and better-advanced star vehicles to each of the empire's three main military suppliers, he chose to start with Kessel Fleet Systems. The moment the head engineer/Rebel spy, Cedric Heyday, came on screen to accept the call, he was choked to death for his treachery and another engineer was set in place. Production on all new Star Destroyers – Victory III, Imperial III, Executor-class Star Dreadnought – TIE fighters, corvettes, cruisers, strike frigates and flagships were to begin later that day according to the designs the Emperor sent via HoloNet.

Anakin made it a point to design about half of the ships that were made for the Navy. That way, out of mostly everyone, only he would know the full capabilities and functions of everything aboard the ships, as well as their flaws and high points. He'd done the same with the Death Star, which is why he was so furious that it was destroyed. He couldn't figure out what it was he'd done wrong in the designing stage.

Stalking over to his computer terminal, he pulled up the designs of the battle stationhe'd made and looked them over.

During the battle, the Rebels had flown their small ships along the trench that surrounded the space station and signified the core of it. When Anakin had been chasing after them in his TIE Avenger, at first, he wasn't sure what their intention had been, but at one of the Rebels miss shot at the exhaust vent at the trench's end, he soon figured out that their plan of attack was to shoot inside it. The small thermal exhaust port in the vent was right below the main port. Any precise fire inside would cause a chain reaction, destroying the station.

Sadly, he hadn't been quick enough and the station was destroyed. Anakin wasn't just angry with the Rebels for destroying his project, but at himself for having the reactor core at such easy access and leaving small gaps in the shields of the station, believing it to be harmless since only small ships could wiggle through the gaps.

What was he thinking when he redesigned the station? He could see the faults as clear as day now as he looked over the designs. He didn't know, remember, or care. This was a mistake that would not be made twice. Next time, the station would be flawless and indestructible. Next time, the empire would crush the Rebels from where they stood. Their filthy existence would be wiped out from the galaxy once and for all.

The remainder of the return journey to Coruscant was spent with him making new designs for the larger and greater _Death Star II_ and meditating over what other possible means of treachery the Rebels could have up their sleeves. He also updated his wife on the recent events of war and contacted his second oldest daughter/Hand, Lacovia, 16, to hear her report on the mission she and Empress' Hand, Drake Jovovich, also 16, had been on the past few months: secretly visiting the numerous worlds across the galaxy where Rebel sightings were heard of being and making sure no funny business was going on behind the empire's back, rather it be between crime lords, the few smuggling organizations that still existed, or the planets that outwardly proclaimed their allegiance to the empire, only to be, in secret, aiding the Rebels when their backs were turned.

He was pleased to hear that Lacovia had found four planets like this, while Drake found three; all bunched up together in the same sector of the Mid Rim.

"Extremely stupid of them," Lacovia drawled. "With that type of attitude, it's as if they could careless rather they were killed or not."

"They had what was coming to them though," Drake sneered from beside her. "The perfidious scum."

Lacovia and Drake were the perfect match as Hands of the Emperor and Empress. Lacovia was the perfect mix of her parents in appearance and attitude. With her father's eyes and hair, and mother's facial features and flair, it was hard not to know who Lacovia was. She was a fiery and mean-spirited girl to all except her family and friends, and was instantly suspicious of people the moment she met them. Lacovia always looked for the bad in people, never the good. She'd always been that way. And it was in that that Drake paired with Lacovia in the fullest extent. A lot of the qualities Lacovia had, Drake shared. Anakin, at times, thought he saw a bit of the boy's father and older half-sister in him, but usually dismissed this as nonsense whenever he'd thought it.

The Jovovich siblings were alike in only one aspect: they shared the same eye color of blue. Besides that, they were as different as oil, water, and air. Drake was the warrior; Bellatrix, the serious, political minded; Braxton, the all-around nice guy with no ego whatsoever; and Blondelle, the funny kid lover. Drake had tendencies to clash with his triplet brother and sisters at times. He felt that what his siblings did – nothing – had no purpose whatsoever for the galaxy, and that if they'd actually do something for a change, more would become of them the way it does he, Lacovia, Alexander, and Anneliese.

Drake's siblings couldn't careless what he thought. They didn't much see him anyway, and Anakin got the impression that they liked it that way, though if asked they'd never admit to it.

After congratulating the duo on their success, Anakin gave them both a long, overdue time off that would last a week. Funny thing is, they didn't want to accept it.

"With all due respect father," Lacovia said in a brisk manner, "but I think it would be better if we stayed out here, continuing out duties."

"And it's not like we want or need time off," Drake added. "Why waste our time doing nothing when we can be putting it to the use of the galaxy?"

Anakin sighed in irritation. This was the only thing he disliked about the two. They were good, but too good at times being that they continuously refused to take time off. They always gave him this argument, saying they didn't want or need the time off. They wanted to work, work, work, and never cease doing it. The only bad thing about this was that he never got to see his daughter anymore. They were close when she was younger, and though Lacovia liked to say they still were now, the fact was they weren't. As for Drake, he didn't seem to care for his siblings or mother – though he did approve of her mother's Imperial job – and would simply be bored with time off. He enjoyed spending time with Lacovia, and though he was friendly with the other royals, he only did it for Lacovia's sake. Drake would never admit to it, but there was a part of him that yearned to know everything about his Sith heritage concerning his deceased father and older half-sister. He'd ask questions on occasion, and Lacovia once said she'd caught him doing research on them.

The former Emperor and Empress was simply not a subject discussed in the Royal Court or empire for that matter. All who'd had dealings with them either had nothing to say on the topic, or thought that the past should stay in the past. This is the way Anakin liked it, and was determined to keep it that way for always. Everyone knew who Governor Jovovich's children were of course, but it was never talked about.

Anakin started to protest to the Hand duo's refusal to take time off, but should have known from past experience. Lacovia said simply, "We're not taking time off and that's final," before cutting the transmission.

Anakin called back various times, but no one ever picked up.

It wasn't so much the point of the two having off, it was the fact that he wanted Lacovia to meet her older siblings and go with Leila to Ord Mantell to execute the planet. But of course, she didn't give him any chance to say all this.

Typing a few codes into the holoprojector, Anakin recorded a message for Lacovia, explaining all this to her. His daughter had the tendency to be stubborn at times, but he hoped she'd change her mind.

The _Executor_ arrived on Coruscant at its scheduled time, six hours after leaving Serenno, at the Central Transport Center downtown Galactic City. The once moderate sized center had been enlarged even more since the Clone Wars to accommodate the capital's Imperial base.

Once the Star Destroyer was safely docked in its own private docking space, Anakin met Luke, Leila, and Hilton in the bridge and exited the vessel flanked by a dozen so stormtroopers. The members of the navy stationed on Coruscant where there to meet them, but the Emperor paid them little attention. He simply waved them off, saying Commander Piett would give them the details on everything, including tomorrow's meeting, within the hour. The head officer at the Coruscant base, Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, nodded and informed him that a shuttle was currently waiting to take them to Skywalker Manor. Anakin thanked Pellaeon and gestured for his children to follow him.

On the way, Anakin and Hilton were greeted perpetually while questioning glances kept being sent over in the twin's directions. It was because of this that the Emperor decided to dash his plans of spending the rest of the day with his family and hold a press conference in the manor's conference hall with the announcement of everything that had happened the past few days.

Pulling out his comlink, he called his secretary and told her to alert all major media outlets of the press conference that would be held in approximately two hours time. Upon ending the call, he found Luke, Leila, and Hilton looking addled.

He choose to explain. "Originally, I planned for this to be tomorrow, but I'll be much too busy. It's best that it's held today."

The unnecessary explanation was answered with only small nods, and Anakin thought he detected disappointment from each of them. He sighed tiredly. They, like he, probably assumed that the rest of the day would be spent with the family spending time together without the interruption of duty. More then anything, he would've wanted this too, but being the Emperor of the galaxy was no picnic lunch. It was a job you had to work at, and the same was true with being the children of the Supreme ruler. Sacrifices had to be made rather you wanted them or not.

The rest of the ride to Skywalker Manor was spent in silence with the occasional gasp of wonder that came from the twins. This was their first time in a long time on the capital so it was only natural they'd have this sort of reaction to it. He remembered his first time over thirty years ago. It was more or less the same.

Coruscant was still as prosperous and overpopulated as it'd ever been with its metropolis terrain, but various changes had been made to the cityscape over the years. This included the tarring down of numerous unused buildings and having city parks, playgrounds, gardens and amusement parks put in their place. These and other things – such as the expansion of the Western Sea and addition of islands within it – gave the planet more of a pleasurable look it never had before. The ecumenopolis was no longer fit to burst with buildings on top of buildings. You could actually find a true beauty about it now.

The most attractive landscape of the planet, however, was the new Imperial Palace, Skywalker Manor.

When the manor had first been built seventeen years previous, it'd simply been a twenty-level building with a moderate size indoor garage hanger next door to the left. Over the years, though, multitudinous modifications had been done to it:

The building was enlarged and entirely remodeled and designed with fifty-five added levels being built on top of the original twenty. Because the manor wasn't simply a residence for the Royal Imperial family, but the base of government on the planet, the bottom fifty levels were used for business while the top twenty-five were residential.

The land surrounding the manor had also been expanded immensely with the countless buildings that had once encircled the property at a length of 50 acres (2,178,000 square feet) demolished. This housed a variety of things, most of which consisted of an outdoor hanger which looped around from the entrance to the complete right side. The left of the manor's property was private and off limits to anyone but the royals.

This featured a garden, pond, fruit tree orchard, playground, 50 by 25 meter pool, and the amplified garage hanger that could now hold up to a hundred ships compared to the original twenty-five. Large spaces of grass lay between all this; perfect for the royal heirs to skip, run, and race speeders through.

From the front gate, the estate was truly a marvelous sight, and though tours were given of its entirety once every three months, the security precautions of stormtroopers and constant surveillance ensured the manor from danger and attack. One couldn't go to a single entrance without being greeted by a guard, and if anyone even had the slightest trace of suspicion about them they were immediately searched and questioned. Now Skywalker was not at all petrified about the well being of he and that of his family the way Palpatine had been. Every member of the royal family was allowed to go about their own business, within reason, without the interference of security following their every move. The Grievous-Skywalkers kept track of one another through their Force sensibility so if anything happened to any one of them, they would all know about it and help if they could.

The shuttle came to a halt at the entrance gates of Skywalker Manor and was allowed inside at confirmation of who was aboard. As they flew along the length of roadway that terminated at the palace, after forking off into the public hanger, Anakin explained to the twins the transformation the manor had gone through to get where it was today in elegance. They listened intently and gazed out the shuttle windows in awe.

A sidewalk began where the road ended and when the shuttle stopped alongside it the Emperor and Co. deboarded to be greeted by a wondrous sight. All six of the youngest Imperial Royals were running down the hundred Palace steps towards their father – Philomena, Cole, Dylan, River, Elektra and Gabriella. Troy, meanwhile, was walking at a normal pace. His arrogance wouldn't allow him to show pleasure at seeing his father again.

Anakin smiled beneath the mask and bent down to accept his children into his embrace. A moment later, he was being knocked flat onto the ground by the impact of their over excitement to see him.

If there was one thing in the galaxy that always brought him happiness it was the sight of his children. They were his light in this darkening universe. Scooping his youngest daughter, Philomena, into his arms, he rose from the ground and hugged each of his children while they chatted various words of excitement. Since they were all speaking at once, he couldn't catch everything they were saying, just bits and pieces. It was then that the kids seemed to notice Luke and Leila. Completely ignoring Hilton, they ran over to them and began to dance and jump around the two. Everyone was still talking at once, the younger kids pulling on their arms and hugging around their waists and the older ones reprimanding them in-between fighting for the attention of the twins. Though Luke and Leila looked somewhat overwhelmed at all the attention, they smiled and hugged each of their younger half-siblings, attempting to hear what each of them were saying; a feat that was nearly impossible.

By now, Troy had reached them and opened his arms to give his father a side hug. "Hey there Pops!"

"Pops" was an old nickname of Troy's for his father, and while Anakin wasn't entirely fond of it, he choose not to say anything about it anymore. Because no matter how many times he told Troy not to call him that, he did it anyway.

"Troy." Anakin accepted his son's embrace. "How are things? And where's your mother?"

"Well as you can see," Troy gestured around at his younger siblings who were now listening to something Luke was saying, "everything is phenomenal. We had a few mishaps with Cole and Dylan earlier-"

Anakin chuckled in amusement. "What else is new?"

Troy returned what he knew was smile coming from his father. "True. But besides that, everything has been just fine with everyone."

"And your mother? Where is she?"

Troy frowned. "Last I saw, she was on the comline talking to your secretary about some press conference you have scheduled for within two hours." He gave his father a disapproving look before taking on a more satisfied tone. "But from what I heard, she was canceling it."

"What?!" Anakin exploded, but Troy pressed on.

"And for good reason. You just got back from a mission. The last thing you need is to simply brush off your family again to do a press conference that can be done another time."

Anakin sighed. He was used to his son's criticizing of him when it came to the matter of work and family life, but that didn't mean he ever liked it.

"Troy-"

"Don't _Troy_ me dad." He never used the word _dad_ unless he was serious. "You know what I'm saying's true and mom feels the same. You have anything else to say on the matter..."

He gestured to the house.

"...take it up with mom."

Giving a wave, he joined Hilton over with the others. They'd finally taken time to notice him once their excitement over Luke and Leila calmed down.

Glancing up at the crown of the stairs showed Anakin that Arica was now coming down them and towards him. The sight of her made his heart glow with love. She was wearing a lovely blue flowered ankle-length dress with matching sandal-like heels. She was never one to dress up much, despite her position as Empress. But when she did, she always looked gorgeous.

The years had been wondrously kind to his wife. She still looked as radiantly beautiful as ever and even after eighteen years of marriage and nine children he still found it hard at times to keep his hands off her. Her slender figure continued to do things to him that made him want to send the kids to bed early. After she had Philomena, Arica officially went back to her dyed black hair color – during the years of having six children after Troy, she'd kept it blonde since she got so frequently pregnant.

As of now, her dyed black hair was hung across her shoulders and lengthened down to her elbows. The dark hair looked much better on her compared to the blonde. It complimented her skin tone of near caramel better.

Anakin walked the flight of stairs up to her with open arms, meeting her halfway. Picking her up, he twirled her around in happiness. Arica laughed in the joy of being with her husband again. At being twirled, though, she quipped, "Whoa there Anakin! I'm not as young as I used to be."

Anakin chuckled as he set his wife back down on the firm ground. "But you're still as beautiful as always."

Arica smiled, pulling him into a hug by wrapping her arms around his neck. He sighed into her shoulder with happiness as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

When they broke apart, it was to see all ten kids looking up at them from below. Arica smiled and though it couldn't be seen, Anakin did too. The kids, sans Luke and Leila, always enjoyed seeing their parents together. It was a rare thing nowadays what with the war. Then they began to applaud, one by one until all ten of them were clapping. Arica began to laugh and waved humorously to their 'audience', giving a few mock bows in the process, resulting in the kids' laughter as well.

Anakin gazed lovingly at his wife and pulled her into his arms, looking deeply into her eyes as much as the mask would allow. She looked back into his just as deeply and ardently kissed the mouthpiece of his mask. It wasn't really kissing, of course, but it was close enough. The only way the two of them could really kiss mouth-to-mouth was in his oxygen-sustained rehabilitary center, which was in conjunction to their bedroom. Only there, and the other rehabilitation centers on some of the fleet ships, could he take off the suit entirely.

The applause continued, and Cole and Dylan took that moment to step forward at the base of the stairs. Both cleared their throats and spoke in hilariously ridiculous fake grown up voices.

"Introducing the Emperor and Empress of the Galaxy, Anakin and Arica Skywalker."

The applause increased with cheers and whistles. Anakin offered Arica his arm and she took it with a devious smile before they strolled down the stairs towards their children.

The twins were still at the base of the stairs when the supreme rulers reached it. One look at their adorable little faces had Arica crouching down and hugging them both to her. It was humorous that several hours before she was chasing them around a recreation center downtown in fury. But they always had their way with her, to make her forget her anger at them.

Anakin crouched down next to Arica to hug his sons once she was finished loving them up. Cole and Dylan were almost the exact replicas of what Anakin looked like at their age – the same sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Gabriella often joked that they'd been quite the lady-killers once they reached their teens.

Rising from next to her sons, Arica got up to find in front of her a much older version of the little blonde boy she once knew by the name of...

"Luke!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him in a hug.

He returned the hug and spoke in a mature sounding voice. "It's great to see you again Arica. You still look as beautiful as I remember."

"You are sweet Luke." She stepped back a moment to take a look at him. "And you look even more handsome then I expected."

A slight blush a lit his face, but he brushed this off by gesturing towards the young woman behind him. "I know it's been a while, but Arica this is-"

"Leila!" she exclaimed, moving Luke out of the way so she could reach her. The two women hugged and began to chat about various things, including Leila's remembrance of her, which shocked Arica being that Leila had only been two months last she saw her.

The happy reunion lasted several minutes longer when the Skywalker's suddenly received another visitor. It was Lacovia!

When she received the recorded message from her father concerning Luke and Leila, she fled the Mid Rim quick, fast and in a hurry to return to Coruscant. Drake returned with her, but did not come to Skywalker Manor due to Lacovia's urges for him to visit and be with his own family. Drake wasn't very happy about that, but decided to do as his friend suggested for her sake.

Everyone was thrilled to see Lacovia. Due to her job as Emperor's Hand and her workaholic personality, she rarely came home anymore.

The whole family was reunited, a feat that couldn't be found often in the Skywalker household. Anakin was no longer mad at Arica for canceling the press conference, a fact he made known to everyone whom cheered in reply. As of that moment, all he needed was right in front of him: His family.

And for a little while, the Emperor, Empress, and entire Skywalker clan could careless about the troubles of the Galaxy and Rebel Alliance. All that mattered as of the present was themselves, and themselves alone.


	60. Episode VIII

Author's Note: Hey there! I'm not exactly done editing Episode VIII yet, but as its so long I figured I'd do so while uploading it. So, here we are at the start of my third favorite episode so far, IX being my second, and X my first. Obviously, I'm aware of how much the dramatis personae gives away in the new character category, but I don't think it gives away the plot too much as it isn't revealed what these characters are doing in the episode.

Chapter 59 responses to only those I couldn't respond to on the site:

Twisted Words: Sorry if I bored too much. I will say, however, that your predictions concerning Lacovia and Drake, and Drake singularly are true.

dmitchell: Ha, ha! Yeah, I'm a bit of a Sith lover when it comes to the two of them. But this doesn't mean I won't kill off any of them as the story progresses.

_**The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 2-The Domination of the Sith**_

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

* * *

Dramatis Personae 

Aaron Solo; Member of the New Jedi Order (human male)

Alema Rar; Member of the New Jedi Order (Twi'lek female)

Alexander Grievous; Royal Lord of the Grievous-Skywalker House, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human male)

Anakin Skywalker; Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lord of the Sith (human/cyborg male)

Anneliese Grievous; Royal Lady of the Grievous-Skywalker House, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human female)

Antellica Grievous; Queen of the Galactic Empire, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Dark Lady of the Sith (human female)

Arica Grievous-Skywalker; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lady of the Sith (human female)

Cole Grievous Skywalker; Fifth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human male)

Danni Quee; Scientist, Member of the New Jedi Order (human female)

Drake Jovovich; Empress' Hand, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human male)

Dylan Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human male)

Elektra Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human female)

Gabriella Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human female)

Hilton Grievous Skywalker; Second Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human male)

Jacen Solo; Member of the New Jedi Order (human male)

Jaina Solo; Member of the New Jedi Order (human female)

Lacovia Grievous Skywalker; Second Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Emperor's Hand, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human female)

Leila Skywalker; First Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight, Queen of Alderaan (human female)

Luke Skywalker; First Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Sith Knight (human male)

Obi-Wan Kenobi; Jedi Master (human male)

Philomena Grievous Skywalker; Sixth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human female)

River Grievous Skywalker; Fifth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human female)

Tenel Ka Chume Ta'Djo; Heir to the Royal Throne of Hapes, Member of the New Jedi Order (Hapan / Dathomir Witch hybrid female)

Tahiri Velia; Member of the New Jedi Order (human female)

Troy Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Sith Apprentice (human male)

Yoda; Jedi Grand Master (male unknown tridactyl species)

Zekk; Member of the New Jedi Order (human male)

* * *

Chapter 1: Turmoil of War

Year 20.1 Imperial Era (IE)

_"It continues the way it began; through violence and bloodshed."_

- Master Yoda

In the days and weeks to follow the Death Star's destruction, multiple events happened within the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and Second Alliance to Restore the Republic.

The newly reinstated First Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Leila Skywalker, 19, formerly Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, led her first mission for the Imperial government alongside Emperor's Hand / newly named Second Imperial Princess, Lacovia Grievous Skywalker, 16, on the Mid Rim rebel world of Ord Mantell. The former rebel leader and her younger half-sister showed no mercy as they brought carnage to the entire urban-mesa world alongside their forces of both land and air. Ord Mantell's former Senator, Pooja Hutinson, a rebel, attempted to escape the planet in the course of battle, but Leila tracked her down. Ripping through the insurgent's mind with a Dark Side technique her father, the Emperor, Anakin Skywalker, 42, had taught her before leaving for the mission, Leila discovered the location of the rebel base's current resting place: the forgotten Outer Rim world of Chad.

An attack group, led by the Emperor himself, was sent there immediately. The rebels were caught unawares, but not completely off guard. Members of both sides were killed in the battle, but once again the rebels were able to escape to another world.

Monastery. The rebels were found on this Mid Rim rainforest planet a week after they arrived. Former rebel leader and Jedi, Luke Skywalker, 19, and the Empress' Hand, Drake Jovovich, 16, led this mission.

Strangely enough, in the battles on both Chad and Monastery, Senior Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda were nowhere to be found. This confused the leaders of both missions to no end, but whenever rebels were pulled aside and interrogated over the Jedi's whereabouts, the only information that could be gotten out of them was that "the Jedi are on a mission of their own."

Obviously, none of them knew their location or what the mission enclosed; all that could be found in their minds was that it was going to be big. As to what this "big" mission was going to be, no one in the Empire could figure out. But whatever it was, they knew they weren't going to like it.

Three weeks after the original order was made for newer and better-advanced star vehicles for the Imperial Navy, it was fulfilled. The Emperor had manufacturer engineers at the Imperial Starship Corporation, Kuat Drive Yards, and Sienar Fleet Systems worked to death to ensure the completion of the thousands of ships so quickly.

With so many new ships in the navy, it was split up into five hundred squadrons with the same number of ships in each and one Commander to lead. Only the most experienced naval officers qualified for such ranks. Besides the navy's current leaders – Supreme Commander Antellica Grievous and Generals Alexander and Anneliese Grievous – the Emperor handpicked the rest, including himself. Most were those of very high and great rank with long and impressive resumes. Others were fresh-faced trainees direct from the numerous Imperial Academies with little to no field experience. The only four non-officers that were chosen as Commanders of their own squadron were Luke, Leila, Lacovia, and Drake.

While Lacovia and Drake took on this duty in conjunction to their jobs as Hands of their Imperial Highnesses, the twins took theirs as a gift from their father for their loyalty to the Empire. And also to give them something to do in the war now that they were no longer on the wrong side.

Another person who was interested in leading their own squadron was the Empress, former military activist of the Clone and Alien Wars, Arica Grievous-Skywalker. Anain caught his wife thinking over the possibility one night but quickly bashed the prospect, saying she was doing fine ruling the Empire on Coruscant. Plus, if she left who would manage and look after their seven youngest children – Troy, Gabriella, Elektra, River, Dylan, Cole and Philomena – and their entertainment careers?

This led to an argument in which Arica pointed out that she wasn't the only one who could do those things. He could as well, in which time she would take over his squadron in the fleet. This suggestion was shot down faster then a TIE fighter shoots lasers. Anakin blankly refused to give up his position in the navy, even for a little while. Arica needed to stay satisfied with the jobs she had as Empress and mother. This comment caused her to go into a tirade of rage, throwing things around their bedroom as she bellowed out curses about how tired she was of the Imperial capital.

"I hate this planet!" she screamed. "I want off of it!"

Anakin left his wife in her rage, leaving the house and then the planet to join his squadron in space.

Arica did not speak to her husband for the next month. As the rebel pursuit across the Galaxy continued she did not answer any of his telepathic calls or the holo ones either. Anakin was continuously told by one of their children or an assistant that she was busy and would not stop to be bothered by him. And when he came home to her after a mission on Kessel – The rebels attacked the planet for a second time by surprise, destroying the shipping factory and killing its Imperial occupants. After which the world was dubbed conquered. The Emperor's troops attempted to win back the planet only to find that its citizens didn't want to be under Imperial rule any longer. They and the rebels fought back against the Imperials, using their large numbers to push the Empire back. But the Empire kept coming with more troops being sent down by the half-hour. A ruthless battle ensured and the Empire was victorious in winning back the planet, even if now it was of utter destruction. – he found that she was still angry with him. She refused to speak or do anything physical with him, simply keeping her face as stone whenever he was around her.

Anakin grew tired of her childishness and said as much before requesting that she forget her anger and come to bed with him. Her only reply was that of a sarcastic laugh.

"Arica, stop this imbecility." The irritation was clearly heard in his tone. "I haven't seen you in a while to do anything with you."

When she continued to give him the defiant eye he added, more gently, "Please Arica. I leave again in the morning and may not see you for two months at least. Arica, my love...I need you."

"You need me?!" she repeated in a scoff. "Yes, it is always about what you need isn't it? Or what you want. Never about what I need and want. Do you know what I need? I need out of this house, this planet, this lifestyle I lead. I cannot take it anymore. I need and want out!"

"Arica-" Anakin made to calm her down by soothingly holding her, but she yanked herself out of his grip.

"Don't touch me or come anywhere near me!" she yelled. "I am leaving! I cannot take it anymore! I will not have you controlling and dictating my life; telling me what I can and cannot do because you feel the things I do are far too beneath you to do them yourself!"

"And you, my beautiful wife, will learn your place in this marriage!" Anakin said in a slightly raised voice. "I am the head of this family! I make the decisions! I say what goes! I-"

"Yes, it has always been _I this_ and _I that_ with you Anakin!" she yelled. "Everything has to do with you. You, you, you. No one else but yourself! Well, I've had enough of your egocentric attitude and am leaving!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Anakin growled. "First, you have to take Elektre and River to the studio downtown so they can film that health food commercial, then you have to take Philomena to that fashion show, and after that the twins have a-"

"If you're so well-informed of our children's schedules, you should take them yourself!" she roared. "That's all you seem to care about with me anymore: sex, sex, sex. Every time we're together that's all you ever want to do. It's as if-"

She abruptly found herself being overcome with emotion, yet she pushed herself to continue. "It's as if that's the only interest you have in me anymore. Just a little pleasure toy."

Despite his anger, Anakin couldn't help but fell somewhat hurt by what she just said. He was at a loss for words. Surely, she didn't really think that. But whatever Arica thought, she did not say. She merely left the room with a sad look, tears falling silently down her face, and closed the door softly behind her.

No one knew where Arica went. She simply left instruction with Troy to take his younger siblings where they needed to be and left without another word. In the period of time she was gone, she made sure to keep her presence fully hidden in the Force. She didn't wish to be bothered by anyone.

Many search groups were sent out to look for her, but none were of any success. Because Arica was gone, Anakin was forced to remain on Coruscant and attend to both his and her Imperial duties and look after the children while he had another officer lead his squadron. Anakin was no longer angry with Arica, just sad that she would up and leave like that. He missed her; wanted to be with her. Not sexually, simply in presence. The kids missed her too, especially Troy who felt it was his father's fault she left. Anakin received an earful from Troy of how Arica sacrificed so much to simply stay on Coruscant, raise the kids, and keep order in the Empire when she actually wanted to be out there doing something in the war, not just sitting around talking about it. This was followed by Troy's refusal to speak or even look at his father at all. And when he wasn't locking himself in his career, he was locked up in his room, eventually not speaking to anyone.

The younger kids – Philomena, Cole and Dylan – cried a lot, feeling abandoned by their mother, while the older ones – River, Elektra, Gabriella and Hilton – didn't talk or eat much, simply keeping to themselves.

Since Arica left, the Grievous-Skywalker household was dead with no activity going on within it. Anakin tried doing things with his children, but they were so used to not having him around that they didn't know what to think or do with him. The kids needed their mother. He needed his wife. And he couldn't bear the thought or not knowing where she was.

Antellica was also upset about her sister's disappearance, practically the whole empire was. Lacovia made it a point now to come home as much as possible to help out around the house and with her siblings. Many others – Luke, Leila, Alexander, Anneliese, Antellica, and even Drake – offered the same but a war was still being fought, and as cruel as it sounded, that's where everyone's attention needed to remain.

Anakin contacted Arica every day telepathically, begging her to come home and apologizing countless times, saying how sorry he was for letting his arrogance rule and control her life. But eventually, he wasn't even able to do that anymore, for a week into being gone Arica cut off the special Force bond they'd shared ever since being married. Anakin was deeply wounded by this and begged her to reconnect the bond. He was sorry and he loved her. He wanted her back. He couldn't bear to live without her.

"My love, I'm so sorry. Please, please come back to me."


	61. Rampage, Separation, and Pain

Author's Note: Hey there again! Thanks for all the reviews since the day before last. And even to those of you don't, still thanks for reading.

Chapter 60 review responses:

Thrawn716 (for chapter 59): Awesome that you could take a vacation this time of year. I know I could definitely use one. I'm glad you liked the chapters, but sadly, no, Mara Jade won't be in this. But on another note, I decided to put in the Chiss in this after all. They won't appear till Episode X (what I'm currently writing), but will be in it nonetheless. I think what got me interested in adding them was your input about Thrawn and such, of whom I will neither confirm nor being in this also.

MissNaye: Yeah, I think he realizes his mistake now. We'll see if they get back together or not below.

dmitchell: Somehow I think I'll like Episode IX, because something of the sort occurs within it.

Twisted Words: Find out below!

Fallen Senshi: Thank you. I really enjoyed writing this episode because it has so much action and warfare in it, plus the foreshadowing of a future crisis. It'll be a ball.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 2: Rampage, Separation, and Pain

20.2-4 Imperial Era

"_Sometimes you never realize how much you miss something until it's gone."_

– Troy Grievous Skywalker

Leaving Coruscant, Arica fled straight for her homeworld of Naboo rather than her first choice, somewhere in the Outer Rim. She needed away from it all, and knew here was where she could find it, among the beautifulness of its capital, Theed.

Once there, and docked at Theed Spaceport, the Empress, in the disguise that only a hooded cloak would allow, ventured to the first beauty parlor she found in Palace Plaza – a wide, open avenue that led from Theed Royal Palace, her place of residence as a handmaiden during childhood, though Naboo had since returned to monarchy rule at Amidala's death a month shy of fifteen years ago, through the Triumphal Arch, a giant arch located in the middle of the plaza and in front of the palace, and out of Theed city proper – and had her long black hair dyed red and curled. After which, she killed the beautician that did her hair and the entire staff inside to ensure that it didn't get out where she was, as they had indeed recognized her at the drop of her hood. Naturally, Arica could've dyed her own hair, but merely wished someone else to do it as an excuse to kill them. It'd been a long time since she got to do that. She was always too occupied with her children and empress duties that she never had time for herself anymore and what _she_ wanted. Well, that was going to change right here now with what she wanted to do. And what she wanted to do as of the present was slaughter the entire city of Theed. And what Arica wanted, she got.

Igniting her ruby red lightsaber, she stormed out of the beauty parlor and proceeded to slice down the numerous bystanders that stood or walked on the plaza streets. As people nearby discovered what she was doing, they began to scream and holler in terror. Yet Arica gave a death ear to these cries as she continued on with her rampage.

On and on it went, seeming to last forever; bursting into homes, restaurants, and any other building in the city, killing all life that could be found. Arica was void of emotion as she cut through the bodies of old and young, men and women, children and animals. It didn't matter. As long as a heart pumped within its veins, it was killed.

Though it seemed to go on forever, it only lasted several hours before Arica was in the city alone with no one but dead bodies for company. But she didn't want company; the reason everyone was killed to begin with. She wanted to be alone. She needed to be alone. It was the only way she would be able to achieve inner peace.

Collapsing onto the Holiday Lakes Hotel and Resort beach she just finished slaughtering, Arica deactivated her lightsaber and dug her fingers into the sandy floor. Noticing her wedding and engagement rings on both hands, she studied them with the distant memory of Anakin's proposal and their wedding. Her eyes welled up with tears as she remembered their exchanging of vows...

"_Do you Arica Nicholai Olivia Grievous take Anakin Skywalker as your lawful wedded husband, in sickness and in health, rather rich or poor, for as long as you both shall live, till death to you part?"_

_An eighteen year old Arica looked over at her twenty-four year old husband-to-be with a beaming smile. "I will."_

The presently thirty-six year old Arica found herself crying in grief as she remembered that day. She wondered if she would be able to keep those vows she made with Anakin. She loved him but...with everything going on with the war and his jurisdiction over her – his way to protect her, though she didn't need protecting – she really began to wonder if their marriage would work out to be happily ever after or not.

Sobbing out cries of confusion and hurt, Arica yanked the rings off her fingers and, after looking at them a moment, threw them into the middle of the ocean.

Falling onto the ground completely, she continued to sob out cries until she found herself drifting off into a restless slumber.

* * *

Arica spent most of the next day decontaminating the city of all its dead bodies by burning them in Theed's Central Shopping Arena, or any other building she found that was of no use, in her eyes anyway. 

The days after that were spent with her in deep meditation, something she was only able to achieve by cutting off the special Force bond she and her husband had shared ever since they became a married couple. She couldn't concentrate fully when every so often she'd hear him begging her to come home and apologizing over and over again. She knew it'd hurt him even more to do so, but it had to be done. What she didn't know was how much it would hurt her as well. She felt a deep emptiness inside her where their bond was cut and even had a small cry. After which, she hastily reprimanded herself for doing so. She was acting like a baby who suddenly had their bottle taken from them.

_Get a grip on yourself Arica, and remember whom you are._

In the coming weeks, Arica continued her meditations, enjoyed taking strolls along Theed's few beaches, and even took to visiting the ruins of her old country home from time to time. She stayed at Holiday Lakes, moving from room to room every night to amuse herself since she was the only one there. For food, she ate whatever she wanted and was happy cooking for _only_ herself. She was at total and absolute peace with herself and everything. She wasn't being rushed around the house because Philomena had a photo shoot to be at, or Troy had a fashion show to model at, or Gabriella had a movie premiere to attend. No, no, no. For the first time in a long time, Arica was thinking about just one person: Arica.

This selfish lifestyle of Arica's lasted two months before she was abruptly, and quite rudely returned to reality by the arrival of her sister, Antellica. Arica wasn't surprised that Antellica had finally figured out where she was. She knew if anyone were to find her here, it would be her twin.

Arica was simply sitting on the beach, legs pressed against her chest, and long red hair that was streaked with her natural golden blonde whipping through the wind with a black scarf she was using as a headband, when she sensed Antellica come up behind her.

A moment later, she sat down next to her; her gaze fixedly on her face. Arica turned to look at her older counterpart and couldn't help smiling. Antellica was always the way anyone remembered her. She hadn't changed much over the years. The same long mane of blonde hair; the same smile. She, like Arica, was still in wonderful form and tip top shape.

Antellica returned the smile after a moment and ran her right hand alongside Arica's highlighted wavy hair, shaking her head. "Do you really think this was necessary?" she asked after another moment.

Arica didn't need to ask what she was talking about. She knew Antellica was referring to Theed's slaughtering. Allowing a moment of silence to pass, she finally spoke. "Yes I do. How else was I supposed to have any peace here?"

Antellica simply looked at her a moment and than turned her head away, sighing. "Arica, I know you must be under a lot of pressure as empress and mother to nine children, but do you really think that's a good enough excuse to not only slaughter an entire city, but up and leave your family on a whim. Not even telling them where you're going."

Arica turned from her sister, suddenly irritated. "Antellica, you don't know what it's like. You've been too busy off fighting in the war. You don't know what it's like to see others go off to war and you want to join them so badly, only your overprotective husband won't let you."

"You never were one to sit idle for long." Antellica offered her a ghost of a smile. "Always on the move. One of the many things we have in common."

Arica returned the small smile and shrugged. "I've always been that way."

"I know you have. I'm your twin after all. I know that kind of stuff about you."

Antellica's semi-quip brought a small grin to Arica's face, as well as Antellica's before she took on a more serious demeanor. "But all joking aside Arica, I know you miss the carefree, action-filled life you once led, but running away from your family..." she trailed off. "Arica, I went to see them the other day and they're an absolute wreck. All of them. Troy ran away from home and has been gone for a week-"

"What?!" Arica exclaimed.

Antellica grimly nodded. "No one knows where he is since he's cloaking his presence. I think he's trying to find you, though he didn't leave a note or anything. He just left in the middle of the night. Sound familiar?"

Arica nodded. She'd done the same when she was a year younger than Troy, at the start of the Clone Wars, but for different reasons.

"Lacovia is burning herself out with trying to lead her squadron and, at the same time, do your job as empress and mother," Antellica continued. "I don't think she's eaten or slept in days. Hilton dropped out of the university to also help out at home. Gabriella dropped out of a film she was doing, refusing to go on set or come out of her room and talk to anyone. As for the younger kids, they're mainly confused and hurt over why you'd suddenly abandon them. And Anakin, Arica I've never seen him so depressed. He's hurt and wounded that you would leave him the way you did and think he doesn't love you anymore. Arica, you are his love and joy in life. He loves you so much, and it's because he loves you that he's so overprotective. He doesn't want to see you get hurt. He knows you can take care of yourself, he just-" Antellica sighed. "You'll remember how much it took Lacovia to convince him she was capable of being his Hand. It was the same thing with her. He didn't want to let her go. He wanted her to stay so he could protect her. For you not to see that's the only reason he doesn't want you to go out too, I don't know what you're problem is. You need to get out of this self-centered world you've been living in the past two months and go back to your husband and family. They need you Arica. And if you don't want to go back to them willingly, I will take you back by force, because make no mistake, you are going back to Coruscant today and that's all there is to it."

All the while Antellica had been talking, Arica started to cry softly. Never had she imagined her leaving to have such an impact on everyone. All she wanted to do now was go home and tell everyone how sorry she was for the pain she caused them. But first, she needed to find Troy. He could be anywhere.

As if reading her mind (she may have been), Antellica said, "We'll worry about Troy later. Once it's announced that you've returned, it's only a matter of time until he turns up."

Arica gave a sniff and nodded, wiping away the tears that continued to fall from her eyes. Antellica reached over and took her younger sister into her arms. Arica continued to sob softly into her shoulder a few moments before grabbing a hold of her emotions and wiping her face with the tissues Antellica offered.

"Thank you Antellica," Arica said finally, softly. "If it weren't for you, I might have stayed here forever."

Antellica smiled. "Hey, what are sisters for if not to help one another when they need it? Which reminds me..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the last two things Arica ever expected to see again. She gasped. Her wedding and engagement rings! "I think you'll be needing these back now," Antellica said with a sly grin.

Arica continued to look down at the rings in disbelief. As long ago as it was she'd thrown them, she would've expected them to be lost at sea by now. "How did you-"

"I found them way down the beach, lying on the shore," Antellica explained. "As many times as I've seen them, I recognized them immediately." Her smile turned slightly sly again. "Of course, at first, I wanted to keep them for myself but..."

Arica gave her sister a playful swat across the face – "Hey!" – and snatched the rings from her grasp. After putting them back onto their respected fingers and giving them a look of satisfaction, she reached across to her sister and hugged her warmly. "Thank you for being the most loving, if yet direct, sister a twin could ever ask for."

"Not at all little sis," Antellica quipped. She than rose from the ground, hands clasped before her. "Now, let us be off."

Arica got up and followed her sister off the beach, all the while reconnecting the special Force bond she shared with her husband.

"_Anakin?"_ she sent softly, almost hesitantly.

"_Arica! My love!"_ His reply was overjoyed and filled with hope.

"_I'm coming home..."_


	62. Reconciliation

Author's Note: This is pretty much the only short chapter of this episode, and is mainly a reunion with the family. The chapter after this, however, is when things start heating up with our first death of a reoccurring character. Think you can guess who it is? Here's a hint: Their name's not listed in the dramatis personae as in the last episode.

Chapter 61 review responses:

MissNaye: Definitely, everyone's reunited below.

Thrawn716: No prob. Yeah, I heard about that new book (Allegiance is it called?) and even glanced through it when I was at Borders the day before last. I might just read it sometime. And you're welcome about the Chiss. Hope you can wait till Episode X though.

Darkvampirewitch: Yeah, they're evil all right. But that's what makes them somewhat likable. To me anyway. You know they're bad, but you can't help but thinking it's good.

arzum: Eventually, but not quite yet.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 3: Reconciliation

20.4 Imperial Era

"_Loving reunions are always the most joyous occasions."_

-Antellica Grievous

Arica and Antellica found their son and nephew, Troy, on the Core outskirts world of Labore. Despite the fact that his presence was cloaked, the women were still able to find him due to the close bond he shared with his mother. Out of the nine children, of whom she loved equally, Arica was closest to Troy. It was just something that had developed at his birth.

Their reunion had been heartfelt and touching. All arrogance forgotten, when Troy spotted his mother he ran to her in happiness. She met him halfway and they hugged tightly. She was surprised to find that he was crying slightly.

"Troy-"

"Oh mom!" he sobbed into her shoulder.

"It's all right Troy." Arica found that she was becoming a bit teary-eyed herself. "I'm here."

"Don't ever abandon us like that again, do you hear me?" Troy was frantically shaking her shoulders as he asked her this.

"Oh Troy, I promise I won't," Arica cried. "I promise."

Troy continued to sob into his mother's shoulder while she held him.

The reuniting with the rest of the family was just as heartfelt, if not more. Arica had called ahead so everyone knew she was coming when she arrived. All the kids were crying with happiness and squeezing the life out of her with hugs. Arica also shed a few tears, and when she spotted her husband, jumped into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck.

"Oh Anakin, I'm so sorry."

"Oh my love!" It was hard to tell, but it sounded like he was a bit choked up himself. "Don't ever do something like that to me again."

"I won't Anakin. I promise."

Anakin gazed upon his wife a moment, running his hand along the side of her still slightly dyed hair, before pulling her form into his arms once more, tightly.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Arica continued to cry uncontrollably into her husband's shoulder, cursing herself for ever leaving his arms.

Things soon returned to normal in the Grievous-Skywalker household, with the exception of one thing: the emperor and empress now shared the responsibility of raising their children and leading the Death Squadron in the Imperial fleet. Now when Arica was off on a mission, Anakin stayed home, and when he was off on a mission, she stayed home. It was the perfect balance for the both of them and made everyone happy. Now Anakin could spend more time with the kids, and Arica could get back to jetting across the galaxy.


	63. Mysteries Arise

Chapter 62 review responses:

Thrawn716: Yeah, I guess that was a little funny.

MissNaye: Oh yeah, the war's still going on heatedly.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 4: Mysteries Arise

20.6 Imperial Era

"_Strange happenings don't simply occur without reason."_

-Drake Jovovich

The Outer Rim planet Muunilinst, and its six-orbit system of the same name, was once a central system in the Confederacy of the Independent Systems during the Clone Wars twenty-some years previous. The planet itself had been the location of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, which was one of the many organizations that kept the three-year war going in the Separatists favor.

The planet, of course, of lush forests, plains, and tall, jagged mountain peaks along with urban environments, had fallen into Imperial hands at the war's end and enslaved during Palpatine's rule. Now, however, it was nothing more than a glorified, wealthy Hutt world; controlled in part by the Black Sun Crime Organization. And while technically it was still an Imperial planet, it had no real part of the Empire as a whole with the exception of an occasional Imperial Intelligence operative disguised as a bounty hunter every now and again.

The original Kingpin of Black Sun, King Zarcar, had died in a club shooting at the war's start two years ago. Following this, his son, Prince Xizor, rightfully stepped up as the organization's new Head. But two weeks ago, however, Xizor had been found dead in his sleeping chambers. The cause was unknown and seemed a bit impossible as there was nothing physically wrong with him. It appeared as though he'd simply stopped breathing all of a sudden, like the air had been choked out of his throat.

The death of a crime lord, even one as notorious as the infamous and power hungry Prince Xizor, wasn't a big deal and not usually investigated into when the cause of death was known or unknown. It made no difference. His death was soon forgotten as Xizor's niece, Savan, took our Black Sun. But when she also was killed and numerous others at the organization soon followed, as well as other crime lords on-world, and finally Muunilinst's Regional Governor – all dying the same way, by no air being allowed passage from the lungs to the throat, but no bruises on the body to show what caused this – did the Empress send her Hand to go check out the situation.

What with the war, she and her husband could careless about a few scumbag criminals and a Moff being killed; they were replaceable. It was simply the way they all turned up dead that intrigued them both. The conditions suffered in these deaths were the exact same as those suffered by persons killed via Force-choke. But that was impossible. The only people whom were capable of doing this were Force-sensitive Dark Siders. And none of the Sith under Imperial rule were anywhere near Muunilinst when these attacks transpired. This could only mean one thing: there was a rogue Force user on the loose who was fond of killing people via Force-choke. It had to be that. But who could it be? Where did they come from? And why did they do it? These were the questions Arica wanted Drake to answer in his investigation, and the young man was only more than ready to do so.

A funny thing happened, though, after he and his military unit in the navy, the _Night Squadron_, left Coruscant. They arrived at Muunilinst just fine, but abruptly vanished after that; simply disappearing without any trace. As to how five hundred Star Destroyers, fully crewed and visible, could simply go missing into thin air no one knew. It wasn't logical, impossible, and yet it had happened.

Because of their closeness, Arica had Lacovia try contacting Drake telepathically only to find that she couldn't due to the startling fact that Drake's presence in the Force was gone. His presence had vanished just as shockingly as the squadron. It was unbelievably confusing.

Naturally, Drake's mother, Grand Imperial Moff Charlotte Jovovich, was upset about her son's disappearance and insisted that she go to Muunilinst to investigate further. The Emperor wasn't entirely sure about this though. He and Arica were still trying to digest how a squadron could abruptly go missing. It was the Empress' suggestion that someone Force-sensitive go with Jovovich, but with the continued war effort this wasn't really possible. Everyone was busy. In the end, Jovovich decided to go alone with several ships from the Emperor's _Death Squadron _accompanying her. The Imperial rulers were still uneasy about the Grand Imperial Moff going without a Force-sensitive – an established Force-sensitive at that, something neither of her other children were, as they'd never shown an interest in Force usage as their older brother had – but she was so hell-bent on the matter they didn't attempt to stop her.

By late the next day, they were wishing they had when news of the mission's end reached the capital. The few police and officers that were supposed to meet Jovovich on-world and in the planet's capital of Harnaiden were killed the same way as the others, but the Grand Imperial Moff herself had been stabbed through the heart by what appeared to be a lightsaber. The three ships that accompanied her, meanwhile, vanished just as _Night Squadron_ had and the tracking systems aboard the Star Destroyers were off line.

The fourteen-year old Jovovich triplets – Bellatrix, Braxton, and Blondelle – took the death of their mother badly. Turning their backs on the lives they led on Coruscant, they plotted revenge against their mother's killer. The Royal family did not approve of this, telling the siblings to let the Empire handle it. To which Braxton exploded that "it was through the Empire that was she killed to begin with."

The Emperor continued to insist to the three that they needed to slow down, grieve, and let him handle the situation personally, instead of them running off on a rampage they'd most likely get killed in. Because while the triplets did have a semi-amount of Force training, they were nowhere near as advanced as their older brother or the Grievous-Skywalker heirs. It was through this that the Emperor knew they would be no match against this mysterious Force user. Someone more advanced needed to be sent. Someone like him.

However, the three grieving teenagers refused to hear reason and defiantly left Coruscant in the dead of night. Expecting something of the sort to happen, Anakin had posted Troy and Hilton to guard the two rooms the three were staying in at Skywalker Manor. And though the boys had put up a fight, the triplets, using what little Force knowledge they had, knocked them both unconscious and left the manor without anyone being the wiser.

"We tried to talk them out of going," Hilton said to his parents the next morning once the discovery had been made that the Jovovichs were gone. "They just wouldn't listen."

"Talking all this trash that if it were our mother we'd do the same," Troy mocked in a tone that was supposed to sound like Bellatrix.

Arica sighed. "We can only hope they don't get killed for their foolishness."

Anakin turned away from them and also sighed. "Somehow I get the feeling they will be."

Nonetheless, the Emperor led _Death Squadron_ to Muunilinst later that day prepared for the worst. And when they came in orbit around the planet, that's when he sensed it. Two things happened at the same time: The Jovovich triplets' presences disappeared in the Force the same way Drake's had and the entire _Death Squadron_, sans the _Executor,_ abruptly vanished into thin air.

It was impossible! And yet the emperor had seen it with his own eyes; one moment the ships were there, the next they weren't. But why? Why would the ships surrounding him disappear and not his as well? It didn't make any sense. But perhaps it was _because_ he was on it. Anakin wondered if he deboarded would the ship than disappear. He decided to test this theory and left _Executor_ in a shuttle, though made sure to keep it in orbit around Muunilinst and in clear sight of his Star Destroyer.

Tuning himself into the Force completely, he submerged himself into its depths. For a moment nothing happened, but he distantly felt hesitation coming from somewhere within it. This ended a moment later, however, when the dark presence's hesitating stopped. The _Executor_ was gone an instant later. Anakin did not blink when he watched it disappear. He made sure to keep his eyes wide open. It was interesting to watch how the ship vanished. It didn't disappear the way a ship did when it jumped to hyperspace, it just...vanished. Dematerialized. Exited existence. One second it was there; the next it wasn't.

Anakin thought back to the Battle of Monastery, in which Luke and Drake had led five months ago. The rebels interrogated concerning the location of the Jedi simply said that they were "on a mission of their own," and it's result would be "big."

To this day the old fools still couldn't be found among the rebels. They had yet to come back from this "mission" of theirs. But as much as Anakin wanted to tie the disappearances and murder of Charlotte Jovovich to the Jedi, he knew it wasn't them. This presence was dark and Sith like. Obi-Wan and Yoda were too self-righteous in their "holier then thou" attitude to turn Sith. No, Anakin didn't know whom this presence was, but he had every intention of finding out.


	64. Investigations in Hutt Space

Author's Note: Hey all! Can you believe the day after next in the first of April already? This year's going by so quickly! Before you know it, Ho Ho fat boy in the suit will be flying in the skies and handing out goodies again. Or maybe not. This chapter below is the start of what turns out to be an interesting mission. And so you should know, the characters Flux and Garduelle the Hutt are purely my creations, so don't go looking for 'em at wookiepedia. Your reviews are always welcomed and enjoyed, but you already know that by now. Read on and enjoy!

Chapter 63 review responses:

MissNaye: Hmm, we'll have to keep reading to find out.

G-Anakin 13: That's what they're all wondering, I'm sure. It's hard to tell really. But, of course, will be revealed eventually. And don't worry about being late. It's oaky.

Jakiray Axmiris: Possibly to the statements made before the question. Read below to find out about the question itself.

arzum: That's a good question. Sadly, I can't answer.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 5: Investigations in Hutt Space

"_I'd rather kiss a nerf."_

-Leila Skywalker on Alexander Grievous

Investigations concerning the murder of Grand Imperial Moff Charlotte Jovovich and the disappearance of her children and two of the navy's most elite squadrons came up empty. Nothing on the matter was found. The only good thing was that ships stopped vanishing around Muunilinst and no more mysterious deaths occurred. Life went on and back to normal on the planet. A distant cousin of Savan took over Black Sun, and the dozen so crime lords were replaced with underlings. Soon, the news stories surrounding the outer rim world died down and everyone's focus returned to the war. Nearly everyone's anyway.

Emperor Skywalker was a different story. Anakin knew his full attention should be on the war effort, even if Arica was on the field in the Inner Rim as of the present, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that this dark presence was someone who would eventually turn the galaxy upside down and back again. Why did he feel this? He just felt it in the Force.

With the loss of two squadrons – one thousand ships – more were manufactured through Kuat Drive Yards. And in an act of selflessness, Hilton dropped out of the university again, but for good this time, to lead what would've been Drake's squadron when it was rebuilt. He was no longer interested in learning about business economics when a war was being fought. He wanted apart of it.

For the time being, he was given command of Alexander Grievous' _Avenge Squadron_, while his parents shared command of Leila's _Dark Squadron_. This left both Alexander and Leila squadron-less, but for good reason. The two of them were assigned a mission to perform. Together.

Though the investigations on Muunilinst were now all but dead, the emperor wanted them to continue. Not on Muunilinst itself, but nearby worlds in Hutt Space, a region of the Galaxy on the border between the Mid and Outer Rims, like Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta to name a few. He wanted two Imperial agents acting undercover among the scum this region had to offer, to see if any competing crime lords in the ring of Hutts wanted Xizor and the others dead for some reason. Through this he hoped some answers could be found. And this would also be a good opportunity for Alexander and Leila to let go of their beef for one another.

Ever since they'd met half-a-year prior on Serenno, following Leila's leave of the rebellion, disdain was all that had ever been exchanged between the two. But it was probably because Alexander made it a point to dislike Leila from the beginning. She simply followed suit by hating his guts. If ever the two were in the same room, which didn't happen often, you could be prepared for fireworks to start erupting – shouting, curses, insults and sneers.

Anakin was tired of it. Actually, everyone was tired of it. But whenever the subject arose with either of the two, a tirade would start with such things being said as, "It's not my fault Alexander was pampered and spoiled as a child; resulting in him being a conceited brat," or "She's too stuck up to mount up to anything in life because she's a bitch, and I don't socialize with bitches."

Antellica secretly thought her son liked Leila, and Anakin the same, only the other way around. Arica thought they were both crazy, but no matter what any of them thought they never said any of this to Alexander or Leila.

The haters were nothing short of furious when informed of their assignment together. Both insisted they work with anyone, _anyone_ except each other. Anakin wouldn't hear of it though. His mind was set and that was that. They were going to Hutt Space and would work together rather they wanted to or not.

"But-" Both started to protest.

"I grow tired of this beef that has been between the two of you ever since you met," he harshly stated. "I will not put up with it any longer, so I suggest you do something about it on this mission."

"I-" Alexander started to speak, but Leila sharply cut him off with an accusing finger. "He's the one who started it!"

"I don't care who started it!" Anakin roared. "I want it finished! Today!"

Both looked somewhat taken by his extreme harshness, but Anakin didn't care. Thrusting a medium-sized box at Alexander, he informed, "All the essentials needed for the mission are in this box. I expect you to be on Nar Shaddaa by this time tomorrow. Once your task there is completed, proceed to Nal Hutta. All further questions will be answered by the paperwork in the box. Be off!"

And with a magnificent sweep if his cloak, the Emperor left the room.

* * *

The Mid Rim moon of Nar Shaddaa, often nicknamed the "Smuggler's Moon", was a twisted mirroring of the planet encasing cities of Coruscant. While the capital of the galaxy was elegant in its appearance and stature, Nar Shaddaa was a decaying urban zone of broken down buildings and crime littered streets. 

Criminals of all sorts could be found doing what it was they did best: Holding people at gunpoint, blackmailing honest businessmen, kidnapping helpless children... This of all places was a great spot to find bounty hunters at work. And while a normal person wouldn't think twice about coming across the path of a bounty hunter in the underbelly of Nar Shaddaa city streets, that's exactly what Alexander and Leila were assigned to do. Find the top-ranking bounty hunter known only as Flux and take him out right after he finished what would be the last assignment in his impressive career – killing an overzealous smuggler for slicing through Tatooine's Gardulla the Hutt because he'd been blackmailed by the female slug.

The duo arrived on Nar Shaddaa at the exact time the emperor had instructed. The journey there had been spent with the two occupants in separate rooms, defiantly keeping out of one another's way. The only words that had been exchanged between the pair was when they arrived and Alexander dubbed himself leader of the mission. He told Leila she was to do as he said, when he said it, and how. No arguments or excuses.

Leila's only retort was, "I hope you have an early death that takes you to the pits of hell."

Leila did not like Alexander. She hated him, and hated her father for wanting them to get along. Didn't he realize who the boy's father was?

Nonetheless, she chose to do as Alexander said, when he said it, and how to help the mission go along smoothly. The sooner it was completed, the sooner they could back to their normal lives away from each other.

Flux was inside a cantina in the moon's capital, New Vertica, sipping Canola Whiskey through his black helmeted mouthpiece when the Sith pair entered at opposite sides of the building unrecognizable – his dirty blonde hair shaved off to near-bald, her wearing a short blonde wig. While Alexander opted to sit at the bar, throwing down shots, Leila decided to join a game of Sabacc at a nearby table of one Human and four non – all scruffy – uninvited and unwelcome. This dislike for her merely grew when she began using the Force to cheat her way into winning the game. The scuffle that followed gave Alexander the cover he needed to sneak out the cantina on the trail of Flux.

The hunter led him to a rundown hotel a few blocks away and abruptly looped around, entering through a back door. Alexander silently followed. They must've climbed at least fifty stairs before Flux went through a door on the right of even more stairs that continued up to higher levels. Alexander darted through the door before it closed and Flux whipped around. Since Alexander's presence was cloaked in the Force, Flux, although he was looking directly at him, couldn't see him since he wasn't Force-sensitive. But all the same, he was still suspicious. Giving the hall another look around, his hand on the hip of his blaster, he sharply turned and continued down the hall; Alexander right behind.

Flux stopped at the second to the last door on the left and listened a moment. Alexander did the same. The sounds of moans, groans, and pants could be heard from within. Flux had definitely chosen the right time for a kill. Growling, the hunter kicked the door down with his heavy, metal boots and barged into the room. Of course, Alexander followed.

The smuggler in question, Guerrero something, was sharing his bed with two alien women. The covers were shielding everything but their heads from view, but it was obvious what they were doing underneath, until Flux barged in that is. Now the women – a Twi'lek and Zeltron – were screaming and jumping around the bed in fright. Two quick shots from Flux's blaster, however, and they were dead on the floor.

Guerrero was shuffling around on the nightstand for his own blaster, but he might as well given himself up right than and there, for no sooner did he have it in hand, a blade was hurtling over towards him and decapitating his head. The smuggler's head dropped off his shoulders and onto the floor with a thud. A second later, it was being joined by that of Flux's at Alexander's ignited blade from behind.

Uncloaking his presence, Alexander deactivated his crimson sword and bent down to take Flux's suit and helmet off. What he found underneath nearly made him pass out in revulsion. A one-eyed alien with a distorted yellow face and body covered in green pimples is what met Alexander's eyes.

This was the legendary bounty hunter Flux? Some type of alien freak show! It was pathetic. With the metal shielded black armor the hunter wore one would think he was something impressive underneath. Not this.

Disgustedly kicking the body and head away, Alexander looked over the armored suit. Besides the slash across the bottom of the helmet, there was nothing wrong with it. And than he noticed the top of the suit, around the bisection of the neck. The inside of it was filled with quite a bit of yellow puss that came from Flux's neck. Alexander knew he couldn't wear this. Even if it was cleaned out. He mused to himself that perhaps Flux kept spare suits in his ship.

Collecting Guerrero's head – it was to be presented to Garduelle the Hutt on Nal Hutta with Alexander secretly posing as Flux – Alexander set the time bomb brought on the journey for 60 seconds and threw it into the room's center. Alexander exited the building right as it exploded, tossing Guerrero's head in the air as he walked. When he came to Flux's ship just outside the city, he found that Leila was already there waiting for him. Completely ignoring her, he walked up to the ship's entrance and used the Force to release it's boarding ramp. He than proceeded inside. Leila, wisely, kept watch outside.

_Flux's Sparrow_ wasn't an overly large ship. It was shaped like a sparrow inside and out – the cockpit being the head, an average sized cabin it's middle, and what seemed to be a storage room it's tail. Thankfully, between all the piles of junk littered across the back room Alexander was able to find another suit of Flux's. It was an exact replica of the one the hunter was always famous for wearing. The tag on the hanger it hung on said, 'Secondary Use Only!' in Huttese.

"It'd say this would qualify as a secondary use," Alexander said to no one in particular. "Let's put this baby to good use."

It took a while, but Alexander was finally able to get the suit and helmet on. It was a bit snug and the helmet somewhat loose, but it wasn't _that_ noticeable.

Returning to the cabin, Alexander turned its holoprojector communicator on and typed in the code to Garduelle the Hutt's Royal Palace, called Winter Palace, on Nal Hutta. The Hutt's aide answered the call, but one look at the hunter before him caused him to swiftly bow.

_'Hunter Flux, the mighty Garduelle has been expecting your call.'_

Flux nodded and waited as the call was transferred.

A moment later, the holographic form of a large slug-like creature appeared. It was the Kingpin Overlord of all Hutts, Garduelle.

All Hutts in the Overlord dynasty were blood related somehow. It was their way of keeping everything in control. Because of this, it wasn't shocking that Garduelle would want Guerrero dead. Gardulla the Hutt had been his great-niece after all.

The look the olden Hutt gave Flux was one of no expression. _'Is it done?'_ he asked in Huttese.

Flux bowed his head. 'Yes ultimate Garduelle it has. Look and see for yourself.'

Flux presented the head of Guerrero before the holo Hutt. Garduelle examined it a moment and burst into a string of laughter that was soon followed by that of his court.

_'Good, good,' _the Hutt finally said. _'Come to my Palace Flux, and we shall have a celebration in your honor. And in the honor of the scum's death. His head shall be the staple of our celebration.'_

Flux nodded his head once more. 'I shall arrive within the next few days to receive my pay and present you with the scum's head.'

Garduelle chuckled. _'Oh yes! The pay!' _The way he'd spoke was as if he'd forgotten. _'Yes, it shall be waiting for you.'_

'I know it will,' Flux said and ended the transmission.

On the other end, Garduelle and his court continued to laugh and a music and dancing celebration began.

Still donned in the Flux suit, Alexander exited the ship to see Leila returning with the box her father had given them and a tote bag. Her tote bag. Which meant his was still on _Rapid River_, the ship they'd been assigned with on the mission.

"You know you could've brought my bag too," Alexander said in irritation, though it came out as Flux's voice. The suit was equipped with a voice box of the deep tone Flux was famous for speaking in.

With the box on hip and the bag over the other shoulder, Leila stopped her stride towards the ship and simply looked him up and down. After a moment, she said, "That suit makes you look fat Alexander."

She continued her stride towards the ship, but Alexander blocked her path in anger. Leila huffed. "Get out of my way little boy."

Alexander growled. "You do enjoy boasting about the fact that you're a mere five months older then me don't you."

Leila, whom recently turned twenty several months ago while Alexander was still nineteen, looked smug. "Yes, I do. Now, are you going to move out of my way or will I have to do it for you?"

Any other time, Alexander would've slapped her to the ground in disgust, but now he didn't feel like it. It would only prolong his time in her presence and he didn't want that. Swiftly, he stepped out of the way and let her pass. She smirked and he almost hit her but stopped at the last minute. Leila obviously knew what he'd wanted to do for she gave yet another smug smile light her lips and headed up the ship's ramp in a haughty manner.

Growling, he followed her up and brushed past her for the back room. It took a while, but he finally made it out of the suit. Stalking out of the room an hour after entering, he found Leila flicking through a database of battle plans on her portable computer. She did not look up at his entrance which angered him.

"If you even think to leave here without me, I swear I'll hunt you down and fry you alive," he threatened. "I don't care who your father is."

Still, Leila didn't look at him. She merely laughed at the computer screen. "You're a ridiculous little boy Alexander."

There were so many things he wanted to do to her at that moment, one of which included choking her to death, but he resisted the temptation and merely spat on the floor in front of her.

That brought her attention onto him. She rose an eyebrow at his ridiculousness.

"And you are an arrogant bitch!" he snarled before leaving the ship in a huff. Leila merely laughed after him and went back to her computer files.

Presence cloaked, Alexander went back to _Rapid River_ to retrieve his tote bag. Leila was still in the cabin skimming through files when he returned.

Snarling, he informed her that he was not to be bothered in the cockpit under any circumstances.

This earned the sarcastic comment, "I'd rather kiss a nerf."

Seething, he stalked into the cockpit, sealing the door shut behind him.


	65. In the Lair of Garduelle the Hutt

Chapter 64 review responses:

Jakiray Axmiris: Han is in this episode actually. As is Fett, his entrance is made in the chapter after this as a matter of fact. As for your question in the last review, it was, and I quote "So, will there be a Rebellion update in the next chapter?" I answered with possibly if I remember correctly. Which in a sense was true, though not entirely.

MissNaye: Maybe. But I'll play coy for now.

G-Anakin 13: That's okay. Have fun wherever you're going.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 6: In the Lair of Garduelle the Hutt

"_A slave girl, Leila? Somehow I always saw you ending up that way."_

-Alexander Grievous to Leila Skywalker

It took a relatively short time to reach the Hutt strong world Nal Hutta (translated as Glorious Jewel in Huttese) in the Y'Toub system from it's one of five moons, Nar Shaddaa. In which time no contact whatsoever was made between _Flux's Sparrow_ two occupants. Leila stayed in the cabin and Alexander, in the cockpit.

They arrived on Nal Hutta mid-day. Alexander was already suited and Leila in one of the two slave girl costumes that came in the box the emperor supplied them with. It was a black mini-top no larger than a bra with a matching black skirt that had two splits on the sides that went all the way up to Leila's waist. She wore a single bracelet around her right ankle and her hair was in wavy curls.

It was customary with the Hutts to have various slave girls in their court. Their main use was to satisfy the many pleasures of their master, most of which consisted with dancing seductively around their throne room. Every so often the Hutts would grow tired of their slaves and feed them to their pet ranchors in the pit beneath their throne rooms. New recruits were than brought to the Palace and the Hutt picked whichever ones he liked. As for the ones he didn't, they also were fed to the ranchor.

It just so happened that Garduelle was receiving new slave girl recruits that very day. This led in perfectly with the original plan. Leila, under the alias of Nizana, was to sneak in with the rest of the recruits and perform with them. She had no doubt of being chosen.

This, however, was the original plan. Alexander had recently thought up a better, more interesting one as they made their descent onto the planet. Flux would present Nizana as a gift to the mighty Garduelle. He would have no choice but receive her for a Hutt never says no to a gift. They're far too greedy.

As much as Leila liked the original plan, she had to admit Alexander's was better, but did not voice this aloud and merely nodded when he was done proposing it.

Being that Nal Hutta was the strong world in Hutt Space, a lot would've been expected from it. But shockingly, it wasn't that different from Tatooine. Covered entirely in sand with palm trees and pyramids as its only decorations. There was one major difference between the two Hutt dominated worlds, though, and that was how unlike Tatooine, where in some areas there would be miles and miles of nothing but desert landscapes, Nal Hutta was filled to the brim with buildings, rather it be industrial, residence, or entertainment purpose, the only landscape being in Garduelle the Hutt's Winter Palace courtyard.

_Flux's Sparrow_ docked neatly onto the landing bay that was to the right of Garduelle's Palace. Alexander and Leila gave a brisk nod to one another before exiting the ship with Flux leading his slave girl along on a lease and chain in one hand and Guerrero's head in the other.

Garduelle's aide, a male Twi'lek named Orn Orx was there to meet them. He sniffed, however, upon spotting Leila. 'What's this?'

"A gift for His High and Mightiness Garduelle," Flux said in Basic. "I heard he may be in need of another slave girl and chose to bring him one. Though, it'll cost him extra."

"His Lordship will be most pleased." The Twi'lek was looking Leila up and down in a hungry manner. "He was not at all satisfied with today's recruits."

Gesturing them forward, the aide led Flux and his slave toward the Palace, continuing to speak. "Most of them were killed with the exception of a green Twi'lek slut. Though the only reason His Excellency kept her is because she did a striptease act in her dance routine. The pig. The festivities in your honor have already begun Flux. I am sure you will be most pleased with them."

"We'll see," he replied in a bland voice. "I'm more interested in getting my pay first."

"Of course almighty Flux. Of course."

Nothing else was said as they made their way around the back and then side of the Palace, into the courtyard. Here is where the festivities were taking place. Music, dancing, and food could be heard and seen everywhere. Orx continued to led them onwards and everyone, noticing who'd just arrived, hastily moved aside, parting a way in the crowd for the hunter to walk through. He only nodded to the few hunters he was acquaintances with as he continued to pull his slave girl along. Alexander found that he was rather enjoying himself while yanking on Leila's lease like the dog she was. He abruptly pulled extra hard and she almost went tripping to the ground because of it, much to the crowds' delight. They hooted and jeered and Garduelle, who'd spotted Flux a moment before, began to applaud with his fat hands.

Alexander smirked beneath the mask. Leila, however, was less than amused. _"If you pull on me that hard again, I'll kill you,"_ she threatened to him in thought.

Alexander, slightly surprised that she'd communed with him telepathically, mentally snarled, _"Keep out of my mind bitch."_

Leila's only reply was a glare.

By now they'd reached the patio throne that led back inside the Palace. Garduelle the Hutt, also known as Garduelle Desilijic Tiron, was propped up on his high seat while man-servants, dressed only in loin clothes, fanned him with palm tree leaves. The Twi'lek slave girl mentioned earlier, meanwhile, was seated in the Hutt's lap.

Flux, still pulling his own slave girl along, climbed the three stair dais that led up to the throne and gave a slight bow.

'Welcome Flux,' Garduelle greeted in Huttese. 'Allow me to relieve you of the scum head you carry.'

Flux presented the head of Guerrero to the Hutt's outstretched hands. Garduelle took the smuggler's head with glee and examined it a moment before placing it on a platter that a manservant held out to him. With the head successfully placed, Garduelle held the platter above his own head and called for attention.

'The head of the treacherous scum, Guerrero, will be a symbol at our celebration of what happens to those who double cross Garduelle the Hutt and his underlings.'

Instant cheers rang above the crowd and the music that had halted at his pronouncement started up again briefly.

'Ah, but what is this lovely creature you have brought before me Flux?' Garduelle asked with a grin, eying Leila up and down. 'A gift perhaps? I am in great need of a few more sluts these days.'

Alexander smirked at the insult beneath the mask and threw Leila to her knees before the Hutt. "Her name is Nizana," Flux said. "I found her in a cantina on Nar Shaddaa and thought you might find some use of her, at the sum of a small price that is."

Garduelle chuckled and reverted to Basic. "Always trying to find new ways of getting money out of me Flux. Hmm..." The Hutt studied Leila another moment before barking, "On your feet whore!"

As jeers of laughter came from the audience, Leila bit back her anger and slowly rose from her knelt position.

Garduelle studied Leila another moment and licked his lips. "Is it too much to think you are fluent in Huttese, bitch?"

Another round of laughter started in the crowd, but Leila kept her faze fixed on the slimy Hutt and smirked. 'No, oh mighty Garduelle,' she said in Huttese, much to the surprise of the Hutt and his audience, 'it is not too much to think.'

Garduelle was mildly impressed. 'How is it that you come to know Huttese, slut?'

The usual laughter rang out, but Leila spoke over it. 'I haven't always been a stripper bitch. Once, when I was younger, I achieved an education and learned things.'

This time the laughter completely exceeded its limit, mainly because Garduelle himself had joined in. 'Imagine that,' he jeered. 'A cunt with an education.'

The laughing continued, but instead of growl in rage as she wanted to and slaughter them all in the process, Leila merely smiled sweetly. 'It is hard to believe. But not impossible.'

'Hmm,' the Hutt continued to study her. 'Are you aware how bitches like you become my whores?'

She shrugged. 'Dancing perhaps?'

Garduelle smirked. 'Yes bitch, by performing. Now shut that educated mouth of yours up and start dancing.'

The rest of the court cheered at this and Leila was pushed down the patio stairs by the man-servants as Flux and the rest looked on. Moving herself to the center of everyone, Leila took a deep breath and waited for the music to begin. When it did, she began to dance. The song that was playing was a hip salsa dance, instrumental only, no vocals. Leila made it a point to be impressive from beginning to end as she ground and rocked her hips, ran her fingers through her slightly waved hair, twirled her body around, and let her hands loose over her body. The crowd yelled and cheered their approval, but Leila hardly noticed. She was in her element.

As Leila continued her seductive dance Alexander found himself becoming compelled to watch. He knew he shouldn't. It was sick, he kept telling himself. She was sick. But whenever he'd move his eyes away, they'd always dart back again.

The way her hips moved when she ran her hands along them and her legs. The look she had on her face when she did this, it was so...

Alexander shook himself. Had he totally lost it? Gone mad inside this bounty hunter suit? This was Leila he was talking about. His arch-enemy. He hated her, insulting her every chance he got.

_'Snap out of it Alex,' _he told himself. _'Leila's a bitch.'_

The more Leila danced, the more revved up the crowd became. Garduelle and a few others even had their tongues out in excitement. Eventually, the song came to an end and Leila gave a bow. The cheering continued on for the next moments, but finally died down at the Hutt's voice.

Garduelle clapped Flux on the back. 'A fine bitch you have found me Flux. A fine one indeed. I think I shall keep her.' He than directed his attention to the green Twi'lek in his lap. 'I have no further use of you slut. Get your dirty body off of me! You bring disgust to my eyes!'

The Twi'lek hurried off Garduelle and the Hutt turned back to Flux. 'You can take her as an even trade Flux, and I'll take Nizana.' He gestured her forward and she came.

"I don't think so Garduelle," Flux said firmly, holding Nizana back. "I said I'd let you have Nizana if I was paid. And you have yet to pay me for delivering you Guerrero's head."

"The money! Of course, the money!" Garduelle waved Orx forward with a laugh. "Forgive me Flux, but my memory is fading in old age."

"Of course," Flux said, knowing full well the possibilities of a Hutt losing their memory were the same as Sidious coming back from the dead. Not a chance in the galaxy.

The aid handed over Flux his money in two boxed crates. "The two hundred thousand as promised," Garduelle said. "One hundred thousand in each box."

"And the money for Nizana?" Flux pressed. "Now that you've seen her in action, how much are you willing to pay?"

Garduelle huffed, but then seemed to let out a tired sigh. He examined her a moment.

'10,000,' he said at last.

"Too low."

Garduelle huffed again. '20,000.'

"Still too low."

The Hutt looked aggravated now. '25,000.'

"50,000," Flux said.

Garduelle gave a roar of outrage. Others in the assembly followed. 'That's too high!' he exclaimed.

"Not in my book," Flux retorted. "50,000 or I take her elsewhere. And believe me, I can find others who would gladly pay that amount for her...say Jabba perhaps."

'No!' Garduelle roared. 'Jabba is scum and dirt! He seems all too pleased with himself now that Gardulla's dead. Now he has practically all of Tatooine under his control. I don't doubt he was somehow in on her death. All right. 50,000. Orx, go retrieve the money. After which, I want you Flux to go to Tatooine and kill that backstabbing Jabba.'

"I can do that," Flux said. "Depending on how much you're willing to pay. I'd say somewhere along the lines of 400,000. Than we'd be talking."

Garduelle huffed. 'Fine. Done.'

"And I want the money now," Flux added.

'In advance?' the Hutt asked in some surprise. 'But you never want your money in advance.'

"New policy I have. Now hand it over."

'But-'

"Now!"

'Filthy, greedy bounty hunter wants all my money," Garduelle mumbled. Nonetheless, all the money was brought out.

Alexander was quite pleased with all the easy money he was getting and eyed the Hutt with a smirk, though, it couldn't be seen because of the mask.

"I'll just go put this in my ship and be back than," Flux said picking up the crates and making to go.

'You're staying.' Garduelle's surprise was not hidden.

Flux nodded. "For a little while. Here at the Palace. I'll deal with Jabba in a few days. You won't mind of course."

Garduelle laughed. 'Of course not. I'm always telling you Flux, you work yourself too much.'

"And I'm finally listening to you."

Garduelle and his audience began to applaud and cheer. Music than began to start, thus having Leila start dancing again. The Twi'lek dancer, meanwhile, remained hidden behind a few of the man-servants. She was later fed to the ranchor of course when everyone returned inside the Palace to continue celebrating.

The festivities lasted well into the night. Flux retired at 0200 of the next morning in the quarters that had been prepared for him, but the party continued well on without him.

As Alexander laid on the specially made bed that would accommodate an over three hundred pound suit, though uncomfortable, he ignored it to ponder the day's events. All in all, it'd gone better than he could've ever anticipated. He sensed not an ounce of suspicion from anyone. Everything was going perfectly. And it was with this thought that Alexander fell into a blissful sleep.


	66. Unexpected

Author's Note: Happy April Fools Day to all of you that celebrate it. I'm also quite interested in what you'll think of this chapter as it's kinda cliffhangery. Make sure to review at the end of your read.

Chapter 65 review responses:

MissNaye: Perhaps.

dmitchell: While I won't comment on any major deaths, I can assure you that Arica _will not _be the first to go. That unfortunate person is anyone's guess. Charlotte's killer will be revealed later (who said her kids were dead?). But for the Dark Witches of Dathomir to team up with the Jedi wouldn't make any sense as they wield the dark side, and the Jedi, the light. They're called Nightsisters, and yes will be in this episode alongside the regular Witches of Dathomir.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 7: Unexpected

"_Revenge is sweet; yet, vengeance is sweeter."_

-Boba Fett

In the days to follow, Alexander and Leila's undercover work in Garduelle the Hutt's court found them no information whatsoever concerning the mysterious happenings on Muunilinst. No one spoke of it, and when Flux brought up the subject, all Garduelle and his court did was laugh. The Hutt saying, "Xizor had death coming to him for years."

As for the vanishing squadrons, Garduelle didn't buy it. "Imperial garbage used to frighten people, probably the rebels. And it worked too. Ever since Muunilinst, you won't find any rebels anywhere in the outer rim. They supposedly lost a few ships of their own to this mysterious force."

"Really?" Flux asked in interest.

The Hutt laughed. "That's what they say; I say it's nonsense."

"I think it's intriguing," Flux ventured.

Garduelle shrugged. "I think it's bull."

Nothing else was said about the matter and Alexander didn't want to keep pushing the issue, suspicion would arise. Obviously, Garduelle and his court really didn't know anything about Muunilinst; he sensed no lies coming from them when they spoke of it. The subject was dropped and Alexander began to think that besides the money, the mission to Nal Hutta had been an absolute waste.

It was on the third day of being at Winter Palace that Alexander decided to leave. Besides having an insisted morning meal with the Hutt, the rest of the day was spent with him prepping _Flux's Sparrow_ for the journey to Tatooine. While he was busying doing this, he didn't notice the arrival of fellow bounty hunter Boba Fett. And that's the way Fett wanted it because he had some very disturbing news for Garduelle.

Over the years of being cloned for the Galactic Empire's stormtroopers, Fett had grown increasingly demanding; wanting more and more money every time the process was performed. It got so out of hand that Skywalker finally dismissed Fett and stripped him of all his money and possessions, save his galaxy-famed ship, _Slave I_. New troops were now supplied through recruits at the numerous Imperial Academies across the galaxy. Ever since than Fett harbored a hatred for the Empire so strong that he refused to do any type of work for the ruling government, opting instead to work for himself and the Hutts on occasion. Fett would do anything to get back at the emperor, and it seemed that he would finally be able to with the information he now possessed.

Entering the Palace, he went straight for the throne room. None of the guards tried to stop him; everyone knew who he was. Upon entrance Garduelle tried to greet him, but Fett cut him off, saying something of great importance had just reached his attention and needed to be discussed now between the two of them. Only the two of them. No court, no aides, no slave girls, just them. Alone.

Garduelle was confused by this, but Fett was always a trustworthy hunter. He was sure to have a good explanation for this. So after ordering that everyone leave, and it was just the two of them, Fett talked. And what he said and showed the Hutt Overlord enraged him greatly and to no end.

* * *

Leila was presently in Garduelle the Hutt's decorations room, located down the hall from the throne room. After Boba Fett made his dramatic entrance, demanding that he and the Hutt be allowed to speak alone and everyone was chased out, this is where the majority ended up. Leila knew about Fett's history with the Empire and that if he knew who she really was, well...let's just say it wouldn't end nice. She wondered what was so important that Fett couldn't say in front of everyone and considered eavesdropping on their conversation via the Force. However, it was than that she remembered: the technique of eavesdropping on another through the Force was something she'd never been able to master fully, despite her continuous attempts to do so. Luke had mastered it, and even her seven-year-old half-sister Philomena, to which she was quite embarrassed over, but not her. Nevertheless, she tried anyway, only to disappoint herself with not being able to do it. Fully anyway. She did catch pieces of their conversation – "rubble...found...came...have to...treacherous" – but not enough to know what they were talking about. 

Deciding to brush it off as criminal nonsense, Leila drew her attention to the decorations the room featured. Some of the most unlikely and bizarre things could be found lining the walls and on shelves. In addition to Guerrero's head on a silver platter, there was what looked to be a man frozen in carbonate, glass orbs with monstrous living creatures inside, and even a human eyeball that looked to have been recently plucked from its socket. The other thing that caught her eye was a box marked 'Voodoo Dolls'. It was common knowledge that most Hutts were into witchcraft and devilry, but Leila didn't expect to find something like this out in the open for everyone to see. And with an instruction manual sitting next to it at that. She picked up the book and began to skim through it in interest. Most of the stuff in the book was tomfoolery, while the rest didn't make even the remotest of sense.

Leila was so preoccupied with this book of witchcraft, she didn't notice the three thugs that were sneaking up behind her until it was too late. She was gagged, bound, and though she put up a fight, the thugs were much stronger and bigger than she. Leila was just about to Force-somersault out of their grip when suddenly she was struck across the head from behind with a club. Falling into unconsciousness immediately, she collapsed to the floor with a thud.

When Leila came to a few minutes later, she found herself lying on the floor of the throne room, still bound though her gag had been taken off.

'Ah, the slut Princess has awaken,' Garduelle jeered. The sound of laughter followed this, and when Leila looked up and around she saw that the entire room was filled with the Hutt's scum; all exits guarded by his stupid thugs.

Leila made to get up, but was soon kicked back down. She wasn't surprised to see herself looking up at the helmeted figure of Boba Fett. She imagined that behind that mask was the face of a man – clone – leering down at her.

Snarling, she backflipped through the air and used her bound together ankles to kick Fett hard under the chin. He fell back slightly, but didn't lose his balance. With a roar, he came at her just as she was falling back to the ground and grabbed her around the neck. Pulling her to a stand, he than banged her hard across the head with his blaster. Leila collapsed to the ground, seeing stars as the laughter continued, wanting to clutch at her aching head, but not being able to because of the iron cuffs she was bound with.

'You're a fiery one bitch!' Garduelle hooted. 'I'll give you that.'

The Hutt than started whipping something around in his hands. It took a moment for Leila to realize it was a black whip. Two of the thugs that were standing next to her lifted her up and threw her on the dais of the Hutt's throne. Garduelle lifted a small bottle and had the thugs keep her mouth open as he poured its contents down her throat. Whatever it was it had a burning flavor as it went down. The thugs than abruptly let go of her and she fell back onto the hard floor, suddenly feeling weak and disoriented.

Garduelle and the others leered down at her. 'Know why you suddenly feel so weak, Leila?' the Hutt asked and her assumptions were confirmed that her and Alexander's cover was blown.

He presented the bottle triumphantly in her face. 'What you so willingly just consumed is an extremely strong alcoholic spice mixture. One gulp and it'll leave you not being able to remember your own name or do much of anything for that matter. You, of course, drank the whole bottle so your condition will be much worse. As to how much, I cannot say. You are my first experiment on the matter.'

As everyone, including the Hutt, continued to laugh, Leila found herself slipping more and more into a state of helplessness. She could barely pick herself up now or think straight. Her mind was a blur and she began to have trouble even seeing properly. She felt herself being lifted up and thrown back down again. Than she felt a blast of cold air hit her breasts, legs, and privates and realized in horror that they'd taken her other slave girl costume off, a metal brown and gold bikini. She was laying on the floor naked and embarrassed, but couldn't do anything about it due to her weakness. She was brought before Garduelle again and began to be whipped all over her body while everyone in the room cheered their approval. The pain was terrible and never ceased. Leila had silent tears falling from her eyes, but did not scream despite the pain. This obviously irritated the Hutt and his audience for Garduelle began to whip harder. Still she did not scream. With an irritated growl, Garduelle started to whip so hard that the whip began to cut into her skin and draw blood. This time she did let out a small yelp of pain and the crowd and Hutt cheered. But that was the only sound she let out because notwithstanding that she was in extreme pain, she would not give these slim balls the satisfaction they yearned for by hearing her scream. She remained stubbornly silent.

The irritation held at her before she gave the small yelp doubled when she refused to let out anymore. She was kicked hard to the ground by Boba Fett and what happened next made her scream in agony. There in front of all occupants inside the throne room she was brutally and painfully raped by various males in the room. The pain was unbearable and she was being raped so harshly that blood was pouring out of her privates. To make matters worse, she began to be whipped again, causing her to scream and cry even louder, to much delight of the crowd.

Leila was in so much pain and suffering and wanted it to end so badly. She didn't care that she loathed Alexander to the utmost and would rather die then be rescued by him. None of that mattered now. She needed his help. She needed him to rescue her, otherwise she knew she would surely die due to massive blood loose. Not just from below, but the cuts the whip was making to her skin elsewhere. She began to scream for him, crying out his name to help her.

"Alexander! Please! Please, Help Me!"

The only hope Leila was holding onto was that he would let go of his hatred for her, if even for a little while, and come to her aide.

Alexander was putting the final touches on _Flux's Sparrow_ when he heard Leila calling out to him.

"_Alexander! Please! Please, Help Me!"_

* * *

Alexander's first reaction was to laugh at the thought of Leila in pain. But why? Why did he hate her so much? What had she ever done to him to make him want to see her dead? 

In actuality, nothing. He's the one who'd started their feud, not her. She'd simply gone along with it. She loathed him as much as he did her. The only reason she'd be calling out to him was if something was really wrong. She wasn't one to pull off this type of practical joke and he felt her in pain. Something was wrong. But what? He looked around the landing bay for inspiration. It was than that he spotted the galaxy famous ship, _Slave I_, belonging to the equally famous bounty hunter Boba Fett. Everyone knew about Fett's hatred for the Empire, especially it's ruler. If he found out about he and Leila's assignment here, he'd...

And that's when it occurred to him. Fett had been on Nar Shaddaa doing a job of his own when he and Leila were there for Flux. Alexander remembered because his uncle had told the two of them to keep an eye out for the perfidious hunter. Alexander hadn't seen him on the planet, but that didn't mean Fett hadn't seen he and Leila. It seemed rather impossible that he could've, being that they'd kept their presences cloaked majority of their time there...except for when they'd been in the cantina.

Blast! Fett must've been hiding out in there while they were or came in after he left and spotted Leila. She hadn't said anything about seeing him though, but than again why would she? It's not like they had normal or even brisk business like conversations with each other. They hated one another, or at least made it seem that way.

Leila's pain in the Force grew stronger with each passing second. He needed to do something. By now it was probably obvious to think that Garduelle knew about their undercover stunt. For if Fett had seen one of them there, he would've done his research as to why. As such, it was pointless for Alexander to continue wearing the Flux suit. Without it, he'd be for flexible anyway. Giving the landing bay another look around, he found it odd that no one had come out for him. But of course, they wanted him to go into them.

_Be it whatever way you like Garduelle._

Quickly getting himself out of the suit, Alexander grabbed his lightsaber and was racing out the ship. Taking a deep breath, he reached into the Force and tapped into Leila's mind.

"_Leila, can you hear me?"_

"_Alexander!"_ Her tone expressed relief. _"Please hurry! I need your help!"_

"_I know Leila, and I'm coming,"_ he said. _"But you need to tell me the situation. Where exactly are you? In the throne room?"_

"_Yes! Alexander, I was drugged and am being raped and whipped to death. You must help me! I don't know how much longer I'll last!"_

Alexander was enraged and disgusted by what they were doing to her and it could be heard in her next telepathic message to her. _"Just hold on Leila. I'll be right there. In the meantime, try fighting them if you can."_

"_Don't leave me here Alex."_ Her voice and presence were becoming slightly dim. _"Don't leave-"_

"_I'm not leaving you here Leila. What would your father say to that? Or Luke for that matter?"_

But she didn't respond, and he felt her slipping away.

"_Leila? Leila!"_

Quickening his pace, he barged into the Palace, slicing down everyone and anyone who got in his path. It wasn't long till he reached the throne room. What he found inside sickened his stomach. Leila, battered and broken, was laying sprawled on the floor nude with globs of blood pooled around her open legs. The marks of a whip could also be seen along her arms, upper chest, and stomach, as well as her legs. The sight of his best friend's sister continuing to be tortured before his very eyes brought such a fury to Alexander that his lightsaber began to whip around at rapid speed, decapitating heads, legs, and any other body part it came across. He felt no emotion as he sliced Boba Fett to pieces and plunged his crimson blade into Garduelle the Hutt's heart.

When at last no one remained living, except himself and Leila, he knelt by her side and took her into his arms. She was no longer conscious and her life force was fading rapidly. She needed medical attention, but being on a Hutt ruled world ensured there were no medical facilities on planet. The Hutts didn't believe in the art of medicine and thought it unnecessary. It was their firm belief that if a person became sick or wounded it was time for them to die. The only way people got medical attention on Hutt worlds was through special healers whom lived in secrecy. These were mostly old women who knew a thing or two about witchcraft. Alexander was sure there were a few of these on Nal Hutta, but Leila didn't need that. She needed the medical attention of real doctors, plus the resupplying of blood into her body.

Collecting her fully into his arms, not caring about the blood that got on his robes in the process, he rose and carried her out of the corpse-filled palace. The news of the Hutt Kingpin's death would be running rapid across the galaxy in no time, and if anyone found out who'd done it, Alexander would have a large price on his head. But he didn't much care about that. He was an Imperial agent after all and the Emperor was his uncle. Once he found out what the Hutt had done to his daughter, Alexander would be surprised if any Hutts were still in existence by the year's end.

Gently laying Leila down on a makeshift cot in the cabin of _Flux's Sparrow_, Alexander wrapped her in a blanket from her tote bag and softly kissed her brow.

"You're going to be alright," he whispered to her. "I promise."

And rushing into the cockpit, Alexander started the ship and fled Nal Hutta, never to return.


	67. Truce

Author's Note: The Jedi are coming, the Jedi are coming! Look forward to the Return of the Jedi in Chapter 10! Also, thanks so much for the reviews. They really fuel me to keep uploading this.

Chapter 66 review responses:

Tsubasa no Michi: Hey! Welcome to the story! I'm glad you like it and hope you continually will.

MissNaye: Something like that happens in this chapter. The Hutts being killed part anyway.

dmitchell: The author's note above should cheer you up. I'm quite excited to start the Jedi-Sith action. It's quite epic.

Jakiray Axmiris: Sorry to kill off Fett, but I really didn't have any other use for him in this. Here's something to look to though: While Han isn't exactly in Chapter 10, he's mentioned and will making his appearance soon.

Darkest-Fire.Blackest Night: Hey! Good to hear from you again. I'm glad you finally caught up and are still enjoying it. The disappearing ship thing will be revealed later. But I can tell you it's not the rebels as some of their ships also came up missing.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 8: Truce

"_It would seem good came of this mission after all. But who knew it would come in this form."_

- Antellica Grievous

Instead of going all the way back to Coruscant, Alexander decided to stop at the first civilized planet he came across in the outer rim, once out of Hutt Space. Point in fact, there really weren't any, forcing him to venture into the Mid Rim, which took about five days. During which time, he cared for the still unconscious Leila by healing the whip cuts on her body and stopping the flow of blood that continued to pour out of her from below. This Force Healing was all well and good, but it couldn't resupply blood into the body. Leila had gone deathly pale, and cold to the touch. And though her heart continued to beat slowly, Alexander knew that if she didn't get a supply of blood within the next few days, she'd probably die.

That's when the idea of the navy came to him. While he knew that none were stationed in the outer rim at the time due to the lack of rebel presence therein, he was bound to come across a squadron as he traveled through the Mid Rim.

Telepathically, he called out to his sister, Anneliese, to find out from her the positions of the fleet. Though she was busy, what with being in the middle of a battle with the rebels in the Ord Mantell system, she was able to give him a briefing of where they were; the closest to him being Lacovia's _Sith Squadron_, pursuing a small group of rebels into the outer rim.

Thanking Anneliese, he reached out to Lacovia in the Force. After Luke, she was the next of his eleven cousins he was closest to. They'd always shared a close bond growing up. And though she also was busy, once being told the situation, jumped to have her commanding destroyer, _Hand_, break away from the squadron, leaving another in lead of the rebels pursuit.

_Flux's Sparrow_ and _Hand_ met outside the Imperial occupied Mid Rim world of Rodia, and Alexander quickly docked inside the Star Destroyer. Leila was immediately rushed to the med lab and connected to an I.V. _Hand_ than made fast speed for Coruscant.

"You are aware that Luke, dad, and myself have been trying to contact you telepathically for the past five days now," Lacovia said to Alexander as they watched Leila be connected to a blood supply unit.

Alexander tore his eyes away from Leila's prone form to give Lacovia a look of confusion. "You have?"

"Yes. We all felt Leila in pain and instantly tried contacting both her and you," Lacovia explained. "I can understand if she wouldn't respond, but you..."

"I'm really sorry, but I didn't pick up on the calls," Alexander said. "I guess I was too..."

He wouldn't finish the sentence, not in front of Lacovia. Yet it was obvious she already knew what he wanted to say.

"...worried about Leila," she supplied.

Alexander sighed deeply and left the med lab. Lacovia knew better than to bother him, and simply remained behind to stay with her sister.

* * *

During the three day journey to the capital, Lacovia scarcely saw Alexander. He kept to himself mainly, only going to see Leila in the dead of night when the med lab wasn't as busy. And even than he seemed a bit uncomfortable in her presence. Lacovia guessed it was because for so long he hated Leila and wished death upon her that to actually see her in the very state he'd hoped for, it wasn't as satisfying as he would've thought and wasn't sure how to react to it. Obviously, he didn't really hate her. But maybe it was the sight of Leila being raped and whipped to death in a helpless state that made Alexander have a change of heart. No matter the case, Lacovia was happy the feud between them was being put to rest. It'd gone on far long enough.

* * *

_Hand_ arrived on Coruscant as planned, three days after leaving Rodia's atmosphere. In spite of her body being replenished with blood, Leila remained in her unconscious condition. Word had been sent ahead to Skywalker Manor, so neither Lacovia nor Alexander were surprised to be met there by the Emperor and youngest Grievous-Skywalkers under the twins. Leila was taken up to the med lab on the fifty-first level of the building and tests were ran. Nothing was physically wrong with her now that she had enough blood in her body again. Because of this, no one was entirely sure why she was still unconscious. The healers suggested mental trauma, but they had no way of knowing this for sure. 

As the immediate family mused over what they thought the problem could be – Dylan: "Maybe she hit her head too hard." – Alexander silently made to slip away, wanting to give them their just privacy. But Anakin stopped him before he could make three steps, wanting to know in full detail how his daughter came to be in this state.

With a sigh, Alexander explained as Troy and Gabriella listened in; Lacovia, meanwhile, kept the younger ones occupied with talking about their latest projects and such. No one under the age of twelve needed to hear of the torture Leila endured.

At the end of Alexander's explanation, Anakin was enraged with hatred; memories of his own childhood as a slave under Gardulla the Hutt's rule with his mother coming back to him. Going to his oldest daughter's bedside, he placed a gloved hand down upon her brow and began sending waves of soothing Force energy into her. For a moment, nothing happened. But a second after that, Leila abruptly sat up in bed, gasping for air. The five youngest Grievous-Skywalker's began jumping up and down in excitement, chattering happily. Troy, Gabriella, and Lacovia, meanwhile, went over to hug their sister, but waited for their father to finish first.

In this happy commotion Alexander officially slipped away. The joyous environment, for some reason, made him want to leave the family even more. Oddly enough, he didn't feel like he belonged with a bunch of smiling faces when he wasn't smiling himself.

Before he could get too far down the hall, though, his uncle stopped him. "Alexander."

With an irritated sigh, he stopped and turned to the Sith Emperor. "Yes." The weariness was not kept from his voice.

Anakin stopped in front of him a moment and seemed to study him before giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Thank you."

Alexander didn't want this. For some reason he just wanted to be alone all of a sudden. He needed to be alone. Simply giving his uncle a nod, he continued on down the hall. Taking the private elevator for royal use only to the first level, he exited the building via its back door and simply walked in the large grassy field that laid between the property's fruit tree orchard and swimming pool on the left side.

Collapsing down into the grass, Alexander just sat; his mind racing over the past week's events. Now that Leila was on her way down the road of health, were things between them supposed to go back to normal? Would they continue to go on hating each other for the rest of their lives? What was supposed to happen between them? Alexander didn't know, and began to wonder if he ever would, as he doubted Leila would actually have a civilized conversation with him if he asked for one. She'd probably just mock him and sneer, "Beat it, kid."

So here he sat in the grassy field. For how long he did not know. It had to be a while, though, for the sky eventually began to darken into night. He was just considering going back inside when he was joined by a visitor. It was Leila. She was donned in a flowing, white gown and her long dark hair was let loose along her shoulders with a few braids intertwined here and there. She also wasn't wearing any shoes. He looked up at her in confusion, not entirely sure what to say or expect. And she simply looked down at him a moment, seeming somewhat uncomfortable but finally sat down beside him. She kept her eyes downcast on her hands a moment before looking over at him. He looked back at her with the same emotionless stare, but soon looked away.

Leila sighed. "Look Alexander, I-I didn't come out here to bother you. I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me and-helping me. You didn't have to-but you did and-so-just-thank you."

Alexander shrugged. "Leila, it was nothing really. Anyone with a right mind would've done the same so-don't worry about it. It's alright."

He made to get up, but Leila stopped him. "Alexander-"

He rolled his eyes. "I really wish you would stop calling me that."

She seemed confused. "What, 'Alexander?' It's your name."

"I prefer Alex."

"Your friends call you that," she abruptly said, but than regretted the words the moment they were out of her mouth.

Alexander gave an affirming nod. That's all he needed to hear. "You're right Leila. Only my friends call me Alex. So you can simply continue calling me Alexander and we'll go on with this saga of hating each other for the rest of our lives. I'll see you around bitch." His voice had gone bitterly cold at the last sentence, and turning, he started to walk off in the direction of the pool.

Leila stopped him again, however, by grabbing his arm. "Alex, please-"

"'Alex?'" he asked. His tone was sarcastic. "What happened to 'Alexander?'"

Leila sighed wearily. "Alex, look, I really am trying to be nice to you."

"Why?" he wanted to know. "Because I saved your life and avenged what happened to you by killing everyone in Garduelle's Palace. Is that why you're being nice to me all of a sudden?"

"No. Because you proved to me by what you did that you can be more than just an arrogant prick. You can be a really nice guy when you wanna be." She paused and added softly, "I'd like to see more of that guy. But only you can decide if you want him to be seen."

Alexander looked at her a moment and put his head down. When he looked back up he found that Leila was smiling at him, and after a moment he felt compelled to smile back.

"Why don't we call a truce?" he suggested.

"All right," she agreed. "But you first."

"Okay. I'm sorry for being such a cruel jerk and I...think it would be cool if we could be friends."

"Me too," Leila said. "On everything you just said and for being an arrogant bitch."

Alexander shook his head. "You're not a bitch, Leila."

She smiled. "Maybe not anymore, but before yes."

"Yeah."

Leila chuckled along with him and held out her pinkie finger. "So, truce?"

"Truce." Alexander connected his own pinkie to hers and swung them around.

Abruptly, Leila threw her arms around him in an embrace, and while he was a bit taken aback by it, he hugged her back all the same. Just as abruptly, Leila than gave him a playful push and swat across the face before running off. Seeing that she wanted to play, Alexander ran after her. He chased her to the area surrounding the massive pool before than tackling her to the ground. She shrieked with laughter when he caught her and tried to get his grip off of her, but Alexander wouldn't let go. They were too caught up in their playfulness to notice how close to the pool they were getting so were naturally surprised when they both fell in. But they really couldn't careless at this point, merely picking themselves up out of it in laughter. They sat down on the edge of the pool and simply gazed at one another once the laughter died down.

Ever since Leila had done her seductive dance for the Hutt, Alexander found himself looking at her in a different light. He thought she was beautiful before, but now he thought she was breathtaking. Alexander hadn't paid much attention to her naked body after he rescued her due to worry. But now he wondered what it'd be like to see her like that under different circumstances.

Leila eventually turned away from Alexander to hide the blush that was coming to her face. She'd always found him to be handsome, even if her pride probably wouldn't let her say it aloud.

She idly played with the ends of her hair and rung the water out of it. Turning back to Alexander it was to find that he'd taken his white, sleeveless shirt off and was now ringing the water out of it. He was very well built in the chest, stomach, and shoulders, she observed. It seemed like he really took good care of his body.

Noticing her stare, Alexander smirked. "Looking at something, Leila?"

Leila flipped her hair over the shoulder as she turned away. "Of course not. There's nothing to look at."

Alexander continued to smirk as he moved closer to Leila. Reaching over, he took her chin into his hands and gazed into her eyes. She gazed back, just as steadily, getting lost within them.

"Would it be asking too much if I kissed you right now?" Alexander whispered.

In response, Leila's grin went slightly sly and she captured his lips in a warm kiss. Alexander kissed her passionately back and within seconds they were fully making out and wrapping their arms around each other to be closer. Alexander began to trail the kisses he was giving Leila to her neck and throat, but she motioned for him to slow down.

"Alex, let's just take this a bit slow," she urged.

Somewhat embarrassed with his haste, his face slightly reddened. "I'm sorry. I guess I got a little carried away."

Leila laughed and kissed him sweetly. "It's okay. Come on. Let's take a walk..."

* * *

Alexander and Leila started dating after their time together strolling Skywalker Manor's property. No one knew what happened on this little trek as they were out all night, but the couple certainly wasn't telling anyone. And though this shocked a good many people, others such as Anakin and Antellica thought it was inevitable, knowing it would happen eventually. Both jokingly said they were getting old because they'd probably both be grandparents within the next five years. This comment was quite humorous as they were only thirty-six and forty-two. 

Alexander wasn't wrong to think that by the year's end all Hutts would be no more. The Emperor personally saw to that. In between fighting the rebels, squadrons of the fleet were sent to all Hutt worlds to kill the distasteful slug Kingpins. These former Hutt worlds were than placed under Imperial control. This, naturally, caused many crime and smuggling organizations to go out of business, but the emperor could careless about that. The reduction of those organizations would make the galaxy a much safer place to live.


	68. Deception

Author's Note: They draw nearer still! The Jedi's return happens next! And by this chapter's end, it'll be obvious why.

Chapter 67 review responses:

Thrawn716: Thanks.

MissNaye: Totally!

Twisted Words: She did, in the form of being unconscious all that time. Even after her body was resupplied with blood, mental trama kept her from reentering consciousness until her father brought her out of it.

dmitchell: Thanks. The Jedi-Sith action is pretty exciting. Hits are taken on both sides, rather they're big or small. I'll say one thing on the starring trio's deaths however: They're unique in the form of not being forgotten lightly. Not much to go on, I know. But I don't spoil anyone rather they want to be or not.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 9: Deception

21.0 Imperial Era

"_The infiltration of the rebels is a simple task; one I've been looking forward to since joining the empire."_

- Luke Skywalker

The ongoing Galactic Civil War was currently into its third year. Yet with the continued barrage between both sides, it had no plans of letting up anytime soon. The alliance persisted in jumping from place to place, even going as far as splitting up their numbers to have various bases at once as a way to confuse their enemies. But the Empire wasn't stupid, and no matter where they went Imperial forces were always in hot pursuit.

It was through all this that the galaxy's two remaining Jedi continued to stay missing in action. No one knew where they were. They were supposedly still on their "big" mission, but as to what could be causing it to take so long wasn't known, not even by the rebels.

The Emperor wasn't concerned about this, however, because he knew the perfect way to lure them out of whatever mission they were on. With the continued shipping production additions to the navy, the Empire could extend itself to the utmost across the galaxy, enslaving and slaughtering numerous systems at will. He also planted spies within their alliance to discover where their various locations were. This wasn't hard to do as the rebellion was growing more and more desperate to hold members as the war went on. It was this desperateness that led to their downfall. The spies that had been planted in the insurrection were none other than Hilton and Luke in disguise. They remained unrecognizable by having the Force alter their appearance and voices. And since there were no other Force-sensitives in the rebellion sans the Jedi, the rebels were easily deceived.

It started as such: When Emperor Skywalker received word from Intelligence agents stationed in the Expansion Region that one of the rebel bases was on the fifth planet of the Circarpous system, Mimban, rather then send out an attack squadron to deal with them, he decided to play coy and send his two oldest sons to go undercover posing as rebels. Both young men were thrilled with this assignment and went to work right away, planning strategies over how exactly they'd play out their roles.

It just so happened that two new recruits from the Inner Rim City World, second only to the capital in terms of being an ecumenopolis, Denon, dropouts from the Imperial University on-world, were supposed to be joining the rebels at the base on Mimban within a few days. (This was discovered through a traced comm line from the dropouts' place of residence.) Because these soon-to-be rebels were young men in their early twenties – Kam and Ryn Evazan were their names – this was the perfect opportunity for a switch of sorts to occur. Hilton, now 17, and Luke, almost 21, went to Denon to kill the real recruits and had the Force alter their identity, making them look and sound like the blond haired brothers.

The planet Mimban, also known as Circarpous V, featured a terrain of jungles and swamps and hosted Imperial mining facilities with five mining towns. The world and system of fourteen planets was mostly unpopular to space travelers because of its semi-desolateness. Plus, the Expansion Region wasn't as widely traveled as its fellow galactic rims. Littered with a jumble of sectors and systems yes, it was also filled with miles of open space and asteroid fields. The Expansion Region wasn't regulated as much as other regions, so it was no wonder the rebels could be found hiding out there.

Because the Evazan brothers were expected, they were welcomed warmly by an officer named Colonel Clayton, whom debriefed them on their jobs in the Advanced Computers Division. It was their task to decode stray computer messages from the Empire that drifted into rebel hands. And while the alliance thought the messages were of importance to decode, the Skywalker brothers knew better. These messages were nothing more than old junk files from years past. Nonetheless, they decoded them anyway under the watchful eye of Colonel Clayton. Eventually, after a week, Clayton left them to decode the files on their own, and it was during that time that besides decoding the files, Hilton and Luke explored other parts of the computer systems, learning more about the rebellion as a whole and unit. It hadn't changed much since Luke left it a year previous with the exception of a slew of new leaders and officers running things in the Jedi's absence.

Hilton thought it a good idea to see if anything concerning the Jedi's mission was listed in the system database. Luke advised him not to get his hopes up too much only to be disappointed, for he doubted Hilton would find anything.

"You never know unless you try," Hilton countered.

Alas, he didn't find anything on the matter, but he wasn't too bummed about it. For as Luke said, "The Jedi can't stay hidden forever. They'll turn up eventually, and when they do, we'll crush them."

Hilton smirked. "I think you've been hanging around dad too much," he quipped.

This earned a laugh from Luke.

* * *

Luke and Hilton decided to wait a full three weeks before doing anything concerning their mission, and their father approved. They wanted to fully earn the rebels' trust. Not that they hadn't already, but they wanted it so not even an ounce of suspicion laid in any of them. 

The two brothers got a handle of the other three base locations by hacking into a restricted file on one of the main computers in the middle of the night. Two were in the outer rim – the living world Zonama Sekot and snow world Ilum. The third was on a little known double-ringed planet in the Mid Rim called Tammuz-an. Neither of the two had even heard of the world before so did some research on it. The only info they could find was that its native culture of civilians were tall, purple-skinned humanoids that governed the world through monarchy. The planet's climate was usually temperate with rainforests, mountains, and urban landscapes.

"Sounds like an interesting place," Hilton commented.

Luke responded with a simple, yet thoughtful nod.

It was just as they were shutting down the computer system that they both heard and felt someone behind them.

"A bit late for you boys to be out of bed, don't you think?"

Hilton and Luke turned, still in their Force illusions, to see the Mon Calamari Admiral of the base, Ackbar, eying them suspiciously.

Luke, aka Kam, raised an eyebrow and glanced at the cloak. It read 0350. "Perhaps. Yet I might say the same thing about you, Admiral."

The salmon-skinned, fish like alien brought himself up to his full height. "I am a Commanding Officer of the Rebel Alliance. I have a lot more of a right to be up and about at this hour than you do. You're merely computer specialists."

Luke and Hilton shared a look of amusement and dropped the Force illusion. Ackbar gasped upon recognition and took a step back.

"No Ackbar," Hilton sneered. "As you can see, we are not computer specialists or Kam and Ryn Evazan. The real Kam and Ryn are dead, killed by yours truly. I think you're more than aware of who we are."

Ackbar, who was glancing between them, abruptly slipped his fin hand into his pocket for a comlink, but Luke's words stopped him.

"Don't bother. We've already deactivated all communications systems on the planet. You won't be able to contact anyone, unless you shout. And we both know you won't be doing that."

Ackbar still looked fearful, but tried reasoning with the advancing Sth, preferably Luke. "Listen: I'd like to believe that the two of you are nice young men that have merely been brainwashed about how the galaxy should function. We just want peace, that's all. But as long as your father, the Emperor Vader, continues to rule the galaxy with his treacherous Empire, he-"

All air that had been in the admiral's throat suddenly vanished at a tight grip hold on it. He tried clawing at the invisible force, but it didn't give. The old Mon Calamari officer fell to the floor dead a moment later.

Luke unclenched his hand and dropped it, looking down at the pathetic alien in disgust and kicking him.

With the information they needed on the rebel base locations, Hilton and Luke contacted the Empire. The entirety of the navy – over a million ships – divided up and set out for the enemy bases. The Emperor and Anneliese led the attack to Tammuz-an; Alexander and Lacovia, the troops to Ilum; and Antellica and Leila, the squadrons to Zonama Sekot. Another group, including Hilton's _Striker _and Luke's _Fire Squadrons_, meanwhile, was sent out to Mimban to aid the Imperials already there.

The rebels were taken by absolute surprise on all accounts, being bombarded so quickly they didn't get much time to fight, or more or less run, thus being destroyed.


	69. Return of the Jedi

Author's Note: They're back!!! The Jedi's much anticipated return is finally here! Do enjoy!

Chapter 68 review responses:

dmitchell: Well, here they are. The return of the Jedi. I do hope you like this chapter.

Darkest-Fire.Darkest Night: What do you mean by mood swings? Who exactly are you referring to, and again, what do you mean?

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

Twisted Words: Goodness no! Leila is _not_ pregnant.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 10: Return of the Jedi

21.1 Imperial Era

"_It's time for us to show the Sith what we're made of."_

-Anonymous Speaker

It'd been exactly a month over a year now since Elder Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, 59, and Yoda, 997, vanished from the public eye. Few knew where they were, and why they were gone so long. And though many speculated over what their disappearance could mean, no one ever came close to guessing what it was they were really doing. In actual fact, the past year had been spent with the olden Jedi on the uncharted outer rim world of Dagabah teaching sixteen Force-sensitive recruits – young and old – in the path of the Jedi.

Obi-Wan and Yoda had met these Force-sensitives over the years since the Empire took over the galaxy. Most of which at the beginning of the war when they and the Skywalker twins were jetting across space looking for planets to join their rebellion. Practically all of them had some type of connection to the alliance, rather it be family, friend relation, or simply living on a rebel world. The only ones who didn't, however, were Tahiri Veila and Zekk.

Obi-Wan had found the presently thirteen-year-old Tahiri on the former Mid Rim Hutt world of Malastare two years ago when he'd gone there, attempting to persuade its Hutt rulers into joining the alliance. He knew it was a waste from the beginning, but chose to give the sluggish dominator's the benefit of the doubt. They didn't listen to a word he said and assayed at killing him. He escaped unscathed, but made sure to help the small slave girl, Tahiri, as he did so. Instead of bringing her back to the alliance, Obi-Wan hooked her up with a nice elderly couple in the planet's capital city, Pixelto, who agreed to take care of her happily.

Zekk, Yoda found on the chaotic planet of Ennth in the outer rim. The Force had led him there following the Death Star's destruction, and for good reason. It just so happened that the planet's every eight-year volcanic activity that wrecked havoc to the world caused by Ennth's moon coming into contact with the planet's atmosphere, forcing inhabitants to evacuate and wait on refugee stations for about a year for the eruptions to subside and start anew, was starting to commence just as the small Jedi was arriving. Zekk, who'd been sixteen at the time, had just lost his parents and home in the molten lava that was pouring through his native city's, Heartland Settlement, streets. And he was just about to lose his own when Yoda rescued him. Besides Callista Ming, the daughter of the late President of the Outer Rim world Chad, he was one of the first recruits chosen for the New Jedi Order.

The Solo siblings, along with the Wookie Lowbacca, Obi-Wan and Yoda had met through their father and uncle; Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Han was a retired smuggler in his mid-40s whom Obi-Wan had met as a boy on Corellia. He and a twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker had gone to Solo's homeworld on a mission to deal with a pirate dispute that had to do with Hutts stealing spice and than dumping it in pirate occupied worlds. The ten-year-old Han had somehow gotten in the middle of it and was supposed to be executed the day Obi-Wan and his former Padawan arrived. In short, the duo was able to rescue him from a terrible fate and resolve the issue between the Hutts and pirates. Han was returned to the orphanage he lived at, telling the Jedi that if ever they needed him for something just holler.

Obi-Wan met Solo again briefly after the Clone Wars when he'd been living in the court of Chandrila's Queen Nagida and acting as her assistant. The than twenty year old was on his first smuggling job for Black Sun. And while Obi-Wan had disapproved of this career choice, he didn't judge the young man, merely voicing it was nice to see him and asked how he was.

When Mid Rim world Kashyyyk's tribe of Wookies made an uprising against the Empire soon after, the planet was attacked and culture enslaved. Only a few of the fierce creatures were able to escape; one of which being Chewbacca, one of the Wookie warriors Yoda fought alongside during the climax of the Clone Wars. These Wookies retreated deep into the Outer Rim or Hutt Space, where they found refuge on such worlds as Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa.

Somewhere across the line, Han and Chewbacca had met and become smuggling partners and co-pilots in Solo's Corellian cruiser, the _Millennium Falcon_. Down the road, however, Han married a fellow smuggler / bounty hunter by the name of Talia Salla and after settling down together on Corellia officially, had three children, twins, Jaina and Jacen, and a son, Aaron.

But the happy life that was and could've continued was snatched away from the clan at the start of the Galactic Civil War. Talia was killed in 18 Imperial Era's Battle of Corellia when the world joined the alliance and, to make matters worse, Chewbacca was slaughtered in the following Battle of Fresia not six months later, in an act to protect the Solo family when they fled there. Both of which missions had been led by the Emperor. Han held an absolute hatred for the Imperial government and its supreme leader, hence being more than willing to let his children and Chewbacca's nephew, Lowbacca, who'd been sent to live with the Solos after Chewbacca's death to continue the life debt his uncle had with him, train with Obi-Wan and Yoda to be Jedi.

The interesting thing about the Solo kids was that they were all Force-sensitive; a rare thing when you have only one Force-sensitive parent. Their mother, Talia, like so many others, had been denied to the temple at birth because her parents didn't want to part with her. As such, the dark haired and beautiful Corellian lived out her life growing up wanting to be a bounty hunter, smuggler, or both.

The oldest of the Solo children were the twins, Jaina and Jacen; Jaina being the elder by two minutes. Aaron was a year and a half younger than his siblings, and though he didn't share the special Force bond they did, he was quite talented in the Force nonetheless, as well as being a fair pilot and good mechanic. Jacen was a very empathic person, forming close bonds with people and animals. In fact, Jacen's intunement with animals was so sharp, he could commune with them through the Force, so it wouldn't be odd to find him in a forest or jungle conversing with some kind of strange creature. Jaina, as the eldest, felt the need to look after her younger brothers at all times. It was something she'd developed doing after the death of their mother near-two years ago. Out of the three, she'd taken their mother's death the hardest and so to help forget the pain, took upon the unofficial role 'woman of the house'; doing everything Talia would have done to keep the family together and looking after everyone. Jaina threw herself into everything she did and was a fantastic pilot, only tinkering here and there when it came to mechanics; she usually let Aaron shine in that category. She had a fiery personality and could be very stubborn at times, often having Obi-Wan and Yoda fear that if not watched she could tread too close to the dark side, but was a fine asset to the Jedi's New Order regardless of her flaws.

The ages of the Solo kids were sixteen and fourteen; Lowbacca, meanwhile, was twenty-one. He was one of the seven adult trainees, the other nine were teenagers, and also one of the seven non-Human trainees. The other non-Humans were Cilghal – a thirty year old Mon Calamari who happened to be the niece of deceased rebel leader Admiral Ackbar; Jovan Drark – a twenty-five year old Rodian whose family fled to Tammuz-an after the Alien War; Daeshara'cor – a thirty-seven year old Twi'lek who was rejected from the temple as a baby because her aunt had turned into a rogue Jedi and the Council feared the same might become of her; Numa and Alema Rar – eighteen and fifteen-year-old Twi'lek sisters that were cared for by Daeshara'cor. Obi-Wan had met she and the sisters in a pub on Dantooine when the rebel base was there. And finally, Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo; often known as just Tenel Ka Djo – the near-Human fifteen-year-old daughter of Prince Isolder and Queen Mother Teneniel Djo and Chume'ta of the Hapes Consortium; an alliance of sixty-three worlds in the Inner Rim.

The interesting thing about Tenel Ka was that she descended from the Dark Jedi Allya, who was banished to Dathomir hundreds of years previous for attempting to create a Jedi Academy of her own, but allowing its students to touch and use the dark side, as well as breed and have descendants.

Dathomir was a planet deep in the Outer Rim, rumored to be full of Force-sensitive witches that are actual descendants of Allya. The fact that Teneniel Djo is one of these witches is not a subject discussed; the only people knowing of it being that of the Royal House alone. All the outside public knew about her was that she and the than Hapan Chume'da, Isolder, married while he was away on an expedition in the Outer Rim sixteen years ago. He than brought her back to his people and named her Queen Mother. Nothing was known about how they met, where they married, or when Tenel Ka was conceived. According to Isolder, this was no one's business but his own.

The remaining three Human trainees were Octa Ramis – a twenty-seven year old former Handmaiden of Queen Nagida; Raynar Thul – the nineteen-year-old son of former Alderaan Nobles, Barnan and Aryn Dra Thul, and the ex-heir of his family's shipping enterprise, Bornaryn Trading (the Empire, naturally, took over the company when it claimed the Core world at the end of the Alien War); and, at last, Danni Quee – a twenty-one year old scientist from the Colonies world Commenor, though she transferred to Denon after graduating from the University of Commenor to continue her work there.

Put together, all sixteen of Obi-Wan and Yoda's students were a force to be reckoned with. Fast and eager learners, they were well coordinated as a team and both Senior Jedi had no doubt they would become fine Jedi Knights one day.

The original year and six months of training – having them go public approximately 21.7 IE – Obi-Wan and Yoda had planned for their students before they could go out and start fighting in the war was cut short five months early due to Yoda abruptly receiving a premonition of the future during meditation. He saw the faces of countless people he knew in the Rebel Alliance either being shoot down by Imperial stormtroopers or sliced through by Sith blades of the Emperor Vader and his four oldest children – Luke and Leila included – as well as Antellica Grievous and her two children, Alexander and Anneliese. The Rebel bases had been found out. All of them. And the freedom fighters were being utterly outnumbered and killed, completely defenseless against the Empire's massive show of force.

With a mournful sigh, Yoda came out of meditation, though kept his eyes half shut. Obi-Wan and their students were gathered in a circle in an open mossy field meditating. At least they were supposed to be. Now all of them were peering at him in concern. Obviously, they'd sensed his change of mood.

"Is something wrong, master?" the smooth voice of Daeshara'cor asked gently.

Yoda opened his eyes the rest of the way and gazed at the white Twi'lek woman a moment before letting out another sigh and putting his head down.

"Received a premonition, I did," he said in his usual backwards way of speaking. "Darkness is coming."

"Here?!" Callista, all of twenty-three with dark brown/near-black hair and a handsome face, asked in alarm.

"No. To the alliance." Reaching out to his fellow Jedi, Yoda replayed the vision in their minds. Dolor, shock, and alarm were the three crucial emotions strongly felt in the group.

Almost instantly, ones such as Jaina, Raynar, and Callista were on their feet, saying they needed to act immediately.

"We might be able to stop this," Raynar expressed, his blond and blue eyed face of average appearance looking determined.

"Be mindful of your feelings, young ones," Obi-Wan advised. "Never is it good to jump too fast into something of this sort. It leads to-"

"-the dark side," Aaron finished, brown haired and blue eyed. "Yes. We all know that, master. But all the same, what we saw hasn't exactly happened yet. The future is always in motion, and as such, there must be something we can do."

"Hmm." Yoda was impressed with Aaron's logical thinking and began to go over his words.

"Zonama Sekot is a long way from the Core," Jacen stated, also brown haired like his brother, but brown eyed, "whichever route taken."

"And it's a lot closer to where we are," Tenel Ka added, her rust-colored shoulder-length hair and granite gray eyes making her easily spotted among the bunch.

"Perhaps we could make it there before the Imperials do," Numa, her Twi'lek skin the color of green, finished.

"Hmm" is all Yoda said.

"Yes, but we don't know when the Empire left," Obi-Wan pointed out. "I sense that even now they're on the move."

Several more moments of silence went by before Jaina was on her feet again. "I refuse to simply sit here and do nothing." She, like her twin, was also brown haired and eyed, though her hair was somewhat darker then either of her brothers and shoulder-length.

"Patience you must have, young Jaina," Yoda urged. "Do something we will, but in what way has not yet been decided."

Jaina gave a brisk nod and seated herself. "I'm sorry master. I only wish for what's best for the galaxy. The Sith need to be shown, in a more straight forward way, that this Empire of theirs will not stand forever when there are those of us willing to fight to our last breathes till they are destroyed and peace restored."

Everyone nodded at this and Obi-Wan and Yoda exchanged an approving glance. "What would you have us do than Jaina?" Obi-Wan asked.

Jaina appeared slightly surprised at what she was being asked, and so for a moment said nothing. Finally, she spoke. "I think we should do as Jacen suggested by going to Zonama Sekot. I doubt we'd be able to make it to the other worlds in time."

"But-" Cilghal, salmon-skinned like most Mon Calamari, started to protest. She was obviously thinking of her uncle on Mimban. She fell silent a moment later, though, and simply nodded.

Both Senior Jedi exchanged another glance before Obi-Wan also nodded. "All right. That is what we shall do than."

The next hour was spent with the eighteen Jedi preparing themselves for their upcoming mission. This included moving their few belongings – clothes and small necessities – out of the tiny shack they all lived in and into _Jedi Fighter_, a moderate sized star cruiser the New Order's Jedi Masters obtained before leaving the alliance. The group left Dagabah not long afterwards, headed for Zonama Sekot and their first mission as the New Jedi Order.


	70. First Fight of the New Jedi Order

Author's Note: Wow! Thanks for all the reviews you guys! For that, I decided to give you all another update today. However, I can't say I'm too surprised by the large reaction. I expected as much from the slew of Expanded Universe characters introduced. This chapter is chalk full of Jedi-Sith action in their first confrontation. I know you'll love it. It was blast to write. Enjoy!

Chapter 69 review responses:

MissNaye: You'll just have to wait and see!

dmitchell: Here you go!

arzum: Yeah! You probably weren't expecting that, huh? But it really never was my intention for them to get together in this. Yet no matter, I still wanted him in it.

Fallen Senshi: Thanks. Some of them, like the Solos, Tenel Ka, Alema, Tahiri and Zekk to name a few, have always been my favorites of the canon New Jedi Order era. And I always wanted to write an alternate universe story with them in it. Originally, I was going to wait and actually go by the canon time line by having Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin (Aaron here, obviously I couldn't give him the same name as Skywalker since they're not related) as Leia's children. But than I started to think. What if I combined some of the post-ROTJ characters with some of the pre-ROTJ characters and see how it worked out. The result is, in my opinion, great and I absolutely love it. It's an interesting twist that I don't think has ever been done before. At least not in this fashion anyway. I'm really pleased with it and hope you'll like it too.

twisterblake: Wow, you caught up fast, didn't you? Ah! I wondered if someone would ask me about any of the Sith turning to the good side. There's a part of me that's saying, you'll have to wait and see as not to reveal too much, but...I guess I could say someone does turn from the path of the Sith to the Jedi, and there just might be a Jedi that turns to the path of the Sith also.

Thawn716: You'll see in this chapter. I'd also read something about Han being a royal while doing research on Corellia at wookiepedia. He's not officially royal though. It's only implied in _The Courtship of Princess Leia_ (the novel in which Han and Leia tie the knot to anyone else who may be reading this) that he's the last member of the Corellian Royal Family and heir to its planetary throne. However, nothing else has really been said about it since then. Plus, while reading up on the rest of the Solo clan (his father, Jonash; mother, Jaina; paternal grandparents, Den and Tira Gama; and paternal aunt, Tiion; even his first cousin, Thracken Sal-Solo - whom will have a supporting role in Episode X - I couldn't find much of anything to support this. Except one tiny detail concerning Tiion, Jonash's twin sister. In her unwillingness to speak of her past, there was some evidence there that her family were, or claimed to be, direct heirs to the ancient Corellian kingship. Yet after digging even deeper today following the read of your review (as you may have guessed, I've never read _The Courtship of Princess Leia_), I discovered that Berethron e Solo, an ancestor of the family, was indeed a Corellian King before abolishing monarchy rule and moving the planetary government to being constitutional. Whew! What a response! They say you're supposed to learn something new everyday, and I guess I did. Thanks for that. And so you should know, obviously everything I said above you already knew. I simply chose to type it up anyway for everyone else's benefit. Because of this, though, I may have to edit chapter nine to include this interesting info. But all in good time. I'll get to it eventually.

Twisted Words: Yeah, as I was saying to arzum, I wanted to be different with this by not having them get together. They don't even meet. Leila only meets his Jedi kids.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 11: First Fight of the New Jedi Order

"_What is this?!"_

"_Are you trying to rebuild your pitiful Jedi Order without me and Luke?"_

-Antellica Grievous and Leila Skywalker to the assembled New Jedi Order

The deaths of the Rebels on Mimban, Tammuz-an, and Ilum were felt by the Jedi as they journeyed to Zonama Sekot, the one place they didn't sense anything from. Part in fact because the planet was alive in the sense of actually living. Zonama was the planet, while Sekot, the living intelligence of it. Over the years, Obi-Wan and Yoda had developed a communication bond with Sekot; something they'd later passed on to Luke and Leila. But since officially leaving the planet three years ago to start the Second Rebel Alliance, the bond seemed to be fading into nonexistence so that even now when they reached out to the planet no response was received. It was because of this that Obi-Wan and Yoda had no idea of knowing if the Imperials had reached the planet yet or not, because no type of communications system, besides telepathic, could be used on the planet. No comlinks, no walkie-talkies, no nothing electrical. And because the planet was alive, even if massive deaths were taking place on it, it wouldn't be easy to pick up on unless the death was being done to the planet itself. Whenever you touched Zonama Sekot, all one felt was life.

The Jedi strike force arrived at the planet ten hours after leaving Dagabah. Interestingly enough, there were no ships in orbit around Zonama Sekot anywhere. Obi-Wan even had Aaron circle the entire planet, twice, but nothing was found. It didn't seem right. Something didn't feel right about this, and the two Senior Jedi still weren't sensing anything from the planet. Either the Imperials hadn't arrived yet, or they were walking into a trap.

"Whichever it is, we need to be ready," Obi-Wan warned.

As _Jedi Fighter_ made its descent onto the planet, they saw nothing out of the ordinary; trees upon trees of green and a cloud of smoke coming from one of the natives' village campfires. They landed in a central clearing on a small hill in the northern hemisphere of the planet where the base was set up. Obi-Wan and Yoda knew it was too late as they all exited the ship, lightsabers at the ready though not activated. The Imperials had beat them here. Obviously, whomever was leading the mission had cloaked not only the fleet in space, but the land forces as well. Yoda mournfully lowered his head and Obi-Wan sighed. The look of the others was disappointment.

"We're too late," Obi-Wan announced. "The base is gone."

"But the Imperials aren't," Jacen announced. "Look!"

In the distance, the rustling of trees could be seen and than what looked to be the tops of white helmets.

'Imperial stormtroopers,' Lowbacca growled in his native Shyriiwook and made to activate his lightsaber.

Obi-Wan, however, stopped him. "Steady Lowie."

It took a moment for them to realize that the troopers were heading straight for them. A few of the others made to activate their weapons also, but again Obi-Wan stopped them. "Steady."

A battalion of troopers came charging out of the trees a second later, rifles raised. "Put your hands in the air in an orderly fashion and no one gets hurt," what seemed to be the leader ordered. Only it was hard to tell whom that was being as they all looked the same. "We have orders to capture you only." It was the one edging towards the center.

Obi-Wan rose an eyebrow. "Really? Since when do Imperial stormtroopers not kill on site?"

"Since now!" The lead trooper was presently standing a short distance ahead of his squadron. "Hands up!"

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen." Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber and the others followed. As the troopers came at them, battle broke out.

The eighteen Jedi strike force quickly eliminated the stormtroopers that had challenged them, as well as the others that soon arrived via speederbikes. The troops arriving from Imperial walkers were also destroyed by the Jedi using the canon bolts that were shot at them to deflect back with their laser swords.

As to how long the battle lasted, no one ever knew. All those whom survived it remembered is that abruptly in the heat of it, a voice suddenly rang out, ordering "Cease fire!", thus bringing the battle to an end. The troopers and other Imperial forces immediately did as commanded and looked about for the source of the voice. They didn't have to look far, for the speaker, flanked with more troops, was standing them self at the edge of the clearing.

It was a person everyone recognized rather they'd met her or not – Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Antellica Grievous. On her right was another person easily recognized – Imperial Princess / former Rebel leader, Leila Skywalker.

At the duo's annihilation finish of Zonama Sekot's Rebel base three hours prior, Leila tapped into Sekot's inner self to discover if the Jedi had, by any chance, been communicating with the planet over the past year, which would lead to any possible clues of where they might be now. Disappointedly, they hadn't until a few hours beforehand. Obi-Wan and Yoda had reached out to Sekot only to discover that the bond formed was hardly there anymore. Going in deeper to the planet's conscious self, Leila was able to figure out what it was the Jedi wanted – to know if the Imperials had arrived yet to eliminate the base. Obviously, they'd sensed a disturbance in their precious light side Force and wanted to do something about it. Through this, Leila and Antellica knew the Jedi were coming to Zonama Sekot and stayed to wait for them. What they didn't know, however, was how _many_ Jedi that amounted to; which would explain their surprise upon seeing not _just _Obi-Wan and Yoda, but sixteen other young and old, Human and non, Jedi with lightsabers of green and blue ignited.

Both Sith Ladies stepped forward away from the troops flanking them and appraised each and every one of them in the vicinity with a smirk.

"What is this?!" Antellica eventually laughed.

"Are you trying to rebuild your pitiful Jedi Order without me and Luke?" Leila asked, mirth sparking her tone. "This was your big mission? What a waste!"

The Jedi gave the women a response of no emotion, and that's what humored them even more as they continued to look about their competition.

Antellica stepped up to a Mon Calamari female that appeared to be in her early thirties, it was hard to tell, and sneered, "And what are you supposed to be? Some type of alien freak show Jedi?"

She let a cackle of laughter follow this, and before anyone knew what was happening, Antellica's lightsaber sprang to life and decapitated the alien Jedi in one swift stroke.

A gasped silence followed the sound of Cilghal's head softly hitting the ground and Antellica slowly smirked.

This silence was broken a moment later, though, by one of the three Twi'lek females giving a battle yell and rushing at Antellica with her lightsaber held above her head.

This was a very bad mistake for Numa Rar, for just as she was upon the Sith Lady, the woman's orange blade was piercing through her chest, into her heart, and out through the other side. A gasp escaped Numa's lips and her eyes locked with that of her killer's. The Dark Lady offered Numa a sadistic smile before pulling her blade out of the teenage Twi'lek's body and watching her collapse to the ground in death.

Antellica let out another cackle of laughter while the other young Twi'lek, whom looked like the fallen green-skinned, only she was blue-skinned but green eyed (a younger sister perhaps?), cried in anguish. "Come on now!" Antellica derided. "Is that the best you've got?! Aw, don't cry little Twi'lek girl; your sister's better off dead. She was too pathetic to live."

This mockery of Numa and the Jedi caused something to snap within Alema. Her eyes flashed with rage and she made a run at Antellica, only to have Obi-Wan jump in front of her and engage the Supreme Commander himself.

Leila was tired of simply standing by, watching the show. She wanted a part of it. Activating her violet lightsaber, she stalked towards the only one of the new Jedi she recognized – Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo, Princess of the Hapes Consortium. Two of the older Jedi – a female auburn haired Human and male Rodian – blocked her path to the Princess, attempting to engage her themselves, but Leila wouldn't have that and swiftly sliced them down.

Tenel Ka's eyes showed a brief trace of sadness at Jovan and Octa's deaths before they hardened to a glare at Leila. She tightened her hold on her green bladed saber and slowly came at Leila at a neutral pace. They met each other halfway and began to circle one another.

Leila smirked at the Hapan Chume'ta. "I'm going to have to show you, Tenel Ka, that doltish Princess girls such as yourself are better off waiting for their handsome Prince to come sweep them off their feet; not fighting in a losing battle that'll never be won."

Tenel Ka gave a smirk of her own. "We'll see about that, Your Imperial Highness."

And with that, the Princesses came at one another in a duel, their violet and green lightsabers clashing.

* * *

Antellica and Obi-Wan knew one another far too well. Their slashes and strikes were parred eloquently against the other. They knew when the other was going to make a sudden move and blocked it perfectly, almost impossibly. But than, the two had been a team once, a married couple, and had parented two children. 

Antellica growled. As much as she enjoyed an equal fight, this was growing old. She wanted it finished here and now. "Give it up old man," she spat. "Don't you think you're getting too old for this? You can't beat me. Don't you realize who I am?!"

Obi-Wan gave a wry smile, but did not take his focus off the duel. "I am more than aware of who you are, Antellica. Simply a foolish little girl who flows with the wind, betraying people left and right whenever it so pleases her."

This got an roar of rage from her, making Antellica strike at him even the more violently.

* * *

During the time Antellica and Obi-Wan, and Leila and Tenel Ka dueled, the remaining twelve Jedi proceeded to kill the rest of the land forces as they continued to arrive.

* * *

Obi-Wan was growing wary of this fight with Antellica. He didn't want to fight her. But why not? She was a Sith, as well as his ex-wife and mother of his two children, one of which he'd never even met. But than, Antellica wasn't his ex-wife because they never divorced. She simply turned her back on he and the Jedi, returning to her old Sith ways. Technically, she was still his wife, even if neither of them considered her to be. 

Obi-Wan slowly began to back away from Antellica's increasingly aggressive advances. He needed to find some type of opening in the fight. It couldn't go on. And than that's when it came. Just as Antellica was lifting her blade for another strike, Obi-Wan took his opening. He cut into the upper part of her skull on the right side and through her right eyeball before Antellica was able to strike his lightsaber hard with her own to stop it from continue going across into her left eye.

She than collapsed to the ground, her lightsaber long forgotten, screaming in agony every profanity in the Basic language as she rolled around on the ground in the utmost pain, clutching her cut open skull and empty eye socket.

Leila was still dueling Tenel Ka when Antellica's skull was cut into. In the shock and rage at what had just happened, Leila gave a yell of fury and sliced Tenel Ka's right arm off, than through the middle of Callista and the top half of Daeshara'cor's own skull.

She ran to the agony stricken form of Antellica and collapsed beside her, sending soothing waves of Force energy into her in an attempt to calm her. But Leila might as well hoped that trees suddenly came to life and started dancing because nothing she did calmed Antellica down. On the contrary, she simply screamed all the louder.

Looking around her showed that all Imperial forces had been killed by the wretched Jedi. How was Leila supposed to get Antellica to the fleet and have her looked at? That's when she spotted the Jedi's ship. It was sitting on the little hill that it'd been landed on, just waiting to be used.

Helping Antellica to her feet, and telling her it was going to be alright, Leila, after calling the older woman's lightsaber to herself, walked in a brisk manner towards her destination, half carrying her superior officer in the process.

Most of the Jedi were grouped around the sobbing Tenel Ka while Alema was crying over Daeshara'cor's dead body and being comforted by a blond Human male (Raynar) and the only Wookie present. Obi-Wan and Yoda, meanwhile, were sadly looking over the bodies of the five other fallen Jedi.

However, all twelve took notice of Leila as she made for the ship and a few of the males (Jacen, Aaron, and Zekk) left Tenel Ka's side to intercept Leila. She was ready for them, though, simply lifting her hand and sending a Force wave of unconsciousness at them. The three had no chance to duck, and were down in no time. Seeing what she'd just done, some of the others (Jaina, Tahiri, and Danni) came at her, but Leila merely did the same to them. By now all of them, even Tenel Ka, were on their feet, but Yoda and Obi-Wan quickly jumped in front of them. Knowing better than to try the Force waves on the Senior Jedi, Leila unleashed a string of the most powerful Force-lightning she could conjure instead, and aimed it at Yoda. He was struck down. The small olden Jedi hadn't known what to expect from his former pupil, and so was taken by some surprise as he was thrown onto a nearby tree with the lightning and suspended up there for the next ten seconds, the strong amount of dark side energy powering into his veins.

What caused it to finally stop was Lowbacca pushing past Obi-Wan and throwing himself at Leila. She and Antellica were knocked onto the ground, but Leila did not stop her flow of Force-lightning and continued to pour it out of her left hand and into the Wookie's chest. Lowbacca was trying his best to fight against the powerful amount of the Force, but he couldn't do it alone. Alema, Tenel Ka, Raynar, and Obi-Wan all knew this, so as one gave an almighty Force push at the Sith Princess. Only Leila had been expecting them to do something of the sort, and was again ready. Dropping Antellica from her arms, she caught the push before it could reach her, stopping the flow of lightning in the process, and threw it back at the Jedi. They all tried to duck and escape the range of the push, but were caught in it anyway, landing in the neck of bushes that laid four yards beyond the hill the ship sat on.

Without another thought on anything, Leila collected Antellica into her arms and carried her to the ship, making it inside before Obi-Wan and the others were able to. Placing her down in the co-pilot's seat – by now, Antellica had stopped screaming and was merely clutching her eye socket and skull, sobbing – Leila reached out and gently pulled Antellica's bloody hands off her equally bloody face. The older woman didn't want to take them off, but after a few soothing nudges she complied. Antellica looked...but it didn't matter how bad she looked, that wasn't Leila's concern. Her concern was for Antellica to remain conscious, and to ensure this she needed to stop the blood that continued to flow out of her boyfriend's mother's eye socket and skull. She put her hands over both wounds and reached out into the Force, willing Antellica's body to stop pouring out blood until they got her to the med lab on her leading Star Destroyer. Leila couldn't heal her fully because first off, the wounds were too great, and secondly, when it came to the art of Force healing that was something she was never good at. Yet another thing Luke and Philomena were better than her at.

Once Leila finished up with Antellica, she jumped into the pilot's seat and started up the ship. Flying it off the planet and into open space, Leila concentrated on uncloaking the fleet. Once this was done, she gave the Captain of her ship the authorization code needed and docked into it's hanger. Antellica was immediately rushed to the medical ward where she underwent surgery. Her eye socket, which was clogged with remnants of her eye and skull, was cleaned out and the parts of her skull that had been cut into were semi-repaired, though it wouldn't fully heal for a few weeks. The facial skin that covered the damaged skull was stitched together and a black patch was placed over the empty socket. While Leila had stayed with Antellica during the entire process, she ordered that as many squadrons as possible land on the planet and capture the Jedi. She would join them momentarily.

When the surgery was finally complete, Leila insisted that Antellica needed to get her rest and not worry herself with the Jedi for now. But the loose of her right eye seemed to fuel such a rage within her towards Obi-Wan and the rest, but preferably him, that she wouldn't hear of it. An argument started between the two that ended badly. Leila had to force Antellica to rest by giving her a strong Force suggestion to sleep. She knew Antellica would be extremely angry with her later, but didn't care. If she were to return to Zonama Sekot in her present state, so hell bent on revenge that she wasn't thinking straight, she'd end up getting herself killed and no one wanted that.

Leaving instruction with the doctor who operated Antellica to keep an eye on her while she rested, Leila returned to her quarters to inform the rest of the navy of their current position and to order immediate backup from them. After which, she checked in on Antellica again briefly – she was sound asleep – before joining her forces on-world.


	71. Hiding Among the Natives

Author's Note: Hey again! We've reached the two hundred mark sooner then expected! Thank you so much! And to mark this special occasion, here's another early chapter (I was going to wait until tomorrow since the double update yesterday, but what the heck).

Chapter 70 review responses:

Thrawn716: No offense taken. I didn't know that. However, I think I'm going to keep it the way it is if you don't mind. It adds more drama.

twisterblake: Since you also reviewed twice, I'll respond in the order you did so: Ch. 70 – You'll have to wait till Chapter 13 for the rest of the empire's reaction to the NJO, but you imagine it's shock. Only time will tell if the Jedi succeed, as the conflict doesn't end till the episode's end. Ch. 67 – Alexander and Leila's truce was nice. But I wonder if you were able to guess from their first meeting in the previous episode that they'd end up together. It's wasn't too obvious, but they say when dudes and dudettes argue with each other, they like each other. Can't say I feel the same, but...

dmitchell: Interesting that you reviewed twice for one chapter. Not that I'm complaining of course. To the first review: This was the Jedi's first confrontation with the Sith. Obviously, they're not going to be the best the first go-round. No one's good at something the first time. Plus, they've only had a year and a month of training. They weren't able to experience the full eighteen months as originally planned. They were forced out of hiding early. As they progress with more training and experience, however, they will achieve more and become somewhat level with their enemies. You can't expect pizazz the first go-round and them to be victorious so quickly. As in all wars and conflicts, they take time. To the second review: Kyp Durron and Mara Jade _will not_ be in this as I _do not_ like their characters, especially Mara. Most people look at her as a Mary Sue anyway. Nothing more than a means for Luke to continue the Skywalker line with. Naturally, the reason Obi-Wan had more success with the Sith is because not only has he faced them before, but he's also a master; they, meanwhile, save Yoda, are apprentices. But again, when more experience is achieved under their belt, more success will be found. I hope you don't take this the wrong way. I'm just saying...

MissNaye: Nah, Antellica'll just have a patch over her eye. To be honest, what even gave me the idea that her eye be cut out was by watching the action movie Kill Bill. I liked the character Elle and her eye patch, so decided to have Antellica's eye cut out. And I wondered if anyone would notice Leila's performance here. Yes, it definitely was the rape that enhanced her power. Plus, also the hatred she holds for the Jedi now.

Twisted Words: You can imagine there's a lot of animosity between Obi-Wan and Antellica since she left him with their children. I don't actually go into the details of his mind and feelings over what he did to her, but maybe there's a slight part of him that regretted cutting out her eye. Most likely anyway. It's definitely not something that was done out of revenge.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 12: Hiding Among the Natives

"_Welcome to Mounts Zonamist and Sekotist...you will be safe here, just as our own tribes are."_

-Sensku and Mydan, native chiefs of the Ferroan and Langhesi tribes

The Jedi had not been able to stop Leila from leaving the planet with the wounded Antellica. But knowing the Sith Princess, Obi-Wan knew this wasn't over. She'd be back, and with more Imperial forces to accompany her. She'd probably even go as far as alerting the rest of the navy also. They needed to get to the safety of the mountains and alert the natives of the situation, though, by now they probably already knew.

Returning to the others with Alema, Raynar, and Tenel Ka, Obi-Wan revived the ones that were knocked unconscious while Tenel Ka riped off a piece of her robe to wrap around her stump of an arm and Alema and Raynar checked on Lowbacca and Yoda.

The extensive lightning from Leila had weakened the both of them, but mostly Yoda. While Lowbacca was merely breathing heavy and needed help standing, Yoda could barely get up from the crumpled position he'd fell to when the lightning was reverted to Lowbacca. With the aid of the Force and the others, however, he was able to. And once assurance was given that he was fine, "a little winded just", the attention was brought to their next move.

"This planet is bound to be swarming with Imperials again in no time," Danni, long wavy blonde haired, green eyed, and at a height of 1.60 meters, pointed out.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Which is why we're leaving for the mountains. Alema, what are you doing?"

Everyone's attention turned to the only surviving Twi'lek to see her attempting to lift her dead sister, Numa, and carry her over her shoulders. Only every time Alema stood up, she always dropped her. The Twi'lek did not respond to Obi-Wan's question, merely continuing with what she was doing.

Obi-Wan walked over to the grieving teen and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alema. I know this is a huge loss for you, losing not only your sister but guardian as well." He spoke in a soft, comforting tone. "And I know you may not want to simply leave them here out of respect for their memory, but we have to move on, and they'll only slow us down."

"How can you say that?!" Alema cried, dropping Numa out of her arms for what seemed like the umpteenth time now. She balled her hands into fists on either side of her and let out a cry of anguish, collapsing to the ground next to her sister and guardian.

A loud humming sound was heard overhead, and when they all looked up it was to see numerous Star Destroyers entering the planet's atmosphere. Motioning to the others to go on, Obi-Wan hurriedly turned back to Alema to try and will her out of her anguish. "Alema, I understand you're upset, but we really don't have time for this. Now come on!"

Obi-Wan grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her to a stand, but she yanked it out of his grip and screamed at him. "How can you be so insensitive?!" She made to bend down next to her sister again, but Obi-Wan picked Alema up and carried her over his shoulder as he ran to join the others. She screamed out protests of anguish and rage, but he was beyond caring. If Alema simply stayed there to mourn Numa and Daeshara'cor, or attempt to bring them with her, she'd only get herself killed. And there had been more than enough death for one day.

When Obi-Wan met up with the others it was to find them grouped around five deserted speederbikes, obviously the belongings of fallen Imperial stormtroopers, and looking at the vehicles with apprehension. Jaina and Zekk, meanwhile, were arguing over if they should use them or not.

"There could be tracking devices on them," Zekk, shoulder-length black haired, emerald green eyed, and 2 meters in height, pointed out.

Jaina, whom stood at a mere 1.59 meters, didn't seem to care. "It doesn't matter! We need to get to the mountains immediately."

"Master Kenobi, what do you think?" A miniature version of Danni some called her since they shared the same qualities of hair and eye color, Tahiri, as the youngest only stood at a small 1.49 meters, asked her piece as Obi-Wan arrived, cutting into the argument.

"I think the sooner you two stop arguing, the sooner we can get on the move," he said in a brisk manner. "Everyone jump on a speeder!"

Zekk started to protest, but Obi-Wan cut across him. "Do you have a better idea?"

"These speeders are bound to have tracking systems on them," he argued exasperatedly.

"I am very well aware of that Zekk, but we need to get moving. We can dispose of them once we get a good ways off. Now everyone on a speeder!"

Since there were only five to go around, two of the speeders were loaded with three people while the other three simply held two. They drove about thirty-five miles northeast before coming across a river and deposing of the bikes therein. By now they were about fifteen miles away from the one of the two native villages on-world, that of the Langhesi's. Instead of walking, they ran at Force-enhanced speed to get there. Upon arriving sometime later, they found that two tribe leaders, one of Langhesi, Mydan, the other of Ferroan, Sensku, were presently waiting for them.

"Sensku. Mydan." Obi-Wan greeted the duo with a respectful bow. They returned it. "Master Kenobi. Master Yoda." Yoda gave a small bow. "We knew you'd be coming," Sensku said. "Sekot informed us to help you. But we don't have much time. Come quickly! We will tend to the wounded when we reach our destination."

The two natives led them aways northeast – an estimated thirty miles – for the next five hours. It began to grow dark about an hour into walking, so by the journey's end it was pitch black with the only things serving as light being the few stars in the sky and the search lights of the Imperials beaming around and onto forest trees. Those they had to duck a few times as not to be spotted.

When at last the group stopped, none were surprised to find themselves at the base of two intertwining mountains. They were the highest mountains of the planet.

"Welcome to Mounts Zonamist and Sekotist, otherwise known as Mount Magister," Mydan said. "You will be safe here, just as our own tribes are."

"Did you move them here right after the Imperials first arrived?" Jacen asked.

"Yes. They were led here by our sons, " Mydan supplied. "We, meanwhile," he gestured to himself and Sensku, "remained behind to see you all here."

"A very kind and thoughtful gesture," Danni applauded. "Thank you."

The red-skinned humanoid gave a nod of acknowledgment and they continued on until reaching the end of the mountain base. Here laid two large stones shaped like triangles and surrounded by grass.

"This is the entrance, isn't it?" Aaron asked.

Sensku nodded, his gold eyes glowing in the darkness from his pale-blue skinned humanoid form. "Correct you are, young one. Behind those stones lie a path that leads to the safe haven of both our tribes. No outsiders have ever been allowed inside its depths. Because of this, you must swear its location secret under blood."

He drew a dagger and Obi-Wan noticed Tahiri shrink back, looking at it wide-eyed. He reached out to give her assurance through the Force and was soon joined by others (Yoda, Danni, Jacen, Lowbacca, Aaron...) doing the same. This seemed to calm her a bit, but not fully. Noticing her fearful gaze, Sensku spoke to her. "I'm not going to wound you, young one. Just a drop of blood will do."

"But we're Jedi," she said. "Shouldn't a Jedi's word to keep a location secret be enough."

Sensku appeared to think over her words a moment before responding. "The Jedi have proven trustworthy in the past, and Sekot does seem to trust you." He exchanged a glance with Mydan that spoke of a telepathic conversation. Finally, he turned back to the Jedi and put away the dagger. "All right. We will take your word. But should you break it, the penalty is death."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We understand." All the others nodded in agreement to this.

With a nod of his own, Sensku turned to the stones and removed one while Mydan removed the other. Beneath laid an open space of earth that looked to be a tunnel only big enough for one person at a time. Mydan just as much confirmed this a moment later.

"Only one can go at a time. The mountains are about a mile and a half each, give or take a few feet, but three miles all together. Practically all of Mount Zonamist is nothing more than a tunnel that leads into Mount Sekotist, where our haven is. The tunnel is so small, it's no larger than a crawl space. It will take some time to get through, but is mostly straight forward with a few hill climbs at the beginning and end. When you come to the top of the last more steep hill, you than fall down some before you reach ground level again. That is where the crawl space ends. You can walk the rest of the way through the end of Mount Zonamist and into Mount Sekotist."

Under the careful leading of Sensku and Mydan, the Jedi made it through the crawl space and into Mount Sekotist.

It was amazing how like the the Ferroan and Langhesi tribe villages the haven appeared. Unless one looked above and saw that there was a mountain roof covering it, you would've naturally assumed you were outside on the planet. The sight and sounds of the natives could be seen everywhere.

Immediately after arriving they were rushed off to be looked at by the witch doctor of Ferroans, Jica Mi, Sensku's mistress. Tenel Ka's right arm, that was cut off a little above the elbow, was put in a healing cast. According to the witch, the cast would heal the skin that was cut off, having new skin grow over it so when the process was complete it'd just look like a stumped arm.

Yoda and Lowbacca, meanwhile, were given a soupy formula that Jica Mi said would help them regain some of their old strength and heal their body and spirit from the Force-lightning.

Though nothing was physically wrong with the others, Mi insisted upon looking at them all anyway. She gave them each a broth of healing potion that she assured would sooth their troubled hearts. It couldn't be said exactly if it worked or not, but the Jedi wouldn't refuse it as not to insult the witch doctor who was only trying to help.

Afterwards, they were taken to be fed and watered, and put to bed, for both Mydan and Sensku said they would discuss the matters concerning the Imperials bright and early the next day.


	72. A Mother's Protection

Author's Note: An interesting twist occurs in this semi-long chapter. Do enjoy!

Chapter 71 review responses:

twisterblake: Thanks for reviewing and here's your next update!

dmitchell: I'm glad you didn't get offended. I wasn't trying to be harsh and I hope I didn't come across as such. This story actually makes your day? That's probably one of the best compliments anyone's gave me concerning this. Thank you. I do aim to please after all.

MissNaye: Correction: Alexander will want their father dead, Anneliese still doesn't know who their father is. Actually, that's something that's explored more in this chapter. Hence, it's title. And while the planet won't be exploded (no Death Star), I can promise that the two chapters following this commence on an on-world battle. The second Jedi-Sith confrontation.

Thrawn716: It was so long ago when I read the Thrawn trilogy that I don't much remember how Mara's character was in it. Or the Hand of Thrawn duology. What I do know is I did not like her character in the New Jedi Order Series, Swarm War, or the Legacy of the Force series. Plus, have you seen the cover of the next book in the Legacy series, Sacrifice? (If not go to wookiepedia and type in Sacrifice). She's on it looking as though she's this young thirty something, maybe forty something (at one glance one might think it's Jaina as I did), while Luke's on the back appearing as a hagged sixty-year-old, his age at that time. Despite the fact that she's only supposed to be a year younger than him. That I don't get. And if you read the info listed with the book, it says the cover art of her looking so young at sixty has been causing controversy.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 13: A Mother's Protection

"_A mother will stop at nothing to protect her young, even if she ends up hurting them in the process."_

- Arica Grievous-Skywalker

The rest of the day and all night, Imperial forces searched the planet of Zonama Sekot, but for nothing. The only trace of the Jedi found being five speederbikes that had been dumped in a river thirty-five miles northeast of where the second battle had taken place.

By the next morning, the rest of the navy had arrived, so while the planet was than bombarded with thousands upon thousands of troops continuing to search the planet, a meeting was held amongst the navy's royal leaders in the conference room of the old Rebel base headquarters.

"They couldn't have left the planet," Leila was saying to the assembled officers present, which included her father, the Emperor; twin brother, Luke; half-siblings, Lacovia and Hilton; boyfriend of seven months, Alexander; his sister, Anneliese; and their mother, Antellica. The seven of them were seated around a long table, while a few other officers guarded the door. Leila, meanwhile, was standing. "It's impossible!"

"No, they didn't leave," Antellica snarled, her one eye glaring, the empty socket of the other covered by a black patch. "I can still sense his distasteful presence here. Somewhere hiding."

"I find the idea of he and Yoda rebuilding the Jedi Order in the middle of a war to be distasteful," Luke said with a grimace. "What's the point of building something that's going to come crashing back down in no time? Look at what happened yesterday! Six of their new Jedi were killed in no time flat, and three others injured. What a waste of lives and time."

"I think one of the questions we should be pondering is rather or not there are any more of them," Lacovia expressed. "Because I hardly doubt they'd bring all of their members on one mission."

"And why shouldn't they?" Anneliese countered. "From their point of view, wouldn't it be better to take their enemies by surprise with the overwhelming of their numbers all at once. Wasn't that a famed strategy of Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars?"

"Yes, it was actually." Anakin's mask didn't hide his mild surprise. It was heard in his voice. "I simply don't understand how you would know that."

Anneliese gave an eye roll. "Hello! Your nearest HoloNet terminal! Simply type whoever's name you wish to research and there you are."

"And you've done research on Kenobi before?" Antellica asked in a level tone.

Again, Anneliese rolled her eyes. "Of course I have. Why wouldn't I? What better way to get to know your enemies by learning of their past experiences. You discover their weaknesses as well as their strengths."

Anneliese was fifteen years old at of the present, and Antellica still hadn't told her about her father. She remained stubborn in the idea that Anneliese didn't need to know because the truth might intrigue her into looking for him. But now that her daughter was on the very same world as Kenobi, the overprotectiveness she'd always had for her youngest child came back full force. Kenobi was bound to know who Imperial Commander Anneliese Grievous really was and Antellica had no intentions of losing her little girl to that emotionless jerk. The information that had been in Imperial archives concerning Antellica's betrayal of the Empire and than rejoining of it had long been deleted when her name was cleared of all charges at Anakin's appointment as Emperor. And Kenobi's page altered as well to supposedly come out of a five year hiding to attack the new Emperor, and than upon leaving him to die on Mustafar gone into hiding again with Jedi Yoda and the kidnapped twins, Luke and Leila. All the same, Antellica didn't like the idea of her daughter doing any type of research on the exiled Jedi and was quite firm in addressing this aloud.

For the third time, Anneliese rolled her eyes. "Why? It's not like he's the only enemy I've done research on. I wanted to know about him, and now I do."

"Yes, well...I think in the future it might be best to simply ask those who knew him, and the others," she was quick to add, "about past experiences and such. You can't believe everything you read off the HoloNet."

Anneliese merely shrugged. "Whatever."

There was a moment of silence before Luke resumed the discussion. "The main point to be pondering is where they could've gone to hide that the troops haven't stumbled upon yet."

"Do either of you know of any such place?" Anakin asked his oldest twins. Both shook their heads. "All the places they could've gone have been sacked and raided," Leila said. "They're not at any of them, and that's what makes it so frustrating."

"What about the natives?" Hilton asked. "Do you know of any safe havens they might use in times of danger?"

"Not really," Luke replied. "But than, we didn't really interact with them all that much when we lived here. We kind of did our own thing and they did theirs."

"I don't know of any either," Leila agreed. "But they must have one because we haven't seen any of them once since arriving."

"Even during the base's destruction?" Anakin asked.

"Even during the base's destruction," Leila confirmed with a nod.

Anakin sighed in irritation. "Even now, when they are practically in our grip, they find a way to evade us."

Another few moments of frustrated silence went by before Alexander spoke for the first time since the discussion began. "Zonama Sekot."

"What?" Practically everyone said this either aloud or in thought.

"Zonama Sekot," he repeated.

It took a moment, but Luke finally caught onto what he meant. "Yes. In all this discussion, we forgot to even think about asking Sekot where they could be."

"Of course!" Leila exclaimed. "How could we have forgotten that?!"

Clearing their minds of all thoughts, Luke and Leila both closed their eyes and allowed the Force to swirl around them. Tapping into the communicational bond that still existed between they and the planet, the two fell into subconsciousness and found themselves in a garden of pure white. It was the meeting place of Sekot whenever she communed with Force-sensitives she had bonds with. The twins looked around the lush, white garden a moment. White was everywhere, even their clothes had been changed to that of white gowns from black robes. Finally, they called out to Sekot. She was in the garden with them, they knew, merely hesitating. They called out to her again, but this time a tad more firmly. "Sekot, answer us!"

After a moment, a maiden so fair and beautiful came out from behind a foliage of bushes. She looked no older than they, and yet she did and was far older than they, Kenobi, and Yoda combined. She had existed since the start of the universe and would last until the end of it. She was Sekot, the living intelligence of the world Zonama Sekot.

"Luke and Leila Skywalker," her melodic voice sang out. "It's been too long. And though I'd hoped the next time we spoke would be under pleasanter circumstances, I know that you only wish to speak with me because you want something."

"Even so," Leila said, "if we call, we expect an answer."

Sekot frowned, an action that did not go well with her lovely features. "So demanding. I remember when you two were small children. So delightful and carefree..."

"Time changes people, Sekot," Luke said in a level tone. "You should know this more than most."

"Indeed I do, and at times I find it to be sad."

"The Jedi, Sekot," Leila blurted out a bit rudely. "Where are they hiding?"

Sekot gave an amused smile with the shake of her head, her white curls of hair flowing in the sudden light wind. "You never were one to be afraid to tell people what's on your mind, even to the extent of rudeness, were you Leila?"

"Just answer the question, Sekot," Luke cut in before Leila could retort. "It's simple enough. You tell us what we want to know, we go about our way, you go about yours. And that's the end of it."

"And you simply use me for your own means," Sekot said in a bitter tone. "Throwing me aside when you have no further use or need of me."

Luke and Leila had no answer to this, they merely continued their expectant gaze.

Abruptly, Sekot gave a gentle laugh and began to sing sweetly.

"_What loveliness is Zonama Sekot,_

_the eye cannot even see._

_Its hidden depths so far and near,_

_that one cannot even flee."_

With the end of the song's last line, the Lady Sekot and the garden vanished and Luke and Leila were back in the conference room.

"Did she tell you anything?" Hilton immediately asked upon seeing they were conscious again.

"Patience little brother," Lacovia reproved. "Give them a few minutes."

It took a moment, but Luke and Leila finally became reacquainted with their surroundings. After which, they repeated their meeting with Sekot to everyone. The reactions to it were to be expected: confusion and more frustration, especially concerning the song at the end.

"I mean, what is this?" Antellica said, clearly vexed. "You ask her where the Jedi are and she bursts into song. Ludicrousness!"

As the others voiced more objections like Antellica's, Anakin and Alexander were the only ones whom remained silent. Alexander looked thoughtful, pensive. And even while the Emperor paced back and forth, the only sound coming from him was that of his respirator.

"Maybe the song means something," Anneliese suggested.

This brought a few small laughs from Lacovia, Hilton, and Antellica, while Luke and Leila merely smirked at her naiveté.

"Actually, it does," Alexander said.

Everyone quieted down at this pronouncement.

"How do you figure?" Anakin asked. He had an idea over what it might be too, but wanted to hear Alexander's thoughts on the matter.

"It's a riddle," he explained. "She was asked where the Jedi were and she told, but in the form of a riddle."

Leila coughed and Luke scowled. "We don't have time for riddles. I want a straight forward answer now." He closed his eyes and attempted at tapping into the communicational bond with Sekot, only he couldn't. She wasn't allowing him to.

"Sith spawn," he cursed under his breath.

"Do you think you might be able to decode the riddle?" Anakin asked his nephew.

"I don't see any reason why not," Alexander said confidently. "I just need to get a better feeling of the planet to do so."

"I suggest we split up and search the planet ourselves," Anneliese said. "I get the feeling that if it's us looking around compared to the clones, we can actually find something."

"Agreed," Hilton said.

"I'm in favor of that as well," Lacovia seconded.

"Now wait a second-" Antellica started, but was cut off by Anakin. "Do you have a better idea, Antellica? Because we're more than willing to hear it."

This was said in semi-sarcasm and it abruptly made her slightly ticked. Antellica was on her feet. "Can I speak with you a moment, Anakin? Alone."

"Of course, Antellica. You all," he addressed the room, "wait here. We'll be in the hall."

Ignoring the puzzled looks of everyone present, Anakin and Antellica left the room, shooing away the stationed guards in and outside in the process.

She turned to him with that of irritation. "Anakin-"

"You have to tell her eventually," he cut across her. "You can't have her going on to believe that her father is dead."

"Anakin-"

"Because if you don't tell her, I will."

Antellica's eye flashed. "You most certainly will not! That's not your place. I'm her mother. I make the decisions over what she is and isn't told. Not you."

Anakin gave her a respectful nod. "Very well, Antellica. Was that all?"

"When we split up to search the planet, we'll do so in twos so I can keep Anneliese close to me at all times."

"You know, it would be much easier-"

"I'm not telling her and neither are you!"

"We've been through that already, Antellica. I was simply going to point out that it'd be so much easier to search the planet if each of the eight of us led our own squad of clones. More ground could be covered that way."

"I don't care. Anneliese is staying with me."

"You should have more faith in your daughter, Antellica. She's more than capable of taking care of herself, as she's a lot like you were at her age. Do you remember those times, Antellica?"

Antellica huffed. "Of course I do. But we're talking about the present, not the past.

"At Anneliese's age you would've scorned at the prospect of being watched over like a child."

"I repeat myself! We're not talking about me and my past. We're talking about Anneliese and her future, and what's best for her."

"Obviously, you don't know what's best for Anneliese, for if you did you'd tell her-"

"I will not be made the enemy here! She is my daughter! My flesh and blood! I say what's best for her and what isn't! Not you!"

By now their argument had gotten pretty loud and they were shouting, but neither of them seemed to notice or care...until they noticed Anneliese standing in the hallway that is, listening to their every word. She looked confused, hurt, and slightly intrigued over what they were talking about.

Antellica looked beyond flustered, but worried over what her daughter had heard. "Anneliese, what are you doing out here?" she asked, her tone softening. "You should be in the conference room with everyone else."

Anneliese simply looked at her mother a moment before turning tail and making a run for the building's exit.

"Anneliese!" Antellica called after her in fear. Before giving chase, she snarled at Anakin, "I hope you're satisfied."

She followed Anneliese at a run as she ran out of the building and towards her flagship shuttle.

Figuring out her intention, Antellica sent a wave of Force energy at her daughter's feet with the attempt of tripping her. Anneliese, however, sidestepped the wave and continued on.

With a growl, Antellica called upon the Force to enhance her running speed. She caught up to Anneliese in no time and tackled her to the ground.

"I don't know what it is you heard young lady, but you're not going anywhere." Antellica maintained a hold around her daughter's neck, causing Anneliese to begin fighting against her; kicking and demanding to be let go of at once. Antellica's only response was holding her even tighter and beginning to drag her back to the old rebel headquarters.

Than Anneliese did something that shocked her completely. Not only did she elbow her hard in the gut – causing Antellica to loosen her grip on her and allowing Anneliese to break free – but she punched and kicked her to the ground. And when Antellica made to get up, she kicked her down again. Antellica was in so much shock that she didn't even try to get up the second time, merely gaped up at her while Anneliese glared down.

Anneliese was so angry with her mother, though, she wasn't entirely sure why. She still didn't know what it was she and her uncle had been talking about, but the mystery of the unknown fueled such a rage in her that she wanted nothing more than to cause her mother pain. She found that she was throwing herself at her mother, screaming out insults and attacking her in fury.

Antellica was at a loose of what was going on. One minute she was tackling her daughter to the ground, the next, Anneliese was attacking her. Antellica was desperately calling out to her, pleading for her to stop, but Anneliese either wasn't listen or didn't care.

The sudden call of "Anneliese, stop it!" from her brother is what snapped her out of her rage. He, along with the rest of the family present, was exiting the building and running towards them. The rage that had been over Anneliese ceased at the sight of everyone and turned to fear. What was she doing attacking her mother? And for what reason?

Just as abruptly as the fight started, it stopped. Anneliese ran towards her flagship with Alexander hot on her tail. She made it there in time and had the ramp came down a third of the way before jumping into the ship and having the ramp swiftly seal behind her. As it did so, she heard Alexander banging on it, demanding that she "come out this instant!"

Anneliese raced to the cockpit, pushed her confused pilot out of the way, and started the ship. It was in the air in no time. She flew the shuttle off planet and onto her _Imperial III_-class Star Destroyer, _Luckolynn_. Upon entering the bridge, she barked, "Make for the capital immediately!"

"The capital?" a few of the officers repeated in confusion.

"Milady, what are you doing here?" the Admiral of her ship, Almeda, asked. "Is the battle over so soon? Did you capture-"

Anneliese gave a roar and threw herself at the officer in fury, her hands tightening around his throat. "If this ship isn't in hyperspace by the time I count to ten..."

There was no need for her to finish the sentence. Officers were tripping around the bridge to do their lady's bidding. Anneliese kept her grip hold on the admiral's throat until he stopped breathing all together and died. Anneliese looked down at the dead officer a few moments before she found herself overcome with anguish.

Why was she doing this? Attacking people for no reason. It wasn't like her. Never was she quick to anger. She was a nice, kindhearted girl. Than, why all of a sudden when she finds out that her mother's been hiding something from her does she flip and go into some type of emotional roller coaster?

Anneliese found herself crying out hateful tears of confusion on the bridge of her flagship. Now more than ever she wished her father hadn't died before she was born. As much as she knew her mother had raised she and Alexander to the best of her abilities, Anneliese always felt there was a missing part of their family. She needed a father. How could fate be so cruel as to take him away before she could even meet him? Why? And the other sad thing about it was she didn't even know his name, what he looked like, or anything about him for that matter. Her mother wouldn't tell her anything about him. She said it was too painful to discuss; that it brought back too many fond memories she didn't wish to relive. Anneliese felt there was a part of her she'd never know about, though she oh so yearned for it, she'd never have it.

Anneliese finally picked herself up off the floor of the bridge and trudged back to her quarters, still mourning for the father she'd never have.

* * *

Once Anneliese left the planet on her flagship shuttle, Alexander rushed over to his mother to make sure she was okay. She was fine, just a little shaken over what had just happened. Alexander immediately wanted to rush after his sister, but Anakin stopped him. 

"Just let her go, Alexander," he said pulling him back from going to his own flagship shuttle.

Alexander whipped around to face him. "You may not care about her-"

"Don't you dare tell me I don't care about her!" Anakin roared. "Anneliese is like a daughter to me, which is why I cannot stand the fact that she is fifteen years old and still doesn't know about Kenobi's relation to her."

"It's not important!" both Alexander and Antellica exclaimed at the same time. They looked at one another, slightly startled that they'd spoken at the same time, but said nothing about it.

"It doesn't matter and it's not important," Alexander repeated. "What difference does it make anyway? Even if she did know, what's it going to change? Nothing!"

"No, not nothing," Lacovia reputed sharply. "She'd know that her father was still alive and-"

"So what?!" Alexander's tone was exasperated. "I know he's alive, and what's that doing for me as a person? Nothing, except the fact that I can't wait until he's dead."

"That's not the point-" Lacovia argued.

"I'll tell you what the point is-"

"Enough!"

For a moment, no one was sure who'd said this. It wasn't until the voice continued that they knew it was Luke.

"Listen to yourselves! Do you even realize what it is you're arguing about?! We can worry about Anneliese later."

"You're absolutely right Luke," Leila agreed, giving disapproving looks at Alexander and Lacovia. "The only thing we should be concerned about right now is finding where the Jedi are hiding and putting an end to their repulsing menace."

"Exactly," Hilton seconded. "So instead of us simply standing around arguing, let us be on our way searching the planet for them."

"And if we find anything, we'll contact each other telepathically," Antellica affirmed.

"Agreed!"


	73. Third Battle of Zonama Sekot

Author's Note: Action, action, action! This chapter's full of it! It's the start of the second Jedi-Sith confrontation. Enjoy to the utmost!

Chapter 72 review responses:

twisterblake: Yeah, I think they know it's the dark side that has them always angry. But as to who it is among the Grievous-Skywalkers that may become a Jedi is anyone's guess.

Twisted Words: I like to think Antellica got what was coming to her concerning Anneliese, and it's only just started. Anneliese doesn't return until Chapter 16, though, there will be plenty of warfare in between in 14 and 15 that no one will be giving the slightest care about her.

arzum: Hmm, I could or not answer your questions - ponders for a moment - I'll do it this way. I'll tell you that Anneliese eventually does discover Obi-Wan is her father, but what she does with that information I'll leave up in the air.

MissNaye: As of the present, Anneliese's returning to the capital. What she does after that, however, won't be revealed till ch. 16.

Thrawn716: Yeah, I read something about that on wookiepedia.

Caroline: First off, hello. Second, thanks for the review. Response: Most of the stories on this site are one-sided in the sense of the Jedi. With this, I am simply being different in having the Sith as the stars of it because I prefer them over the Jedi. I always have. The Jedi are the Sith's enemies, and as such, that is the way they shall be portrayed in this. However, as we go along in the episode, the Jedi will have more of a starring role also. Nonetheless, I'm glad you like it, and here's a thanks to Darkvampirewitch for telling you about it. (I'm assuming that's how you started reading it as said she's an acquaintance of yours).

dmitchell: Concerning Anneliese - Only time will tell.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 14: Third Battle of Zonama Sekot

"_You are not my father! You never have been and never will be!"_

- Alexander Grievous to father Obi-Wan Kenobi

Each Jedi woke up refreshed the next morning after a day of battle, loose, and being on the constant move. Just as the night before when they were fed and watered dinner, breakfast was served to them around a bonfire with all the other natives.

That was the interesting thing about it, Zekk silently mused. It was morning on the planet, but since they were inside Mount Magister it still seemed like it was night. It reminded him a lot of life on Ennth when he lived there with his parents. Whenever there would be a volcanic eruption, it didn't matter rather it be night or day, the sky would always be dark. Brushing his long black hair out of his face, Zekk turned to Jaina to see why she'd abruptly stopped eating her food.

"What's up?" he asked in concern. This got the attention of the others as well.

Jaina took a sip from her wooden cup and nodded ahead.

The ten young Jedi were seated side by side – from left to right; Danni, Tahiri, Zekk, Jaina, Jacen, Aaron, Lowbacca, Raynar, Tenel Ka, and Alema – at the south end of the bonfire while the other sections were left open for the natives to use. To their right – the east side of the haven – was where the natives' tents were set up for sleeping. North of the haven, however, – directly ahead of them – three idle tents were set up for both tribe chiefs, while the third was for the use of the Senior Jedi.

Yoda and Obi-Wan were now emerging from their tents and conversing with both Sensku and Mydan. It was obvious what had drawn Jaina's attention however.

Yoda, though already old, looked older and more fragile if that was possible. Through the Force, they felt weakness surrounding him. The Force-lightning attack from yesterday had obviously weakened him more than he was letting on.

As one, the group of ten apprentices sent waves of strength to him through the Force. He stopped conversing with Sensku briefly to give a nod in their direction before going back to his conversation.

The olden Jedi made it over to where their younger companions were seated a few minutes later when they finished up with the chiefs. Once they were given food by the females serving they sat on opposite sides of the semi-circle; Obi-Wan next to Alema on the right, and Yoda next to Danni on the left.

"Are you alright, master?" she quickly asked upon him sitting next to her.

He gave a slight chuckle. "Fine I am young one. Just fine."

But his voice spoke otherwise. It croaked even more with age and he seemed to have a shortness of breath.

Danni, along with the others, save Obi-Wan, gave him looks that clearly said they didn't believe him. At first, he seemed to ignore them, but than he finally looked up at them all, his eyes meeting each of theirs. He surprised them by giving another chuckle.

"Those faces you make," he accused. "Look I so old to young eyes?"

The younger Jedi began to become self-conscious with themselves for that was what each and every one of them had been thinking.

"Of course not master," Raynar said. "We just-"

"I do," Yoda cut across him. "Yes I do." He allowed a moment to go by before continuing. "Sick have I become. Old and weak."

"The lightning attack," Aaron supplied.

Yoda nodded. "Made me realize, it did. Not as young as I once was."

"But Master Yoda you can't-" Jaina wouldn't say it. She refused to.

Yoda gave her a small smile. "Strong am I in the Force, but not that strong."

"But master, we need you," Tenel Ka protested. "For the coming battle, because we can't stay hiding in here forever. The Sith will not give up until we're found, and I think it's more than obvious they know we're still here. They just don't know where."

"Yet anyway," Aaron added. "They'll figure it out eventually. And when they do, we need to be ready."

"Right you are young one," Yoda said. "Coming to find us darkness is, now even as we speak."

"Which is why we need you," Alema begged. "You saw what happened yesterday; we all did. We can't have a repeat of that happen again. We can't allow it."

"A crucial part of a Jedi's life is growing accustomed to letting go of things," Jacen wisely said.

Alema's eyes flashed. "When you lose your sister and guardian all in one day, let's hear what type of tune you'll be singing."

"I think what Jacen meant," Obi-Wan cut in before an argument could start, "is that if it's Yoda's time to go than...nothing we or anyone else says is going to change it from happening."

"Exactly," Jacen affirmed.

"But-" Tahiri started, yet than stopped by casting down her eyes and giving a sniff.

"Alright it is, young Tahiri," Yoda said to her, beckoning her to look across Danni over at him. "Ready for it I am. Earned it I have."

"I'm not letting you die master," Alema defiantly said. "You won't. We'll all survive this and we'll think back to these times and laugh over how foolish we were to think such things."

Yoda gave the Twi'lek a sad smile, but didn't say anything to her words. He knew nothing he said would change her defiant mind.

Lowbacca took that moment to roar out a suggestion. Through the Force they were able to understand its meaning to be, 'I think we should all prepare ourselves for the inevitable by sparing.'

All agreed to this, so after they finished eating did so in the free area space south of the bonfire with the natives watching in interest and fascination. Obi-Wan pared up with Alema, Tenel Ka with Yoda, Raynar with Lowbacca, Aaron with Jacen, Jaina with Zekk, and Danni with Tahiri.

Despite the fact of getting her right arm sliced off the day before, Tenel Ka made it a point in her sparring session to be competent without it. It was hard at first – she was still getting used to the idea of only having one arm – but as she continued and allowed the Force to flow around her, she began to get better and better, extending her skills further than they'd ever been when she had both arms.

Lowbacca, though still recovering from his own Force-lightning attack, was doing well dueling Raynar. The more he fought, the stronger he felt and had no doubt as he spared brief glances in everyone else's direction that they'd do fine in the coming battle.

A fact that was, sadly, only half true.

Three hours into the sparing session, chaos commenced. The Imperials had found a way into the mountain the Jedi and natives were hiding in and attacked upon arrival, with more and more troops arriving by the second.

* * *

In actual fact, it had only taken Alexander an hour and a half to figure out Sekot's riddle. He'd run it through his mind so many times while looking around the planet's beautiful landscapes when it abruptly came to him as he was strolling around Mount Magister with his troops. 

"_What loveliness is Zonama Sekot, the eye cannot even see. It's hidden depths so far and near, that one cannot even flee."_

A hidden depth that you cannot see or flee from. The mountain. You cannot flee from inside the hidden depths of a mountain. Mount Magister. That was the answer.

When he called out to the others, he told them to cloak their emotions as not to alert the Jedi. At first, everyone had been skeptical with what he came up with, but when a hidden entrance was found behind two triangular rocks this changed everything. It'd taken a while to get everyone through because of the narrowness of the tunnel crawl space, but they eventually made it.

Upon entrance, they _did not_ instantly attack as the Jedi thought. The Sith entered first and kept their presences cloaked, telling the clone and regular troops to remain in the tunnel until called upon. The Jedi were still in the middle of their sparing session so didn't sense anything. Though a few (Obi-Wan, Yoda, Aaron) felt that something wasn't right.

For a while, the Sith simply stood observing their competition. Most were just plain pitiful (the blond haired Human for example), though others (the Twi'lek and the two boy-one girl sibling group) had potential. Leila and Antellica gave their fellows a rundown of all they knew about them since encountering the group yesterday while they watched them in action. Eventually though, they grew tired of this, and the battle began. As they uncloaked their presences and moved as one into the haven, lightsabers lit, their troops began to pour in after them, opening fire on everything that moved.

It took only a second for the Jedi to notice the Imperials' presence. The sparring session long forgotten, Obi-Wan yelled for Alema, Zekk, and Tenel Ka to cover the natives while the rest follow him into battle.

While some of the natives' own warriors fought against Imperial troops, this left the Sith and the Jedi to deal with one another directly. For a moment, the two opposing Force wielders simply looked at one another; the Jedi glaring, the Sith leering.

This was broken, however, by Alexander giving a roar and throwing himself at Kenobi before Anakin or Antellica could, as he knew they wanted to. Instead, the Emperor attacked Yoda, and Antellica, Raynar. The other Sith and Jedi ran at each other and the first official showdown between them began.

Unlike last time, where most of them were sliced down upon contact, the Jedi kept up their fights and held their ground against the Sith. If yesterday had taught them anything, it was to never jump into something too fast or underestimate your opponent, and never fight someone fueled off of vengeance.

Sadly, the Jedi were not able to keep this up and Raynar was the first one down. When Antellica finished up with him, she engaged the Wookie which proved to be an interesting match. He was very well trained, but she knew he could be defeated easily.

Deciding to be humorous about it, she Force-pushed him into the line of blaster fire between the natives and clones. Upon realizing her intent, Hilton and Leila added their own Force-pushes to hers to keep him in the fire line.

"Shoot down the Wookie!" Antellica roared. "Shoot him down! Shoot him down now!"

The blaster fire on Lowbacca increased, but he than began to deflect the bolts with his lightsaber. Antellica wouldn't have any of that. She called the sword from his hands and into her own. Now he was defenseless.

Jaina disengaged herself from her duel with the Imperial Princess Lacovia to assist Lowbacca, who was being shot down by at least a dozen stormtroopers all at once. A few of the other Jedi attempted to assist her, but the Sith they were dueling wouldn't allow it, driving them further away from the attack.

Antellica was laughing maliciously as the Wookie continued to have bolts of of fire bombarded into his veins. He was trying to fight against it, but she was holding him down with a Force grip.

Jaina came at Antellica, but she was too preoccupied with Lowbacca to even care. When the young Jedi was about to strike at her, though, Antellica turned her attention away from the Wookie, grabbed Jaina hard around the throat, and with a mighty push, threw her towards the mountain wall that laid about a hundred feet away.

Jaina slammed hard into in and crumpled to the ground, but she wouldn't let herself fall into unconsciousness. Not in the middle of a battle. As soon as she got up, Lacovia was there to meet her pare for pare. Jaina tripped her and prepared to perform the deathblow, but Lacovia had other plans. She kicked Jaina hard in the gut and stroke her blade towards her neck. Jaina ducked in time and was able to keep her footing despite wanting to fall to the ground in pain. She swung her blade towards the quickly rising Lacovia and the duel continued.

* * *

Alexander had never felt such hatred towards anyone in his life as he dueled Kenobi. He wanted nothing more than to strike the old man down and cause him the same physical pain he brought to his uncle and mother, and the emotional turmoil his sister was now going through, all because of him. The thoughts of these three things fueled him on and on to wanting to make this fight as painful and bloody as possible. 

Obi-Wan had known to expect hatred and rage from his son the next time they met and had even convinced himself that he was ready for it. But now, to actually see the emotions blazing in Alexander's eyes saddened him to no end. He couldn't help but think back to before when they were all a happy family and Alexander wanted to grow up to be just like his father; a Jedi Knight. The two of them had been close once, but

Obi-Wan knew no matter what anyone did that relationship could never be won back. Too many years had pasted and too many changes had been made.

As the fight continued, Obi-Wan found that he was being backed up into a wall near the entrance of the haven. He knew what Alexander was trying to do; it was a tactic of many warriors across the galaxy – Back up your prey until they have no room to escape and officially strike. Well, Obi-Wan wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. Just as he was backed all the way into the wall and Alexander was about to bring his crimson blade down upon him, Obi-Wan ducked and tripped his son. Alexander went sprawling to the ground, his lightsaber falling from his hands, spitting out curses. Obi-Wan caught Alexander's blade before it could land next to its owner and deactivated it, though his own was kept active. With a snarl, Alexander picked himself off the ground and made to throw himself at Kenobi again, but the old Jedi kept him back with a wave of Force energy.

"Come now Alexander," he said, looking into the eyes that wished death upon him, "you wouldn't kill your own father, would you? The very person who brought you into existence-"

"You are not my father!" Alexander roared. "You never have been and never will be! Now give me back my lightsaber so I can kill you!"

Obi-Wan continued to stall. "Why do you want to kill me Alexander?" he asked. "What did I ever do to you to make you want that?"

Alexander howled with rage, screaming out another profanity, and gave an almighty Force push. Obi-Wan was knocked off his feet and barely had time to swing his saber around before Alexander was striking at him again. Obi-Wan was able to pick himself back up, but would have to keep his ground held because it didn't seem like Alexander was going to end this duel anytime soon. Not until one of them died first.

* * *

Despite Zekk, Alema, and Tenel Ka's protection, many Ferroans and Langhesis had been killed; warriors as well as civilians. And with the continued barrage of Imperials, who continued to arrive every second, Zekk knew they needed to get out of here. 

But how could they? The only exit was being used to pour in Imperial after Imperial. There had to be another way out. And than it came to him.

The entrance to the secret haven was on the West side of the mountain behind two triangular stones, but on the East side of the mountain Zekk had noticed two other triangular stones.

What was behind them? Anything?

He turned to Tenel Ka to ask where Jica Mi was, but found she wasn't there. She was deflecting bolts of blaster fire coming from a group of stormtroopers that were trying to attack some Langhesi children. Zekk than whipped around to see where Alema was, but she was busy as well, slicing through stormtroopers like they were butter. Everyone was busy with something or the other. He finally spotted the witch doctor, but she was fighting some Imperial troops with brown clubs, one in each hand, made of wood.

No one seemed interested or concerned with getting out, but it was something that needed to be done for the haven was already half full and in approximately ten minutes time there wouldn't be any room for anyone to move around and fight in because of all the dead bodies and Imperial troops. This was something he needed to do himself.

Gesturing to the natives he was protecting to follow him, he ran through the sea of tents that were standing towards the mountain wall of the haven. He pounded on the wall with his fist, but it was as hard as rock. This brought a curse of frustration. There just had to be a way, and if not, he'd just have to make one.

A team of stormtroopers had followed he and his group over so he had to go back to deflecting bolts. In the meantime, he called out to Tenel Ka and Alema in the Force to tell them of his plan and ask for their help. As he continued the bolt deflecting, he noticed both females making their way over to him with their groups of natives.

As he, Tenel Ka, and the few surviving warriors continued to cover the area, Alema began to run the distance of the wall, Force senses all alert for some type of opening. And than she found one. It was behind a tiny rock formation that looked to have been put there ages ago. And what made it more unique was that all the rocks were shaped as triangles.

Plunging her blue blade into the formation, she began to hack away at it. It took a while, but she finally got through. Behind this laid a narrow tunnel that was slightly wider than the one they'd come through on the West side.

Turning to the natives that had gathered around her while she hacked at the opening, she said, "I'll be right back. I need to see how far this goes and I promise I'll return for you."

Without another word, Alema deactivated her lightsaber and darted into the tunnel, using the Force to see through the darkness. The tunnel went on for about five minutes before she came to a hard rock wall. Calling her lightsaber back in hand, she reactivated it and cut through the wall. Instantly, she was being bathed in warm sunlight. She continued to hack away at the stones until there was no more.

Deactivating her sword, Alema crawled out of the opening she made to indeed find herself outside the mountain, but on the East side. Darting behind a nearby bush, she saw the line of troopers and officers that continued to line up to go inside the West tunnel. There had to be at least three thousand of them.

She needed to get the natives out of here now without the Imperials noticing the new tunnel. Darting back into the tunnel, she saw that a few of the natives had already started in after her. In any other circumstance, she would've disapproved their actions of not waiting for her signal first, but this was dire.

"Come on, come on, come on!" she urged. "Faster, faster!"

Through the Force, Alema informed Zekk and Tenel Ka of her success. She sensed their relief and both said they would join her momentarily.

* * *

Luke growled in frustration. He was growing tired of this. Why wouldn't he just die? 

He'd been dueling Jacen Solo for the past twenty minutes now and had grown more than tired of the equality. He wanted to duel to end, but every time he made a sudden move, in an attempt to startle the young fool, he always blocked it and kept coming.

Oh, how he wanted this to end.

With a roar, he dropped his lightsaber and sprouted Force-lightning from his fingertips. Jacen almost lost his footing, but quickly regained it, holding his lightsaber up as a shield to block the lightning.

This enraged Luke even more. Spitting out a curse, he desisted with the lightning and called his saber back to him. A half a second later his crimson blade was crashing down on Jacen's green one. Violently, he began to strike down over and over on it, but obviously the Force was shining in Jacen's favor that day for he was able to pare each attack fantastically.

* * *

Anakin needed to find an opening in this battle or would go insane with rage. He'd been dueling the small Jedi Yoda for who knows how long and was quite sick of it. 

Interestingly enough, the emperor had sensed weakness surrounding the small Jedi since the moment he began fighting him. Than he remembered Leila's lightning attack on the stupid freak yesterday, and couldn't help but glow with pride.

Obviously, the attack had done some damage to him, yet in spite of this, he still swung and pared all of Anakin's attacks, whipping through the air like he was in his prime.

The Emperor was disgusted. He wanted this freak dead, and would not end this duel until it happened.

* * *

Author's Note #2: Ya like? The battle continues, and ultimately concludes, in the next chapter! 


	74. Display of Supernatural Power

Author's Note: Happy Easter to all those who celebrate it (not one of 'em). Just don't eat yourselves too sick with candy!

Jakiray Axmiris: I'm glad you liked it. Here's the conclusion!

MissNaye: Yet another satisfied reader! I knew this chapter was good, but actually hearing you and others words really makes it worth while. I'll say that one of the things in your review transpires below.

twisterblake: Find out below!

Thrawn716: Thanks for the info.

dmitchell: First off, thanks. Secondly, I did explain why Alexander hates his father so much in the duel: for Anakin's injuries on Mustafar mostly. Yet besides that, he's also been brainwashed over the years since age four, obviously, by his mother and the rest, but mostly Antellica. I never really went into the details, but obviously after she left Obi-Wan she had to tell Alexander something. To which she did in sense of making him hate him. Plus, what with what Obi-Wan did in the first Jedi/Sith confrontation, then with Anneliese leaving, all because of the conversation between her mom and uncle and her yearning for a father, it's no wonder he hates him.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 15: Display of Supernatural Power

"_I have chosen you for a very special task Jaina. Are you ready for this?"_

-Lady Sekot to Jaina Solo

Something wasn't right. Why did it seem like there were less natives in the haven? And what had happened to the three Jedi that were supposed to be covering the natives?

The first thought that came to Hilton's mind was death, but that wasn't right. He would've felt their deaths in the Force, and the only two that had died so far were the blond boy and the Wookie. Though Hilton hoped to change this soon by slicing down the blonde haired woman he'd been dueling forever now.

Danni was not going to give Hilton the satisfaction he wanted by dying though. She proved this over and over as she continued to keep the duel up.

Hilton was growing increasingly frustrated. Not just over the fight, but the vanishing natives as well. Where were they going? They couldn't be dying because there weren't that many dead bodies around where the natives had been.

The native warriors continued to fight Imperial troops, but the Jedi remained missing. And than he saw it, just as one of the main warriors – a female by the looks of it – fell: A large group of Ferroans and Langhesis were clustered around a part of the mountain wall at the end of the haven.

But why?

And than he noticed that the numbers of the group began to thin out. It was as if they were...No!

Making an unexpected slash that was supposed to slice Danni's head off, Hilton's deep sapphire blade cut through her long, wavy hair and into the back of her neck before she was able to backflip through the air, kicking under his chin and making him fall to the ground. In the process, however, his blade had run down the length of her arm and part of her leg. She fell to the ground biting back the pain. He was about to perform the deathblow, but abruptly felt someone behind him and whipped around in time to pare the swing at him that'd come from Aaron Solo.

The youngest Solo sibling had abandoned his duel with Antellica Grievous to aide Danni. Though it didn't seem like Antellica was going to take this lying down, for she was running at them now, lightsaber and eye ablaze.

Just as abruptly as Aaron began the fight with Hilton, he abandoned it and ran with Danni to where the natives were escaping. And they weren't the only ones. All the Jedi were abandoning their duels for the exit. The Sith were right behind them though; they wouldn't let them escape.

Naturally, the younger Jedi went first, than the older ones. By the time the Sith had reached the escape exit the only ones that remained were Obi-Wan and Yoda. Obi-Wan hesitated a moment, but Yoda hastily urged him on.

"Go you must Obi-Wan," he quickly said. "My fate, with the Sith it lies."

The two Senior Jedi had talked before they exited their tent that morning. Yoda had commanded Obi-Wan that if anything should happen to him, Obi-Wan would go on and keep fighting no matter what the odds were.

Though Obi-Wan was slightly saddened by the prospect of Yoda's death, he knew that the small Jedi couldn't go on living forever, and eventually he, as well as Obi-Wan, would someday be one with the Force. Because of this Obi-Wan gave a final nod in Yoda's direction before darting into the tunnel.

What happened next, all seven Sith remembered for the rest of their lives in pleasure. His lightsaber still activated, Yoda swung at the seven surrounding him. But he might as well just given himself up, for right as he was in mid-swing the seven Sith thrust forward their blades, impaling him from all directions.

As the Sith looked on in triumph, he gave a small "Oh" and closed his eyes, surrendering himself to the Force's calling.

A second later, he became one with the Force and his body vanished, causing the looks of glee on the Sith's faces to change to confusion. They were baffled over where his body had gone and, as such, started looking around for it. But all that remained of the eight hundred and ninety-seven year old Jedi Master was his robes and deactivated lightsaber.

"Impossible!" Leila roared. This was what was in everyone's mind, though, she is the only one who voiced it aloud. Anakin even went as far as stepping down on the robes to confirm that the small Jedi was really gone.

"We don't have time for this!" Luke barked. "This is probably just some trick Yoda decided to pull at the last minute to distract us. And it worked. Now let's move on before the Jedi escape."

Deactivating his lightsaber, Luke darted into the tunnel with Alexander close behind. After which came Leila, Lacovia, Hilton, Antellica, and finally Anakin after he collected the fallen Jedi's lightsaber. Arica would be pleased with the addition added to her collection.

While the troops closest to the East side followed the Sith out that way, the troopers closest to the West side turned around and went back the way they'd came.

Upon exiting the East tunnel, Leila saw that Luke had already informed the troops surrounding the West tunnel to abandon the area and join them at the East side.

The Jedi and surviving natives, after fleeing the tunnel, had ran a ways east through the trees of the forest, going up a slight hill and than down it on the other side. At the bottom of this was the base of a rapid flowing river. Ten wooden canoes laid on the shore. The Jedi hurriedly rushed the natives over to them. Being that the canoes were only capable enough of holding no more than five people each, none of the Jedi were sure what was to be done with the remaining sixty-so natives. But they'd find some kind of way; they had to.

Just as the canoes were loaded up and pushed down the shore, the Sith and their forces arrived. While Zekk, Tenel Ka, Alema, Jaina and Aaron went to meet them, Danni, Tahiri, Obi-Wan, and Jacen began to lead the rest of the natives along the side of the river and into the woods.

Jaina and the others' job was mainly to hold the Imperials back and distract them while the others escaped. They'd all pretty much accepted defeat, but simply needed to buy themselves some time to escape. As such, Jaina and her group did not engage the group directly, merely kept off at a distance, deflecting blaster bolts and slicing down the few officers whom tried to engage them. As for the Sith that tried to engage them, they evaded their attacks. They didn't need to fight them anymore. They didn't want to. They just wanted this battle to end so badly and for the killing to cease.

In horror, Jaina abruptly noticed that the natives that had been escaping in the canoes were being shot down by a group of troopers flying overhead in jet-packs. Alema than gave a scream and they all saw that she'd been shot in the shoulder blade by an officer.

They were being more than outnumbered. They needed off this planet immediately. But with the way things were going now that didn't seem very possible. And than a voice spoke inside of Jaina's head.

"Jaina Solo." It was melodic in sound and Jaina knew it was a woman speaking, though, it wasn't any woman she recognized. And just as suddenly as the voice had spoken, Jaina found herself being struck down and in a lush garden of complete whiteness. There were suddenly white flowers in her dark hair and she was wearing a white sleeveless gown of silk instead of brown Jedi robes. Her feet were bare. She didn't know where she was, but she did know she was safe and wasn't dead. She'd probably just been knocked unconscious.

"Correct," said the same melodic woman's voice that seemed to come from everywhere, yet at the same time no where.

To her far right, Jaina saw a small pool of water in a white basin of flowers. Next to the basin sat a woman, though her back was to Jaina, the mid-teen knew that the woman was very beautiful and wise.

Seating herself down next to the woman, she looked over at her. And there was something in that glance that told her who this woman was – the living intelligence of the planet itself, the maiden Sekot.

"Hello Jaina Solo," her melodic voice sang out. "We don't have much time so I'll make this quick. I have chosen you for a very special task Jaina. Are you ready for this?"

"Well yes," she said with some hesitation, "but what about-"

"This has anything and everything to do with the battle that rages on," Sekot cut in with a smile. "I need your help to stop it. There is a chant you must memorize for this to be done. Jaina Solo, are you ready to learn it."

"Yes I am."

"All right."

Instantly, Jaina's mind was being clouded with a twenty word chant concerning Zonama Sekot. Her mind could think of nothing else but the chant, and Jaina abruptly found herself out of the presence of Sekot and back in the middle of battle, only she was still dressed in the garments of the garden.

Picking herself off the ground, she motioned to her fellow Jedi to fall back. They seemed rather confused over how she'd abruptly been dressed and made up to look like royalty in the battle, and they weren't the only ones. The Sith and other Imperials who weren't helmeted were also looking at her oddly, but she didn't care. Screaming for the others to "fall back now and go", she centered herself in the middle of the area, closed her eyes and began the chant that continued to run through her mind in a loud, ringing voice.

"_Zonama Sekot, Zonama Sekot, will yourself to me._

_Let thou will become my will,_

_and do thy bidding for thee."_

As she continued to say this chant a second time, her arms came up on either side of her body towards the sky and the wind began to whip around rapidly.

Into the third time of chanting, the clouds vanished, the sky darkened, and the stars shined brightly down upon her.

"Zonama Sekot, Become My Will!" she boomed and began to feel the supernatural power of Sekot enter her veins. A tornado of energy surrounded her body, and the will of the planet had become hers.

The Sith and other Imperials didn't know what to think of this display of power and many of the officers were asking their Emperor what they should do. He barked for them to stay put, as he also didn't know what was going on and would simply wait to see what this Jedi intended on doing first before charging forward unprepared.

Jaina allowed the powerful energy of the planet to swirl around her a few moments before thrusting forward her arms. The limbs and leaves of trees disconnected themselves from their respected places and thrust forward at Jaina's command, beginning to wrap themselves around the bodies of Imperials, choking some of them to death while lifting others in the air and throwing them random places around the planet.

The Sith attempted fighting against these plants but they were bombarded too quickly, their lightsabers being taken from them by a vine of leaves or being wrapped in a knot of limbs before they could even react. This continued for what seemed like forever – actually it was only five minutes – until all the Imperials had been apprehended.

Lowering her arms, Jaina felt the power of Sekot leave her. The wind stopped whipping and the stars stopped shining. The sky became light again and the clouds returned. Suddenly, she felt drained of all energy. She looked around a moment before she felt herself falling into unconsciousness. She didn't hit the ground, though, for Obi-Wan was there to catch her. He'd sent the other Jedi ahead with the few surviving natives and they were storming the main Star Destroyer on the planet that still had a few officers aboard it even as he thought it. He'd come back to see just what it was Jaina was doing. And was he ever glad he had. Jaina's control over the planet's power was incredible. She used it for the purpose it was given to her for and released it when she no longer needed it. Unlike what a Sith would've done, holding onto it until they drained themselves of all life. Yoda was right in what he said about Jaina becoming a mighty Jedi Knight of great power someday, just like her brothers. But it was obvious who was the more powerful.

With a smile, Obi-Wan collected Jaina securely in his arms and began to run in the direction of his fellows.

When he arrived at the _Executor II_ it was to find that all seven surviving Jedi, save himself and Jaina, were there to meet him. They were all concerned about Jaina, but Obi-Wan assured them she was fine.

"Everything's ready than," Aaron said with one last look at his sister. "The ship's tracking system has been destroyed as well as all other odds and ends that could be used to keep the ship located. We're ready to go whenever you are."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Let us be off than. And may the Force be with us as we venture onto our next journey."

They all boarded the Emperor's ex-Star Destroyer and once putting up its cloaking shield, left Zonama Sekot to return to Dagabah.


	75. The Comfort an Aunt Can Give

Author's Note: The return of Anneliese's below, as one could've probably guessed from the title.

Chapter 74 review responses:

MissNaye: Yup, they really stole the flagship.

Tsubasa no Michi: In the long run, yeah.

dmitchell: Good, good, good! I didn't have much use for Yoda in this, the reason for his demise. Plus, I wanted to change things around a bit by having it be the other way around from the canon version with Yoda dieing first, than Obi-Wan sometime down the road. I told the Jedi would start becoming more level with the Sith as they gained more experience confronting them. And this is only just the beginning.

Jakiray Axmiris: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I'm glad you liked it.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 16: The Comfort an Aunt Can Give

"_When you find there's something you can't talk to your mother about, I'll always be available to help in whatever way possible."_

- Arica Grievous-Skywalker to her niece, Anneliese Grievous, many years prior

After leaving Zonama Sekot in her Imperial Navy Command ship, _Luckolynn_, Anneliese remained in her quarters the entire way to Coruscant, doing nothing. She merely sat emotionless.

Seven hours into her journey, she sensed her mother and the rest leave the planet as well. As though on cue, transmissions were sent to her ship from her mother, brother, and uncle. She ignored them all, though was slightly tempted to answer her uncle's, she didn't.

As the days went by, the calls persisted so much that Anneliese eventually demanded that the communications system be destroyed altogether.

Upon arriving on Coruscant two weeks after leaving Zonama Sekot, Anneliese unloaded her quarters on _Luckolynn_ of all possessions and left the ship without a word to her crew. From the Imperial base, she took a shuttle to Skywalker Manor. In this time, she decided to resign from her post as Commander in the Imperial Navy and just go back to being a normal girl; a feat that was nearly impossible when one had the Navy's Supreme Commander for a mother and the Galactic Emperor and Empress as an uncle and aunt.

All her life she'd been in this type of philosophy that set her above everyone else. She was a Royal Lady in the Grievous-Skywalker House and a natural born leader. Yet there were times when she felt she didn't have enough time for just her and what she wanted to do, not what everyone was telling her to do.

When she arrived at the manor a short while later, it was to find Troy outside playing ball with Cole and Dylan in the patch of grass that laid in front of the playground set up southwest of the property around the entrance. In fact, she was almost bopped in the head by the ball being thrown around, but ducked in time upon hearing Cole's yell of "Heads up!"

Instead, the ball smashed into a window of the shuttle. While the driver began to go on and on about the damages, Anneliese silenced him by slipping a two thousand credit chip into his pocket and telling him to beat it. He hastened to do so and was gone in no time.

By now the boys had made their way over to her.

"Sorry about that," Cole said. "I'm still trying to practice my throwing arm."

"And I suppose throwing the ball at me will help you achieve that goal?" Anneliese asked with a hint of playfulness.

Cole lowered his head in embarrassment while Dylan laughed.

"It's alright Cole." Anneliese lifted his little face in her hands. "I was just teasing."

Cole cocked his head like that was obvious. "Yeah, right."

"Did you really run away from Zonama Sekot on the brink of war and attack Aunt Antellica?" Dylan blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Dylan!" Troy reprimanded, but Anneliese waved a hand.

"It's alright Troy. I expected to be asked something of the sort when I got here. I just wasn't sure who from."

"So it's true than," Dylan pressed.

"Dylan..." Troy said in a warning tone.

"Troy, it's fine, really." She turned back to Dylan. "Yes, I did do those things. And while I do regret attacking mom, I do not regret leaving when I did. They were just fine without me obviously, for they left seven hours after I did."

"And will be here in seven hours," Cole added. "Yeah, we already know."

"Dad called to let us know," Troy elaborated. "He, uh, also mentioned that you might stop by, so..."

"You were out here waiting for me!" she accused.

"No!" the brothers said in haste, but at her raised eyebrows they lowered their heads in defeat.

"Okay, you got us," Troy said. "But it's only because we were concerned. The girls would've been here too, only they're all busy."

"Ah, what are my favorite sister act girls doing this time?" Anneliese asked as the four of them made for the house.

"Gabriella's on Alderaan, shooting on location for her new holo-horror," Troy began.

"Elektra and River are at a photo shoot," Dylan continued.

"And Philomena's doing some modeling jobs at a kiddie fashion show at the downtown mall," Cole finished.

"It seems like everyone's keeping busy," Anneliese commented.

"The three of us had off today, strangely enough," Troy said in gesture to himself and the twins. "We never usually have off on the same day."

"Yeah, so we're just, you know, chillin' and such," Dylan said.

Troy nodded down at his nine-year-old twin brothers before glancing up at Anneliese. "As interesting as our entertainment lives may be, I don't get the feeling you came here to talk about that."

Anneliese gave Troy a small smile. "I never can hide my true feelings from you, can I?"

Troy allowed a slight smirk. "Never."

Because Anneliese and Troy were only a day apart – with Anneliese being the older – it was only natural that they'd be close. Troy would often joke they were like twins because at times you could find them finishing each other's sentences. The cousins shared a lifelong bond that could only be broken upon one of their deaths. Anneliese knew she could tell Troy anything and he would support her unconditionally.

"Maybe you'd like to come inside and have something to eat," Troy suggested as they climbed the hundred manor stairs.

"Yes. I think I would like that."

Gesturing to the stationed guards to relieve Anneliese of her things, the foursome entered the building and manor entrance hall of the first floor business level to find themselves in the middle of a heated argument. The Empress' secretary, Tonya Summerset, was arguing with media mogul, Ted "Teddy" Mapleleaf, over something. The royals' entrance, however, did not bring a halt to it as Troy assumed it might. Mostly because they had yet to notice their presence. Those surrounding them did, however, and fell silent; some even appeared fearful.

Finally, it was only Summerset and Mapleleaf who were still speaking heatedly. Troy grew tired of waiting for them to notice their presence so loudly cleared his throat.

As expected, Summerset and Mapleleaf grew quiet at the sight of he and others. Both their expressions turned triumphant and they were suddenly speaking again.

"Prince Troy-"

"Your Majesties-"

"Silence!" he hissed out. After a moment of this, he continued. "Would anyone care to tell me as to why the four of us have come in here to find you two arguing and not doing your jobs? Especially you Tonya. Calls are coming in and you're not even answering them."

"Your Majesties." She gave a bow. "I apologize. I was simply-"

"Just answer the question about why you were arguing," Dylan barked.

The dark-skinned but blonde haired woman of about thirty was silent a moment, while Ted – a plump melon in his mid-to-late fifties – smirked, but finally nodded. "I was merely telling Mapleleaf here that he'd have to wait for his statement concerning the war being over or not, but he-"

"People are worried sick and scared," Ted cut across her in a loud voice. "They want answers. I want answers!"

"The emperor assured-" Tonya started, but Ted interjected her finishing.

"I don't care what the emperor assured." The eyes of the Royal four flashed at this, but Mapleleaf ignored them as he continued. "Until an actual statement is made concerning the end of the war, people are going to continue demanding answers. And than there's the rumors."

He turned to Anneliese. "Commander Grievous, you were in this so-called Battle of Zonama Sekot, weren't you? Did-"

"Actually, I wasn't," Anneliese broke in. "I left before the battle began. Family disagreement. You'll forgive me if I don't go into the details."

"Of course," Ted said with a nod, though, he looked slightly interested.

"I suggest you ask the emperor when he and the others return in seven hours," she continued. "I'm sure he'll tell you something you'll find of interest."

"Or you could simply wait until a statement's released," Troy added. "Or a press conference is scheduled. Either way, you'll get your answer eventually."

Ted nodded, and looked ready to ask something else but Anneliese spoke before he could. "And before any rumors start, I would like to say that my family life is fine. Everyone has disagreements from time to time, and that's all there is to it. Also, I'm no longer a Commander in the navy, so you don't have to address me as 'Commander Grievous' anymore. Milady or Miss Grievous is just fine."

The last comment is what startled everyone, even Troy and the twins were looking at her in confusion. Ted and a few others began shooting out questions, some with microphones in hand and holocameras to their backs, but Anneliese rose a hand to silence them.

"I gave my statement, but I'm not answering any questions to elaborate. Come to whatever conclusions you like. I really couldn't give a care."

Anneliese turned from the assembly and headed for the elevator on the right of the room, ignoring the questions that continued to be shouted out at her. Troy, Cole and Dylan silently followed. Pressing the 'down' arrow button, Anneliese awaited the elevator to come down and the doors to open. All three of her cousins were studying her in concerned confusion, but it was obvious nothing would be said until they were in the closed privacy of the elevator.

The doors opened a moment later and the foursome entered within after nodding to those who exited first. Anneliese pressed the button for level fifty-four and the doors closed in front of them. The moment this happened, Troy turned to her. "Anneliese-"

"My mind is set Troy. Nothing you say is going to change that."

"But what will you do if you're not in the navy?" Cole wanted to know.

Anneliese sighed. "I don't know. Go back to being a normal girl I guess." She gave a dry laugh. "Not that I ever was one to begin with."

Dylan gave a sniff. "Sounds kinda boring."

Anneliese shrugged. "Maybe, but that's the path I want."

The twins shrugged, and glanced at one another a moment before saying, "Whatever floats your boat."

Anneliese gave them a smile. "Thank you boys. You don't know how much it means to hear you not criticizing my decision." She than glanced at Troy, but he averted his gaze.

"Yeah well, it's your life," Dylan said. "No one should tell you what to do with it."

Anneliese gave a small, distant smile as she examined the digital screen that told them what floor they were currently on. "If only everyone felt that way."

The bell of the elevator chimed above them and the doors opened. The fifty-fourth level of the manor consisted of the main living quarters: kitchen, sitting room, dining room, den. This level wasn't often used, only so on the rare occasion that a large amount of the family was together at the same time. The reason being that each royal resident of the manor had their own private level to themselves among other things. It, along with the other levels above, was only accessible to the royals whom lived there and their servants.

As expected, no one was on this level as of the present. Troy went to the kitchen to pop some mini nerf burgers in the instant oven while Dylan and Cole showed Anneliese a new comedy act of theirs. As they were finishing up, Troy came back in with the burgers, 3 on each of the four dishes. The twins attacked theirs instantly, causing Anneliese to shake her head in amusement. Troy, she noticed, didn't say or do anything concerning the two, which was odd because usually he'd be either reprimanding them or laughing along with them. It depended on what mood he was in. But now, he merely sat there, silently eating his burgers.

"Troy, are you-"

But she was never able to finish, for at that moment Arica came breezing in from the elevator. Cole and Dylan were instantly on their feet. "Mom! Mom! Mom!" They bounded over to her, and the look of disgusted frustration that had been on her face vanished at the sight of them and turned to a bright smile.

"Well, it's nice to see that someone missed me," she said, taking them into her arms.

Ever since Arica had returned from her two-month abandoning of the family a year ago, Cole and Dylan, along with Philomena, had attached themselves to her, insisting that they go with her everywhere and she do the same with them. This, of course, was nearly impossible as the twins, Philomena, and Arica were always busying with their own things so this didn't happen often. Anneliese knew the only reason they felt that way was because they thought if they didn't hold onto her, she'd slip away again.

"Hi mom," Troy greeted. "How was your meeting?"

Arica's face darkened. "Horrendous. And what's even more horrendous is that Teddy Mapleleaf is on the first floor trying to get people to comment on if the war's over or not."

Troy's own face darkened. "I told him to wait for a statement."

Arica flashed her son a sly smile. "Come now Troy. In your fifteen years of living and being in the public eye, when has the media ever waited for something that was said would be given to them later, sooner?"

Troy returned the sly look. "I suppose the correct answer to that question would be never."

"Of course." Smoothing out the wrinkles the boy's made on her simple black mini dress, Arica took both of their hands and led them back over to the sofa.

When she reached the front of it, she smiled at the seated Anneliese. "Ah, my favorite niece has come to pay us with a visit." She spoke in a dramatic tone that brought the twins to laughter.

Though she had a reputation of being cold and sadistic ever since the Clone Wars twenty-one years previous, Anneliese always liked her aunt's playful humorous side. The side that would dress up in a kitty cat outfit and walk like that down a runway with her seven-year-old daughter.

Anneliese got up with a smile and hugged her aunt. When they broke apart, she smirked. "Actually, that's because I'm your _only_ niece."

Arica gave a small laugh and they sat down on the sofa together. There was a moment of silence before... "You wanna go out for ice cream or something?"

This abrupt question came from Arica, and though Cole and Dylan began to whoop with glee, Anneliese knew she was talking to her. Arica wanted to talk about what happened on Zonama Sekot. But strangely, Anneliese didn't mind. She welcomed it.

Giving a small smile, she nodded. "Yes, I'd like that very much."

Arica gave a smile of her own and took Anneliese's right hand into her left. Anneliese smiled. She always considered Arica to be a second mother.

"Troy, do you-"

"No mom, I don't mind picking up Elektra and River and than going to see Philomena to her next fashion gig."

Arica smiled and gave her son's hair a ruffle. "Thank you, Troy. Ani (Ah-ne) and I have some girl talk to do."

The twins both looked disappointed. "But the ice cream..."

"I'll bring you back some and put it in the freezer. It'll be here when you come back."

This seemed to cheer them up a bit. "Well okay, but remember no nuts in mine," Dylan said.

"And lots and lots of syrup on top with a cherry and hot fudge," Cole added.

"Mmm." Both boys rubbed their stomachs with dreamy looks.

Arica and Anneliese laughed. "All right boys. I'll make a mental note of that," Arica said. "What about you Troy, do you want something?"

"Nah. I'm not in the mood for ice cream."

"I'm in the mood for video games," Dylan announced.

"Later," Troy said. "We have to tend to your sisters first. Than the video games."

"All right!"

The twins began pumping their fists in the air and letting out more whoops. Troy shook his head in amusement and offered his mother a smile. It was returned and she bent down to hug him. After which, Arica and Anneliese left for the ice cream.

The downtown outdoor parlor, Ice 'N Creamery, hadn't been all that crowded at their arrival. Yet even if it were, the duo still wouldn't have had to wait long due to their high stasis in society. Arica decided to get the boys' ice cream later as she and Anneliese than walked to the nearby park. That too wasn't all that crowded, and the females found a spot to sit and eat their ice cream cones in peace and the shade of an oak tree.

Their talk was casual for a while, but Anneliese knew it was only a matter of time before this changed. And when it did, she was ready.

"So Anneliese, you wanna tell me what happened on Zonama Sekot?"

Anneliese was silent for a moment before launching into the tale. She knew Arica must already know about some of it via her mother, but she explained in full detail nonetheless. The partial conversation she overheard, the fighting, and how she felt afterwards. Arica listened silently as she spoke, her face betraying nothing.

"The thing is, I still don't even know what it was they were talking about." Anneliese noticed Arica growing somewhat uncomfortable and grew suspicious. "Do you?"

The question seemed to startle her. "Of course not," she said a bit too quickly to actually believe.

Anneliese knew she was lying, and wouldn't drop the subject until she got some type of answer, but in a round about way.

"How did my father die?" she asked.

Again, Arica seemed startled. She put her head down and began to play with a nearby fallen leaf.

"That's what they were talking about, wasn't it?"

Still Arica remained silent.

"Aunt Arica, please," Anneliese pleaded. "I feel like there's a part of me that's missing. And it'll always be that way until I know something, anything, about him. I don't know his name. I don't know what he looked like. I don't know anything about him."

When Arica still remained silent and kept her gaze downcast, Anneliese reached over and shook her. "Please Arica, I'm begging you. Just tell me one thing about him. I don't care what it is, just anything."

It broke Arica's heart to see Anneliese like this. She wanted to tell her, she longed to tell her, but Anneliese wasn't her daughter and Arica didn't want to go against Antellica's wishes, despite the fact that she felt Anneliese had every right to know about her heritage.

She slowly turned to face her niece and looked into her eyes of longing.

"Please," Anneliese begged.

With a sigh, Arica took her niece's hands into her own. "Anneliese, I don't want to go against your mother's wishes. She obviously has a reason for not wanting you to know and whatever reason that is, notwithstanding my feelings concerning the matter, I will respect her wishes."

"Aunt Arica, please-"

"But that doesn't mean I can't tell you a little about him," she added. "I just won't tell you his name or how he died."

Anneliese's eyes a lit with excitement. "Anything Arica! I don't care what it is. I just want to know about my father."

Arica gave one last hesitating sigh and swallowed. "All right, what do you want to know about him?"

"How did he and mom meet...?"

* * *

Anneliese and Arica talked for a long time concerning her father. Arica didn't give out too much information, just enough to have Anneliese begging for more and not giving it to her. She wanted to leave her niece guessing, but Anneliese didn't seem to mind. On the contrary, she seemed thrilled with what little information she was given, and that's what made it so sad. Arica sighed to herself. If only she knew the truth. 

"Let me see if I got it all," Anneliese said. "They met when mom was thirteen and a handmaiden under Padme Amidala, but didn't become interested in each other until three years later."

"He was a lot older than her Anneliese," Arica explained. "Thirty-eight to be exact. So you'll understand why it wouldn't be broadcasted all over the place."

"Yeah, I can't imagine going out with someone that old," Anneliese commented with a shudder. "Or even around that age. That's you and mom's age almost."

"I couldn't either," Arica seconded, "but she said she loved him so..."

"You also said that I look a lot like him," Anneliese reminded.

"His hair was slightly lighter than yours; a ginger color. But I'd pretty much say that when it came to which child looked more like him, it would be you. Alexander takes more after his mother, but there are elements of-" She stopped herself from saying Kenobi. "-him there."

"So, he had a dry sense of humor," Anneliese recounted, "cared about people, believed in fighting for what was right, adventurous, had a positive outlook on life...anything else?"

Arica shrugged. "Not really. Not that I can think of anyway. Like I said, I didn't know him as well as your mother did, only meeting him a handful of times."

"But he seemed nice," Anneliese pressed.

"Yes," Arica said at length.

Anneliese still seemed in awe of the information Arica told her. "Wow, he sounds like he was a nice guy." She let a moment go by before adding, "I wish I'd known him. I guess there's still no chance of you telling me how he died."

"I'd rather not Anneliese."

"But you do know how it happened."

"I...suppose you could say that."

There was something Arica wasn't saying, Anneliese was sure of it. But she wasn't going to push her good fortune too far. She should be happy she got the information that she had.

"Thank you Aunt Arica," Anneliese said, drawing her aunt's eyes onto her again. She nodded. "This can be our little secret Anneliese. I'd rather your mother not know we had this conversation."

Anneliese nodded. "I understand."

Arica tilted her head to the side as she continued to gaze at her niece. "What are you going to say when your mother and the rest arrive back?"

Now it was Anneliese's turn to be uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I guess."

Arica allowed another moment go by. "You and I both know you're not going to be here when they arrive back."

Anneliese looked up sharply in alarm. "What makes you think-"

"Anneliese, I know the feeling of wanting to be alone, and no I'm not talking about last year. I ran away from Padme's home when I was thirteen."

"But you wanted to fight in the war," Anneliese objected. She knew the story all too well. "I don't."

"That's not the point I was making," Arica said. "I know what it's like to yearn freedom and want to run away from it all. That's how you feel right now."

"Arica-"

"And there's nothing wrong with that. If you want to run away Anneliese, I'm not going to stop you. I would simply make the suggestion that you do so soon because everyone will be back within the next few hours."

Anneliese studied her aunt a moment. "You wouldn't tell anyone where I was going if I told you?"

"I don't want to know where you're going. It's better I don't know; that way no one can break into my mind while I'm asleep." At Anneliese's confused expression, Arica elaborated. "I wouldn't put it past you brother to do something like that."

"Yeah, he is awfully overprotective of me."

"Simply because he loves and cares about you."

"I doubt he does now."

"I wouldn't say that."

"You didn't see him."

"True. But I don't think there's anything you could do that would make him stop loving and adoring you."

Anneliese thought over her words a moment. "Perhaps."

There was a moment of silence before she got up. "I guess I should go than."

"Aren't you going to resign from your post of Commander first?"

"How do you know about that?"

Arica rolled her eyes. "That's one of the things Mapleleaf was going on about besides the war. I'm not surprised you'd want to resign, yett simply know that if ever you want your job back, there'll always be a place for you in the navy."

"Thank you Aunt Arica. Tell mom and Alex I love them, will you?" Arica nodded. "I really do, and I know they're probably still mad at me but...I just need some me time now. I'll come back eventually."

"Take care of yourself, Anneliese." Arica rose to enfold her niece into an embrace. "We'll miss you."

"I know, and I'll miss you guys too, I just..."

"Oh stop trying to explain the matter and just go already," Arica barked. "And don't take your own star cruiser. It has a tracking device on it. Your mother's way of keeping you located. You can take the_ Jeweled Dolphin_ if you like."

"Thank you, I will. And I'm sorry for feeling the need to explain myself. I just can't help but think how they'll feel."

"Exactly the point. Start thinking about yourself and what you want. That's the pathway to true inner peace."

"I'm sorry Arica, I'll have to work on that while I'm gone."

Arica gave a small chuckle. "And I have no doubt you will succeed."

With one last hug, Anneliese turned to go.

"Good-bye, Ani," Arica called after her.

Anneliese turned back to Arica with a smile. "Good-bye Aunt Arica. Until we meet again."

And with that, Anneliese was gone.


	76. The Legacy of the Force War

Chapter 75 review responses: Since the majority of these have to do with Anneliese's exit and what she might be doing in that period, I'll simply say this – Her return to the episode doesn't occur till Chapter 31.

MissNaye: Read above.

Jakiray Axmiris: Read above.

Thrawn716: Read above.

twisterblake (for both 74 and 75): Since you reviewed on 75, I'm assuming you figured out that your question concerning Obi-Wan and Anakin fighting doesn't occur.

dmitchell: Read above.

Twisted Words: Read above.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 17: The Legacy of the Force War

21.0 - 23.0 Imperial Era

"_Out with one war; in with a new."_

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Alliance to Restore the New Galactic Republic was dead; killed off a second and final time. The Galactic Civil War that had reigned over the galaxy for the past three years was ended. For the second time, the rebellion had been crushed and everyone gave into Galactic Imperial domination. Dictatorship was never something everyone would agree with fully, but they would rightfully hold their tongues to assure that they and their planets weren't eradicated. But though the Galactic Civil War had ended, another was just beginning. Not between democracy and dictatorship, but the Force's two archenemies: the Jedi and the Sith. The war to exterminate one another had just began – the Legacy of the Force War.

The Jedi disappeared following the Third Battle of Zonama Sekot and were not able to be tracked in the Star Destroyer stolen – _Executor II_ – despite the navy's best efforts. But the emperor knew it was only a matter of time before they resurfaced, and when they did the Empire would be ready.

The rebirth of the Jedi Order generated the emperor to complete the plans for the second Death Star project. He'd started them briefly after the destruction of the first battle station, but soon became too distracted with the war to complete them. However, now that things had calmed down a bit, he had no excuse not to finish the design.

The plans for this battle station would be much greater than the last; taking the flaws of the old design and perfecting them to greatness far surpassing anything that could've ever been imagined before. Production soon began, a month after the Third Battle of Zonama Sekot, in the Unknown Regions section of Imperial space right on schedule.

* * *

Antellica was heartbroken upon learning of her daughter's leave for who knows where. Yet also furious that Arica hadn't stopped her. Alexander was also mad, but for another reason. Somehow he'd gotten it in his mind that Kenobi would get his hands on Anneliese and lure her into being a Jedi. 

"Preposterous!" Arica barked. "Anneliese knows better than that."

Nonetheless, he insisted he be allowed to look for her. But Alexander was so strong-willed, even if he was denied this request, he still would've definitely gone. Something that was proven correct when Anakin told him to leave Anneliese be.

"If she feels she needs space, let her have it."

Alexander, enraged by these words, left Coruscant in a huff the next morning.

Antellica was saddened that she'd now lost both of her children, but Arica and the rest of the family helped her get through it by learning to let go of her children and find happiness in other things.

* * *

Not long after the Jedi and surviving Ferroans and Langhesi of Zonama Sekot arrived on Dagabah in _Executor II_, a memorial service was held in honor of the fallen – natives and Jedi alike (Cilghal, Numa, Jovan, Octa, Callista, Daeshara'cor, Raynar, Lowbacca, and Yoda) – who'd fought nobly and gave their lives to allow the survivors to keep going and escape the treacherous clutches of the Empire. 

In the weeks to follow, the natives set up forts to live in around the swamp world and the training of the eight surviving Jedi apprentices continued. Eventually, however, one by one, Obi-Wan began to knight them each. First Jaina, than Aaron. Jacen and Zekk soon followed, along with Danni and Tenel Ka not long after, and finally Alema and Tahiri. Because they were officially knights, Obi-Wan felt that they were ready to go out on their own and find students; a task that each of them performed well.

As time progressed, the number of Jedi increased up to fifty. All of the trainees, young and old, were brought to Dagabah where they were trained and taught the knowledges of the Force. A temple was also eventually built on the southern hemisphere of the planet, by the natives as a thank you to their rescuers. It wasn't much, but it was the gesture that counted, and the Jedi were more than happy with the way it turned out.

* * *

In this semi-peace that extended for the next two years, not much occurred within the Empire. Production on the Death Star II was going swimmingly. Luke began taking up engineering at Corulag Academy on the Core World of the same name, sans the academy title, while Leila chose politics at the University of Alderaan. The five Grievous-Skywalker heirs involved in the entertainment industry – Troy, Gabriella, Elektra, River, and Philomena – also came to a decision concerning their careers. With the outbreak of war likely to happen at any time now, they chose to turn their backs on their Holostar occupations and focus fully on their roles as Sith. The semi-training that they'd, Dylan and Cole each undergone sometime in life was sharpened to perfection. Each of the seven, excluding Troy, Elektra, Gabriella, and Philomena, were placed in a one master-one apprentice unit. Troy and Elektra were apprenticed by Anakin; Gabriella and Philomena by Arica; River by Antellica; Dylan by Lacovia; and Cole by Hilton. Luke and Leila, meanwhile, would train together or by themselves. 

It was in this order that the new Sith Legacy existed:

Dark Lord of the Sith – Darth Vader

Dark Ladies of the Sith – Zenevieva and Veradisia

Sith Masters – Lacovia and Hilton

Sith Knights – Luke, Leila, Alexander, and Anneliese

Sith Apprentices – Troy, Gabriella, Elektra, River, Dylan, Cole and Philomena

Sixteen in all. The Emperor felt there was no need to have any more than that. With the combined effort of the present fourteen, sixteen whenever Alexander and Anneliese returned, the Jedi wouldn't stand a chance against them.

* * *

Alexander came back from his two-year hunt for Anneliese downhearted and disappointed that he hadn't been successful. He'd searched the galaxy far and near for his sister; reached out to her, begged her to tell him where she was, and to no avail. He wasn't mad at Anneliese anymore, just concerned and worried. He missed her terribly and didn't at all like the idea of his teenage sister off on some unknown planet by herself; call it the overprotectiveness in him. The reason he finally gave up his hunt after two years is because he grew tired of jumping from planet to planet without success. 

Upon arriving back, after the warm and loving welcomes, he insisted upon taking everyone out to dinner as his treat. Though it was a nice gesture, and everyone thought it was a good idea, only Anakin knew the true intentions of Alexander for the evening. Nevertheless, he remained silent on the matter and decided to let the night flow by on its own accord.

The dinner was at one of Coruscant's most luxurious restaurants, Manarai, formerly co-owned by Prince Xizor, than his niece Savan, and finally, presently, Black Sun collectively. Located in the Manarai Mountains, it was one of the staple attractions of Monument Plaza, literally built into the wall of the mountain's highest peak, Umate.

Reserved specifically for the wealthiest and most powerful of the Imperial Center's residents, in addition to this requirement, in order to actually attend the restaurant, one had to make reservations months in advance. However, the First Imperial Family, as rulers of an galaxy-spanning government, were allowed in anytime they wished, and even owned a moderate-sized lounge inside that only they were allowed to eat in. The food served included fleek eel, stuffed yam, plicto steak, giant Ithorian snail in flount butter, and Kashyyyk land shrimp, all of which at least one of the fourteen royals present indulged in.

The meal and setting – brown adornment of both the walls and floor, the lounge was filled with bushes of exotic trees and a small sea aquarium one could observe fish and other aquatic creatures swimming in while waiting for your meal or afterwards – was casual enough, but as time continued to go by Anakin sensed Alexander's nervousness grow more and more. And he wasn't the only one. But whenever Alexander was asked if he was alright, he quickly plastered a smile on his face and said, "Oh yeah, everything's great."

After another twenty minutes of this, however, Anakin decided to relieve Alexander of his trouble.

"So Alexander," he clasped his gloved hands before him on the table; he was seated at the head of its rectangular form, "why don't you tell us the real reason you invited us here today?"

Something flashed through Alexander's eyes – Was it more nervousness or fear? – but Anakin wasn't able to tell because it was all too brief. Alexander was smiling again.

"The real reason?" His tone was confused. "Come now uncle, am I not allowed to take my family out for a meal?"

"But all of the family isn't here," Anakin pointed out. "Luke and Leila don't arrive back from school until tomorrow. Why couldn't you have waited until than?"

Alexander looked somewhat uncomfortable at being put on the spot, but tried to brush it off with another smile. "Since I arrived back today, I decided to do it today."

Anakin allowed a slight smirk behind the mask. It was heard in his voice when he next spoke, nonetheless. "So...you're telling me this dinner has nothing whatsoever to do with a certain engagement ring you're turning over in your hands under the table?"

Alexander went slightly scarlet, Antellica choked on the punch she was drinking, Arica smirked, and as one, the Grievous-Skywalker kids ducked beneath the table to see the ring for themselves. The box that contained it was out of Alexander's hands in no time and a fighting match began over who held it. Eventually, Lacovia caught the box and danced out of the reach of her younger siblings to look inside. It was a platinum silver ring with a simple blue sapphire to top it off.

Cole and Dylan, as one, than used the Force to snatch the ring from Lacovia's hands.

"Hey, no usage of the Force here!" she barked, making a grab at them. But her eleven-year-old twin brothers ignored her and jumped out of her reach as they eyed up the expensive ring. The other siblings tried to get a good look at it too, but the boys jumped away from them. The two turned their smirking faces back to an amused Alexander, and Cole began to hum the wedding march while Dylan began jeering about Alexander being a lover boy. Cole soon joined him.

"Leave him alone, you brats," River defended, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Shut up River!" Dylan barked. "You aren't the boss of us."

"You shut up!" Lacovia commanded, making another grab for the ring in Cole's hands. He yanked it away and stuck his tongue out at her. "Make me!"

And the twins were off. Running around the lounge with Lacovia hot on their tails. The adults merely shook their heads humorously, and Antellica was about to ask her son something when Gabriella gave him her best pouting smile.

"And where's my ring, Alexander?" she asked with playful humor.

"Yeah," Elektra added, "I want a ring too."

But before Alexander could respond, Lacovia was coming up to table, holding the twins around their necks.

"Stop being rough!" Dylan barked. "You're hurting our necks."

"Sit down!" Lacovia hissed, pushing them back into their seats. However, they defiantly stood up again.

"Sit boys!" Troy commanded, but their only response was mocking him.

"Boys, that's quite enough. Seat yourselves." This calm command came from Anakin, and they instantly listened, taking their seats.

This earned a sniff from the almost ten-year-old Philomena. "So uncivilized."

Beside her, Hilton laughed.

While Dylan sent the both of them glares, Cole took the engagement ring box out of his pocket and slid it down the table to Alexander. He accepted it with a smile and than placed it on the table again. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. He cleared his throat and, tracing the lace design of the table's cloth covering, addressed Anakin across from him.

"So...maybe I did have an ulterior motive for taking you all out. But I really did want to do this, besides asking you before Leila-"

"And Luke, don't forget about him," Dylan reminded.

"Will you be quiet?" Arica hissed.

Dylan shrugged and began stuffing his face with food again. "Go on Alexander," she urged after another disapproving look at her son.

"Right, I wanted to take the family out _in addition_ to asking your permission for Leila's hand in marriage before she and Luke's," he gave a Dylan a specified stare, "arrival tomorrow."

"Hmm." Anakin studied Alexander through his eyepiece a moment. He'd known his nephew ever since he was four, and though they had the occasional disagreement, they usually got along just fine.

Anakin knew this day would come eventually, in which his darling Leila would be taken away from him through marriage. And as much as he wanted to hold onto her, he knew he couldn't. Leila wasn't a little girl or teenager anymore, but an accomplished young woman of twenty-two who was in love with the young man sitting before him. She'd never forgive him if he denied her that right of happiness. So after exchanging a glance with a beaming Antellica, he turned back to Alexander and nodded.

"Yes, you have my permission..."

* * *

Leila was overjoyed when Alexander proposed to her the next day and they married at Skywalker Manor a week afterwards. It was during this festive event, however, while everyone was preoccupied with their happiness, that the Legacy of the Force war officially began. 

Corellia, Selonia, Chandrila, Alderaan, and Labore were each taken by surprise when a group of ten Jedi came to each Core world, at the same time, to kill each planet's Imperial forces. Because the Jedi hadn't been expected, they were easily able to take the surprise of their attack and use it to as an advantage.

Jaina Solo, whom was now an accomplished Jedi Master of seven students at the age of eighteen, led the mission to Corellia with a few of her own apprentices and some others that Obi-Wan had trained. Her younger twin, Jacen, and seventeen-year-old Alema Rar, led the mission to Chandrila, in which their group of Jedi were assisted by the planet's defense league under the order of the planet's longtime Queen, Nagida.

Jaina's youngest brother, Aaron, now sixteen, led the mission to Alderaan with Tahiri, 14. Zekk, 19, led the mission to Labore solely. And Tenel Ka, 17, led the mission to Selonia with Danni, 23.

The Imperial Royals found out about the attacks during the reception of Alexander and Leila's wedding. An officer of the navy came barging in, uninvited, crashing the reception in the process, and was about to start his report when the emperor abruptly stepped forward and clenched his gloved hand into a Force choke.

The young rookie officer fell to the floor, gasping for air, but Vader merely glared behind the mask.

"I will not have any wedding crashers attempting to draw attention away from Alexander and Leila during this time of happiness," he growled out, tightening his grip on the man's throat.

He was just about to kill the fool when Leila, still donned in her beautiful, white flowered gown, rushed forward with the intent of stopping him.

"Father stop!" She tried at lowering his clenched hand, but it didn't budge. "Please father. There are children here, _non-Force sensitive_ children I might add, who don't need to see this."

And indeed some of the children, toddlers even, were looking on in fear, covering their eyes, or crying while their parents attempted to comfort them.

When Anakin still refused to stop, Leila gave a roar and brought down the clenched hand with such force that she could've easily broken it if she wanted to.

"I said, 'Stop It'!" she yelled.

Anakin was slightly taken aback by his daughter's show of anger towards him and kept his hand lowered as he watched her drag the rookie officer to his feet.

"What's all this than?" she demanded. "Surely you wouldn't just barge in uninvited without a reason. Talk!"

She threw him into a nearby table, causing a few of the guests to gasp, but Leila was beyond caring. No one was going to ruin her day of happiness. No one.

The rookie officer gave a few coughs and still seemed a bit short of breath as he picked himself up and than spoke. "Corellia...Alderaan...three other Core worlds...under attack...Jedi...all forces dead...start of another war..."

The officer, who'd been using a chair to support himself in standing, than collapsed to the floor, gave one last breath and died.

Everyone was in too much shock to speak. The guests of the wedding in shocked fear; the Royal family in shocked rage.

The Jedi would dare start war in the Core of the Galaxy?! It was unbelievably foolish of them. The Sith had known to be ready for the Jedi when they started chaos but this...this was something they hadn't been expecting. Various attacks on central core worlds; they might as well attacked Coruscant.

The wedding forgotten, the Sith 15 left the manor's ballroom without any further words to their guests and headed across the street to the Imperial base. There, they were told the situation by Commander Firmus Piett, one of the oldest and most respected officers of the navy, sans the Imperial family. The Core Worlds of Corellia, Selonia, Chandrila, Alderaan, and the outskirts world of Labore were indeed under attack by Jedi forces.

"Corellia's forces have been wiped out completely; the same is true with Chandrila, though they were just recently fully wiped out a few minutes ago," Piett explained. "Alderaan's forces are still fighting, though they're also close to being wiped out. As for Labore and Selonia..." Piett sighed. "You'll remember that Selonia was one of the strongest rebel worlds during the war."

All present nodded and again Piett sighed. "Well, it seems that instead of fight, the forces there have chosen to simply give themselves to the Jedi. The same is true with Labore, only they did fight for sometime before giving up."

The emperor and most of the others growled while some looked thoughtful.

"And who are leading these missions?" Hilton asked. "Did you get any descriptions of what the Jedi looked like?"

"Who cares?!" Dylan bit out before Piett could respond. "A Jedi's a Jedi. They all need to die."

"Peace Dylan," Anakin commanded and turned back to Piett. "Well..."

"Actually, we did get a few snapshots from the battles," he replied and started to type at a large computer terminal.

A moment later, numerous shots appeared from Corellia. Most were of people screaming and in confusion, but in a few they got a look at some of the Jedi. They recognized none of them; obviously they were newbies. But than, just as Piett was about to move onto Chandrila's shots, Lacovia spotted the side of a person she recognized as none other than Jaina Solo.

"You're sure it's her?" River asked as she came alongside her sister for a closer look after Lacovia growled out who it was.

"Positive. I dueled her in a vicious battle to the death two years ago. I think I should know what she looks like."

All the Sith present knew how furious Lacovia was upon not being able to defeat her Jedi enemy. She swore death upon her the next time they met for manipulating Zonama Sekot's powers to allow the Jedi to escape.

Lacovia turned to her father with determined fury. "I demand to be the one sent to Corellia to finish that girl once and for all."

Anakin smiled at his second oldest daughter behind the mask and nodded. "Troy will accompany you."

The attention was than brought back to Piett and the computer screen as shots of Chandrila's battle came up next. It was pretty much the same here; chaos and death everywhere, expect it was seen that the Jedi weren't the only ones fighting in this battle. But the planet's defense league forces as well, only they weren't fighting against the Jedi, but _alongside_ them.

Arica had always known there was something fishy about the planet's Queen, Nagida. She openly appeared to support the Empire, but every time the empress met her she always got the feeling that there was more to her than met the eye. It was obvious Nagida ordered the defense league to assist the Jedi; no one else had that type of authority on the world. Because of this, Arica requested to be the one sent to Chandrila and deal with the situation. Anakin agreed and assigned Elektra to go with her.

Alderaan's shots showed that Jaina's youngest brother and the wavy blond haired girl that was recognized as the youngest of the formerly new Jedi were leading the assault there.

Since Leila was, in a way, Queen of the planet since placed under Imperial control, it was only natural that she and Alexander would request to lead their forces there.

There weren't many shots from Selonia or Labore; Selonia having the lesser amount, but from what they could see the remembered black haired Jedi was leading the mission on Labore, while the Hapan Princess Tenel Ka and older wavy blond haired Jedi, the capturing of Selonia.

While Luke and Gabriella were assigned to Labore, Anakin and River assigned themselves to Selonia. Antellica and Hilton, meanwhile, would lead the fleet throughout the Core in the case of anymore attacks. Philomena would be accompanying Hilton while the twins came with Antellica.

Once everything was planned, settled, and all were in favor of their assignments, the Sith left Coruscant to fight in what would become one of the most raging conflicts the galaxy had ever seen.

* * *

Author's Note #2: The next eight chapters is a sub-plot that covers the course of everyone's mission in the Core to every world and also a space battle that commences. It's exciting, suspenseful, and full of awesome action. I know you'll love it. 


	77. Battle in the Core: Corellia

Author's Note: Finally!!! This would've been posted much, _much, MUCH_ sooner had the site not been having problems with their document manager (the thing you upload chapters with for those of you who don't know). This happens every once in a while (though it usually only lasts a few short days), despite however annoying it is for the author and readers. Anyway, this is how the Battle in the Core series is gonna roll. You already know it's in eight chapter parts, but that probably ventures the question, If only five worlds were attacked how is eight gotten out of that even counting a space battle? The sub-plot follows as such:  
Battle in the Core: Corellia  
Battle in the Core: Selonia-Part I: Discovery  
Battle in the Core: Selonia-Part II: Destruction  
Battle in the Core: Chandrila  
Battle in the Core: Alderaan  
Battle in the Core: Labore  
Battle in the Core: Space Battle  
Battle in the Core: Conclusion  
This will be followed by two other sub-plots of which shall be revealed later. Enjoy part one and two of this raging conflict now as a treat for the long delay!

Chapter 76 review responses:

MissNaye: Only time will tell.

dmitchell: You know you don't have to review twice for the same chapter, right? (Actually, when people review as signed in users the site won't let you). As for the first review: My lips are sealed. The second: I read over it a few times and I'm still not sure how to respond. Maybe you reviewed twice to get a quicker update. Any other time that would work. But when the site drops its ridiculous stunts, there's nothing I can do about it.

twisted words: You aren't the only one.

twisterblake: Here's some of it below.

Carolina: Interesting for you to mention the grayness of the Force. You might see some elaboration to that later on.

Jakiray Axmiris: Here's the first and second part, and on the Jedi side in this chapter it stars Jaina with Han making a brief appearance.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

Sean Mulligan: First off, welcome to the story Sean! Secondly, did you mean to say your review was in response to MissNaye (you put missnave; most likely a mistype)? From what you said in it, it seems you like the story. I hope anyway. Well, here's some more chaps to read.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 18: Battle in the Core: Corellia

"_I'm rather something of fan of your father's smuggling work...Allow me to say hello to him properly."_

-Troy Grievous Skywalker to Jaina Solo

Often referred to as "The Jewel of Corellia", Coronet, the Core World's capital, was a bustling urban metropolis located on the coast of the southernmost continent. It was a technologically advanced city with beautiful architecture, but its urban development paled in comparison to Coruscant.

In keeping with Corellia's spacefaring heritage, Coronet's spaceport was second to none. The city was also home to the headquarters of CorSec (Corellian Security Force) and was heavily patrolled, although patrols were somewhat lighter in the Blue Sector, a rogue section of town filled with cantinas, tattoo parlors, casinos, and fences, where offworlders tended to congregate.

The famous Treasure Ship Row was a large bazaar located just inside Blue Sector and was famous for offering just about anything a customer could desire, legal or otherwise. Underneath Coronet's mazelike city streets lay a vast underground series of tunnels and caverns, where what was left of the Selonian population lived and worked. Snaking its way along the Selonian caverns was the subway system.

Coronet also featured such attractions as the Corellian Space Museum, filled with artifacts from the earliest history of space flight, and the Corellian Stock Exchange among others.

Both Lacovia and Troy had been to the city several times before – Lacovia, during an assassination job (the target had fled to the city) and an inspection of the planet during the Galactic Civil War with ex-Empress' Hand, Drake Jovovich; Troy, for several film projects and premieres – so knew their way around fairly well. Nonetheless, they studied the city's map to get reacquainted with it.

Though it wasn't quite known where the Jedi were at Imperial arrival, both young Sith intended on changing that. City life in Coronet was going as usual with people going to and fro with their everyday lives and businesses. The only exception was that no Imperial forces were scouting the city streets. This soon changed, however, when Lacovia and Troy arrived. Stormtroopers and officers could not only be seen scouting the streets now, but barging into civilian's homes with search warrants for the Jedi.

The royal duo and their forces went to the Imperial base in Coronet's center most core upon arriving in the city. As expected, it was deserted of all life; dead bodies littered the once elegant, technology filled rooms. Bodies that easily told rather they were sliced down by a lightsaber or stroke down by a bolt of blaster fire that was deflected back at them via laser sword.

In disgust, Lacovia ordered the living troops to dispose of the dead ones. Troy than checked the database on the main computer terminal to make sure it was still intact. Thankfully, the information hadn't been touched, but this wasn't too much of a surprise. The Jedi wanted to fight them, and stealing information wasn't going to help achieve that goal.

Lacovia and Troy left the base under the command of the troops that came with them in the building. Exiting, they kept their presences cloaked and tapped into the Force. With the way the streets were swarming with Imperials and chaos this ensured due to protesting civilians, the Jedi were bound to know the Sith had arrived and were waiting for them.

Lacovia allowed the Force to swirl around her and noticed Troy doing the same. Because of this, they allowed the Force to swirl through and into one another. If the Jedi hadn't known they were on the planet before, there's no way they couldn't have known now. The entirety of the Force on Corellia reeked of the dark side. It was through this that a telepathic message was sent out to the Jedi on-world, though it was addressed to Jaina.

"We're waiting Jedi Solo. Don't make us come find you. You will come to us, if you think you have the guts..."

* * *

Jaina placed her mouth in a thin line as she heard the Sith's telepathic message in her mind. It was a mixture of two voices, but she easily recognized one of them as Lacovia Grievous Skywalker, the Sith Princess she dueled on Zonama Sekot two years ago. She remembered the duel and everything about that day quite clearly. And in spite of her better judgment, she always thought that if it could be done again, it would've turned out a lot differently. But there was no need to dwell on the past because it could not be done over. 

Jaina had grown a lot over the past two years, both physically and as a person. Her dark brown hair had grown from shoulder-length to the middle of her back in length and she currently estimated at about 1.65 meters (5.5.00) in height. As a person she'd grown more knowledgeable in the Force and had passed down this knowledge to six students she'd met in her travels across the galaxy.

The six of them, herself, and three others that were each apprentices of either Tenel Ka, Danni, or Alema were in a spare room of her father's apartment in the middle class district of Coronet. The nine of them were meditating, at least they were supposed to be. The telepathic message from the Sith had brought the apprentices out of it. They were looking at Jaina questionably, and she gave them a nod.

"It is time. Let's not keep them waiting."

Jaina rose and the apprentices followed her out of the spare room. Her father was in the sitting chambers that connected to the entranceway, reading what appeared to be a newspaper. He glanced up, though, when he heard them enter.

"We're leaving dad," she said to him. "This is going to have to be goodbye for now. I'll try and return within the next few months, but-"

"Oh no you don't sweetheart! You're not going anywhere without me coming along." He'd risen from his desk and Jaina glimpsed a sidelong glance of a blaster rifle. She rolled her eyes. All too well did she know of her father's desire at revenge against the Empire for his best friend and wife's deaths.

"Dad, please sit down. I don't want to use force-"

"Ha!" He cocked his head in a threatening manner. "You wanted dare use one of those Jedi tricks on me. Because they won't work."

_Of that I am all too well aware of._

Her father, like her, was exceedingly stubborn when it came to these sort of things. She liked to think she inherited it from him as well as his wise-cracking and insulting sense of humor.

She tried reasoning. "Dad, this is a war between the Jedi and the Sith, not-"

"I don't care who the war's between," he hotly interrupted. "It's a war against the Empire, and that's all that matters to me."

"You're being blinded by your want for vengeance-"

"Master Solo. Mister Solo. Please." The apprentice that had spoken was the short cropped red haired, green eyed twenty-year-old young woman Jaina had found in the middle of space as a drifter, Eryl Besa. "This arguing will get us nowhere. Why don't we simply allow Mister Solo to come with us," she continued to Jaina. "I get the sense he would anyway. Even if we said no."

Han gave the apprentice an approving look. "Your a smart kid, Besa." He than turned back to his daughter, who was defiantly holding his gaze. "So what's it going to be Jaina? I come willingly or by force?"

The thing Jaina always liked about her father was that it didn't matter that she was considered the greatest Jedi in the galaxy under Obi-Wan since Yoda's death. Han still, and always would, look at his daughter as a simple kid who just happened to be a Jedi also.

She gave him a sly smile. "I suppose we could make room for you in our team. Just one thing. I'm the leader here; you're not. Just flow naturally under me."

Han rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say kid."

Jaina nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

Lacovia and Troy had been waiting for their enemies to arrive for the past half-hour. But by themselves with no troopers to interfere. They'd been told to stand clear of the area around the base unless called upon. This was between the two sides alone. 

For a while, the siblings didn't think the Jedi were going to turn up, and were just considering tapping into the Force again to discover their location when the Jedi finally showed. Jaina was in the lead, being flanked by nine other inexperienced Jedi and an older man in his mid-forties that both recognized as the legendary smuggler, Han Solo.

The closer the company came, the more twisted Lacovia and Troy's expressions became.

"So...we meet again, Jaina Solo," Lacovia sneered, "for the last time. I don't believe you know my brother, Troy." She gestured towards him and he shot a sarcastic smile in Jaina's direction that wasn't returned.

"I'm rather something of a fan of your father's smuggling work," Troy commented. "No, really!" he added at she and her apprentices' skeptical gaze. "Allow me to say hello to him properly."

In the blink of an eye, Troy had pulled out a specially made blaster pistol and, before anyone could stop him, proceeded to shoot the ex-smuggler not once, but ten times in the chest, one after the other before than blowing his brains out.

The blaster rifle Han had been holding dropped from his hands with a thud and he collapsed to the ground, dead. As the horrified Jedi ran to his side, Troy gave a triumphant smirk and whipped away the blaster in a hidden pocket.

"Now that's impressive, naturally because it was done by me."

This pronouncement of Troy's caused the Jedi to whip around and glare at the pair of Sith who were currently laughing. But Troy abruptly stopped at their evil looks. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you not find what I said to be humorous?"

At their continued cold stares, he shrugged. "Ah well, maybe this will."

He threw what looked to be a small orb at Eryl Besa's feet, but in no time she had erupted into a ball of flames. It was a bomb orb. The Jedi gasped, while the Sith smirked in enjoyment.

Jaina's eyes flashed at Troy, who'd killed two of her members without even activating his lightsaber. Calling her blue blade to hand, she stalked towards him and activated it. "Let's see if you can fight as well as you can crack jokes," she hissed challengingly.

Troy merely smirked. "That Solo would make me have to kill you, but..."

He activated his as dark as night black Sith blade while Lacovia looked on in humor.

"...if you insist."

In no time, Troy was striking at Jaina, but she sensed he was holding back some and began to go all out on him. Still he held back, but his face was contorted in a jeer.

"Come on! Is that the best you got?!"

With a roar, Jaina was striking more violently than was necessary at Troy, but he merely stayed amused.

* * *

Lacovia was slightly disappointed that Troy had beat her to engaging Solo in combat, but she didn't care much. There were plenty of other fish in the sea. 

Running at the other eight, who'd grouped themselves in a circle and seemed to be waiting for her, she attacked. Her silver blade engaged the customary blue and green lightsabers of Jedi choice as the battle began.

It was mildly interesting fighting eight opponents at the same time, but not at all hard. Lacovia decided to humor the Jedi a bit by simply fighting them without killing right away. This changed, however, about seven minutes into it when a black haired Human male cut into the arm Lacovia was using to swing her blade.

She fell back slightly at the sharpness of the cut and quickly sent assurances to Troy through the Force that she was okay. But she was far from being down and out. Growling, she than came at the Jedi full force, cutting down two, hacking up another, and slicing body parts off the rest.

They were all down in no time. After which, she ran at Jaina and Troy, who were still engaged in battle, and joined it.

* * *

Jaina always considered herself to be a fine swordsman. Not to the length of arrogance, but she knew she was good at it. Which is why she was so frustrated that even now, roughly seven minutes into the fight, Troy was still holding back against her expert blows. She was a tough fighter, and very few had beaten or even been able to keep up with her in combat. So why was this Sith continuing to hold back against her advances? This fighting was getting utterly useless. She wanted it to be a challenge. And than her request came when Lacovia joined the fight. One Jedi against two Sith was a lot better than one Jedi against a Sith who didn't seem to care about the outcome of the fight. And than that's when it happened. As soon as Lacovia joined the fight, Troy stopped holding back, and he and his sister began to strike at her with such force that she was being knocked back. 

So that had been his plan. He'd deliberate held back against her to exhaust her, and she'd fell head long into it. There she was earlier, telling her father, who was now dead, not to be blinded by vengeance when she was herself. As she began to fall back from the fight, Troy and Lacovia gave her triumphant looks.

"Need a rest Solo?" Troy sneered. "You weren't expecting that, were you? You expected me to simply continue holding back. You didn't think I could give a care about the outcome of the fight. Well here's to you Jaina Solo, to prove you wrong."

An instant later, Jaina found Lacovia and Troy's silver and black blades coming at her in rapid speed. Somersaulting through the air she was able to evade them, though she got part of her ankle sliced into in the process. Biting back the pain, she flipped up and into the nearby parked-in-air speeder that housed a civilian, curious in their fight. Pushing the startled driver out of the way, she activated the advanced speeder's defense system and in a shocking act began to open fire upon the two Sith below.

Lacovia and Troy were somewhat shocked by this and cursed themselves for throwing away their lightsabers. Dancing around to evade the shots, they called their weapons back to them and Lacovia mentally screamed for the reinforcements to arrive.

As the Sith below began to deflect the shots of the speeder back up at her, Jaina was forced to consistently fly it in all directions to evade them as she continued to fire.

When the reinforcements – stormtroopers – did arrive, they began to fire at Jaina and the speeder. This terrified the civilian siting beside her and he screamed as he got up and jumped out to his death below. Jaina tried to stop him, catching him with the Force, but he was shot down as he fell.

Giving a sad sigh, Jaina returned to her battle with the Imperials. They shot up at her and she down at them, and though she had the shield up on the military speeder, the evasive shots were making it wear out rapidly. There was no way she could kill them all by the bolts of the speeder.

Jumping out of it just as the shield gave way, Jaina made her landing as soft as possible, activated her lightsaber once more and began slicing through stormtroopers. Lacovia, she noticed, was motioning for Troy to fall back from the battle and simply let her slaughter them all. He did so, and they simply observed her expressionlessly as she did as they wanted.

When finally all the troops called were dead, the opponents simply eyed one another; their faces still void of emotion. The speeder had finally collapsed to the ground and exploded upon impact in a ball of flames; the voices of civilians could be heard screaming in terror, and more blaster shots could be heard but neither of the three paid any attention to it. It was irrelevant to them.

"Don't you think this is getting old Solo?" Lacovia finally asked. "Don't you realize you're fighting a losing battle that'll never be won?"

Jaina allowed a sly smile. "Get used to it because we're not going to stop until every last Sith is destroyed."

Troy rolled his eyes. "You'll be fighting a long time than, because we're not going anywhere."

Jaina smirked. "We'll see."

With a run, both opponent sides came at each other and the duel resumed. Whoever being the winner, the victor over the other.

* * *

Keep reading in Part I of Selonia's battle next! 


	78. Battle in the Core: Selonia Part I

Author's Note: Here's today's second update! I'm so glad the site fixed their problem. It's great to be back!

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 19: Battle in the Core: Selonia-Part I: Discovery

"_You are pathetic and deserve to die!"_

-River Grievous Skywalker

There were five inhabited worlds in the Corellia system; the Five Brothers was what they were referred to. Selonia was one of them. The other four were Drall – famous for its great food and boiling sea; Tralus – home to farmers and miners; Talus – the twin sister of Tralus; and of course Corellia itself.

Selonia was an industrial world filled with oceans, islands, and sea monsters aplenty. One of the most striking features of the planet was the volcanic mountain range known as Cloudland Peaks, because it's said to rise so high their tops are obscured.

"A close to being true point," River said. "Actually, if you look closely you can see them through the cloudy mist. Like now." She pointed ahead out of the cockpit viewport to emphasize her point.

Anakin looked to where his thirteen year old fifth daughter was pointing and nodded. "Well spotted. But, that's mainly said concerning the ground up. The clouds obscure the tops if you're looking up from the ground, not so much when you're flying though the air."

He and River were making their descent onto Selonia in his flagship shuttle and conversing about the planet's points of interest. They'd just arrived outside Selonia after parting with Lacovia and Troy at the Corellia system's entrance.

River, who'd been to every planet in the Core save Selonia because of her former holodrama career, had asked him to tell her about the planet; as such he was doing so.

"And what of these sea creatures you mentioned?"

"Sea _monsters_ is what they're actually called," he specified.

River rolled her eyes. "Okay, so being specific, what of them? Do they eat people on sight?"

"Superstitious nonsense," he dismissed, "made up from people's nightmares. Nothing more than that."

River gave a sniff. "I thought as much. Otherwise, I'm sure they would've made a holofilm about it by now." She gave another eye roll. "Pathetic."

The rest of the journey down was spent in silence. The Emperor's flagship shuttle landed on the docking bay next to the Imperial base on the largest island of the planet, Sinta. As he and River exited the ship, they were greatly surprised to be met by an Imperial officer. He bowed deeply before them.

"Welcome Emperor Skywalker and Fifth Princess River Ilithya Tanzania. I am Lieutenant Mitchel of the base's rookie officer training program and also-"

"A traitor of the Empire for simply giving yourself up to the Jedi," River finished. "You are pathetic and deserve to die!"

And before the Lieutenant could say another word, her bronze with a yellow core lightsaber came to life and sliced through his neck like there was nothing to it. He fell to the ground dead an instant later.

Anakin smiled proudly behind the mask and gave his daughter a clasp on the shoulder. She returned the smile with a nod and they continued on their way.

The base was only a few paces ahead when River insisted upon having a look around first to get a feel of the area. Anakin agreed and proceeded into the base alone while River looked around outside.

On the entire planet there were about forty-five different islands, though most were too small for anything business wise to be done on so were simply used as vacation spots for the rich and famous. The other twenty, however, including the capital, Sinta, were the larger ones where many industrial companies were based.

Moving off the docking bay, River stepped forward a few paces to find herself in the center of a few things. The base to her left, a boating dock to her right, the ocean to her back, and the city straight ahead. River figured her best bet would be the boating dock. The Jedi, obviously, weren't on this island anymore, but they might have used or stolen one of the boats there to move onto the next. Or they could've simply used one of the base's ships to move on. Either the case, River was going to find out.

Climbing the small flight of stairs that led to an equally small white cabin-type building with a flag blowing in the breeze above it, she reactivated her laser sword and cut the door down. On the other side, she found a Duro trembling in fear and eying her lightsaber in terror. River was disgusted.

"What is this?" she asked. "Where's the owner of this facility?"

The Duro fearfully raised its left hand and with its right pointed to himself.

"You?!" She gave a laugh. "An alien scum bag in the Core?!"

He gave a fearful nod.

"Working?" she pressed.

He gave another nod.

"You are aware there are laws against that. Since the No Alien Act was passed twenty-one years ago, no type of non-Human is allowed inside Imperial space. And while this act was passed by Palpatine and his witch of a daughter, it's still effective." She leveled his blade at his throat. "I'm going to have to kill you for being a lawbreaker. But not at this instant. You are still useful at the present. Sit!"

She motioned to the white chair sitting next to him on the floor. Nervously, he sat in it. River remained standing.

"Now than freak show, I want you to tell me about your day. Have many customers?"

The Duro looked confused by the question and for a moment simply sat. Only when River began to run the length of her blade up the freak's bare arm did he speak.

"Moe Eak sei ma Ola-"

"Speak Basic freak!" River roared. "You disgust me by using your pathetic tongue! You think I'm going to know what you're talking about?!"

The Duro put its head down and whispered something else in its tongue, but with the Force, River was able to understand him. 'Me do not speak Basic well; hard for me to understand as is.'

"Oh you're so pathetic!" River slammed the Duro into a nearby wall with a Force push. As he struggled to pick himself off the floor, she screamed, "Up off the floor freak! Now!"

But he continued to struggle since a desk had collapsed on top of him. In an act of fury, River stalked forward, grabbed the alien around the neck, and tore open his mind, demanding that the Force show her what she wanted to see.

For a few moments, she saw shots of the alien sitting at his desk restless. And than it changed. He was outside yelling in his foreign tongue, but from the gestures he was making it was obvious he didn't want the people who were stealing his boats to escape the island with them. The people defiantly took them anyway. He even tried to stop some of them through physical action, but was knocked out. He was awoken by the gentle touch of the Force some time later, and when he opened his eyes he saw a long, wavy blond haired Human female and a near-Human female with braided rust-colored hair looking down at him. They were both smiling.

River inwardly growled. Jedi!

Danni and Tenel Ka helped the freak to a stand and began inquiring about different boats. They slipped him some credits and he began to motion them towards a large and white ocean liner. Tenel Ka frowned and stood her head, motioning towards another that was a lot smaller, but just as effective. The Duro began to object but the female Jedi ignored him as they loaded their eight apprentices into the boat and sped off. They headed a ways northeast, but than the memory ended.

River broke her connection to the freak's mind and threw him out through the window behind him. The impact and cutting of the glass and being thrown hard onto the sandy beach killed him. River gave a last look to his crumpled body before turning tail and stalking out of the building. Anakin and some troops were outside waiting for her.

"Anything?" he asked.

"Yes actually. Not much, but it' better than nothing. The Jedi escaped Sinta via one of the alien freak show's boats and headed northeast."

The rise of an eyebrow was heard in his tone. "Alien freak show?" he repeated.

She waved this off. "I'll tell you later. So did you find anything?"

He shook his head. "The base is deserted. That lieutenant must've been the last straggler left. All bodies of the troops are gone. I assume they were dumped into the ocean because there's no evidence of a fire."

"I thought all the troops here gave themselves up," an officer questioned. "Why than would they be dead?"

"Do you honestly think the Jedi would allow them to live?" River asked. "What purpose would they have for them?"

The officer shrugged, but remained silent.

"So, besides the bodies being gone everything is fine at the base?" she asked her father. "Files all intact?"

He nodded. "The Jedi aren't interested in files, River. They're interested in fighting. But rather it be today or a month from now, they will reach their end. It is inevitable.

River allowed a smirk. "The second Death Star."

Again, he nodded and they began to walk along the ocean shore. "Precisely. Only a few more weeks now and it'll be ready for launch."

"All right, so we know they went a ways northeast." River returned the conversation to the manner at hand. "From there I don't know. But I get the sense that we'll get a feeling of where they are as we go."

"Excuse me Princess, but there aren't any islands in that direction," another officer presented, holding up a map of the planet to justify his point. River and Anakin moved to stand on either side of him to see for themselves. He was right. There was nothing but miles and miles of ocean water.

"Obviously where they're going isn't listed," Anakin said simply.

Before he could stop himself, the officer coughed. "Excuse me Emperor, but our troops did an extensive layout of the planet to make this map. Why would they not list a mass of land?"

"That's an interesting question Colonel, but I have a better one. Why would these same troops simply give themselves over to the Jedi without fighting?"

To that, the Colonel had no answer.

"Than it's agreed we're going northeast?" River asked.

"Agreed."

"Great. Let's go!"

* * *

From the fleet in space blockading the planet, more ships went sent down onto it to search in its entirety. Anakin, River, and their troops, meanwhile, flew northeast of the base in ten Bomber Gunships with the hopes that River's lead would take them to the Jedi. But they weren't taking any chances; hence, the reason more officers were sent down to search the planet. 

As was shown on the map, northeast of Sinta was nothing but umpteen miles of ocean. Not a mass of land in sight. River wasn't discouraged though, and neither was Anakin. For the Force was telling them they were going in the right direction.

Fifteen minutes into this, River caught sight of the small, white ocean liner she'd seen the Jedi escape on in the Duro's mind. She hastily pointed this out to her father and he was quite pleased. He ordered the gunships "circle around and head back towards the small speck of white" that was bobbing up and down in the water. This order was followed and the ships began to slowly descend around the area of where the boat was floating. They could only go but so far down, however, that was enough to tell them the boat was deserted.

"Do you think perhaps they sensed us coming and made a jump for it?" River asked her father after looking down at the boat in her electrobinoculars and seeing the side door open.

He gave a shrug. "It's possible, but I'm not picking up on their presences that much."

She allowed an irritated sigh. "Can we ever?"

"At times," he confirmed. "But if we were actually on top of them, overhead even this high, we'd know."

"At least we would _hope_ to know." Her tone was half believing and she than went back to looking through her electrobinoculars. "They could be cloaking themselves."

"Possibly," but the doubt was heard in his tone, "though, I doubt Quee and the Princess are _that_ gifted in the Force. Or their apprentices for that matter."

"True."

The ships continued circling the area, looking for any signs of the Jedi, but none were found. They were just about to continue on when River abruptly saw something in her electrobinoculars. It was a blue base of land, no larger than a meter in length, just laying in the middle of the ocean. At first she thought she was hallucinating so did a double take. She didn't see it that time, yet knew it was still there. The pilot of their bomber was about to continue on, but she stopped him because of her need to find the landmass again. She turned the binoculars up to a higher resolution and frantically looked around. She didn't find it at first, but than finally did. It was camouflaged so well with the water since it was the same color. She quickly pointed this out to her father and the others. He saw it almost instantly and barked for the gunships to make towards it. Funny thing was, they couldn't see it. Even when River shoved her binoculars in the pilots face, all he saw was water.

"It must be some type of Force projection that only sensitives can see," Anakin commented.

"You're saying that it's not really there?" River asked. "Merely an illusion?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to tell from up here."

River nodded, handed over her binoculars to her father, and took a deep breath as she jumped off the ship. She heard him call after her in shock, as well as the other officers aboard the ship, but she ignored them. As River landed in the water, she began to swim to the small ocean liner, and upon reaching it climbed aboard. One brief look around told her the Jedi were nowhere to be seen, not that she hadn't known that before. There weren't any places for one to hide on a simple level water ship.

Powering up the engine, River began to drive it to her destination. Now that she was right on top of the water, she could see the landmass just fine. She looked up to the ships above and waved for them to follow her. When they did so, she drew her attention back to driving the ocean liner. As she got closer to the landmass, she slowed the boat to a halt, having it officially stop directly next to the mass. Seeing it up close showed her that it wasn't land at all, but metal. This was confirmed when she stepped onto it and it clanged at the sound of her booted heel coming down on it. Placing her other foot on it, she stomped a few times to make sure it was secure enough to stand on. It was fine, though secured on River didn't know what. But she was about to find out. Crouching down to a squat, she laid down her hands on the metal to find it cold and hard. It was also wet because ocean water would rise onto it every few seconds. River continued to run her hands along it, knowing she would find something. And she did. The handle of a small turn around screw located in the center of the metal mass. Grabbing a hold of it, she used all her strength to turn it around. At first it didn't want to budge, but than it slowly began to turn. The lid popped off after two full turns to reveal a deep, dark tunnel that went down a good ways. She could see the bottom from where she was, but it looked like it went down at least thirty feet. A silver metal ladder was on the side against the wall. River slowly rose, the lid still in hand, and looked up to see some of the troops climbing down on rope ladders that were extended from all ten bombers. Each ship took turns with placing its ladder over top the ocean liner. The troops that came down landed in the boat with ease and looked over to where she was. The ones that weren't helmeted showed in their eyes interest. Anakin was in the boat a moment later and the troops quickly made room for him to cross over onto the metal mass. At first, River wasn't sure if it would hold him or not, but it did.

"Would it matter to you if I said you'd just acted rashly?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

River took on a playful grin. "No, because you would've done the same at my age." She had to talk a bit louder than usual because of the sudden wind that began whipping around and the crash of ocean waves.

"Should I go first?" asked, referring to the tunnel.

"No." His command was firm. "I'll go first. You and the rest will follow."

River gave a slight nod and reached forward to help her father around the tunnel hole since there wasn't much room to walk around it. Because of this, River ordered the boat to be brought around to the other side of the metal mass. Her order was followed as Anakin began to climb down into the tunnel. River crouched to watch his descent. When he reached the bottom, he called up for her to come down. She slowly climbed down the metal ladder, making sure not to slip. When she reached the bottom, she called up for the troops to follow. Turning back to her father, he handed her a flashlight. She nodded with thanks and turned it on. They were in a dark cave of sorts with cold rock walls on either side of them; one of which being the same wall the ladder was up against. Pointing the flashlight ahead showed that the cave went on at least a mile. By than two stormtroopers had made their way down and clicked on the same type of heavy duty flashlights. Looking up showed that at least three troop members were coming down the ladder at once. When they made it down, Anakin proceeded forward with the simple command of "be ready for anything." River was more than ready, and she was quite sure the troops were too for she heard the unmistakable clicking of their blaster rifles. River was tempted to activate her lightsaber as an excuse to have both a flashlight and weapon ready at all times, but thought against it. They continued on in silence, the only sounds being boots walking on the stone ground, the continued arrival of more troops, and the emperor's respirator. But eventually, as they got further in, the latter couldn't be heard anymore; just the boots and respirator.

For how long they walked, no one knew. It was a long while though. Finally, the cave passage ended, only to be replaced with a long flight of stairs that appeared so abruptly River almost fell down them had Anakin not caught her in time. Pulling her a safe distance back, he and some of the troops rushed forward with their flashlights to look down at the stairs. While they weren't in the best state, the stairs weren't completely demolished either. Anakin pushed forward a few of the troopers with the command to try them out. With a salute they did so, proceeding down them slowly. Only after they were about thirty stairs down did Anakin start to follow. He instructed River to hold onto his arm so she wouldn't fall again. She did so, if only halfheartedly, but knew that he was simply concerned about her well being so didn't complain.

Just like the cave passage, the stairs went on what seemed like forever, Anakin estimated it was about another mile, until they finally reached the bottom. Ahead of them now was another passageway, but this looked to be more of a cavern tunnel than anything that was very narrow. From what they could see outside, it was very rocky on the sides and had fang rock formations hanging from the ceiling. Anakin didn't think he was going to fit at first, but finally did even if he was constantly being scraped by rocks as he went. It was the perfect fit for River, but than she was a lot smaller than he. Thankfully, this cavern wasn't as long as the cave passage and stairs, only about half. At the end laid a slide down passage that reminded him of the same kind of one on Zonama Sekot. He was about to proceed forward when River jumped in front of him.

"Daddy, let me go first," she pleaded. "I'm the smallest and-"

"Go on River," he cut across humorously.

One thing he always found funny about River was that when she wanted something, she'd go on and on about it until she got it. Anakin didn't feel like standing through one of her lengthy explanations – the memory of a seven-year-old River came to mind, explaining in profiled detail why she needed 100 credits worth of new toys when there was nothing wrong with the ones she had – so decided to save her the trouble.

River seemed pleased at getting her way so quickly and grinned. Anakin watched as her blonde head disappeared down the tunnel slide.

When she came to the bottom of the slide down passage, she gasped.

Anakin heard River gasp from where he was above and instantly thought the worst. "River, are you alright? Answer me!"

There was a moment of silence before he heard River's voice ring up to him.

"It's alright. I gasped because there's a city down here!"

* * *

_Battle in the Core: Selonia-Part II: Destruction will be up tomorrow! Keep the reviews coming. I greatly appreciate them and am quite interested in what you all thought of this chapter and the last!_


	79. Battle in the Core: Selonia Part 2

Author's Note: Lots of action therein. Enjoy!

Chapter 77 and 78 responses:

Jakiray Axmiris: You'll have to wait till the conclusion for the outcome.

MissNaye: Yes she did. Jaina expressed sadness when the civilian died. Reread the chapter if you didn't catch it.

dmitchell: To 78: It was never my intention to have Han star in this. I prefer his children's characters over him much more. They're not going anywhere anytime soon. Of that I can assure you. As for when the Sith start dying, I actually answered that question once before during the previous episode. Not for you, but another reviewer. I think once is more then enough in answering that question. To 77: As previously said, the end result to Corellia's battle will be in the conclusion chapter. I'll only say that it's surprising.

Twisted Words: To 77: Concerning Drake: Eventually, but not in this episode. The next. To 78: Concerning Anakin and River: Yeah, I guess it kinda is.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 20: Battle in the Core: Selonia-Part II: Destruction

"_This underground city we're in is unknown to practically everyone...We are completely safe here. I assure you."_

-Danni Quee to fellow Jedi Master Tenel Ka Djo

The path that led to it was surrounded by jagged rocks and ended in a cliff so the only way one could get to it was by shooting a grappling hook over at one of the rock ledges. Either that or make a large leap and hope upon hope that you catch onto one of the rock ledges and not fall to your doom in the valley of rocks below for hundreds of feet.

It...it was beautiful. A perfect mix of rock and technology that made it look luxurious. The buildings had rock designs along them and little balls of lighted rocks were set all around to give the viewer a perfect scope of everything. The rock of the cliff was a purple, almost black color, but that of the luxury, a light reddish brown color. Most of the buildings were circular from ground up, though, they decreased in size as they went. Others were more oval like, but none went up any higher than fifty feet except the one single building on the side. It was designed the same way as the others, but more elegant in appearance and stature with a rock formation that looked to be the face of a monstrous creature on the side. All the buildings were designed in various colors: gray, silver, black, light and dark blue with yellow or white lights ringed around the tops or middle cores.

The sky of it went up a good hundred feet with the same reddish brown rock looped in designs of ovals with dark purple rocks in the center. This is where some of the light balls were located. A power generator laid directly across from the cliff with a blue ring of light centered around its silver body. Above this was a flight of about twenty stairs that led you into it, right to a medium high building that was topped with the statue of some type of warrior creature with a staff by its side, loincloth around its middle, and brown boots on its feet. The creature was very muscular in built; its body appearing like that of a man's, but head as that of a dragon with four spiked talons coming from the back of its head. The entire statue was of pure gold.

It were these luxurious sights that greeted Anakin and his troops when they followed River down the slide passage. River herself was now a good ways ahead of them near the cliff's edge and taking in all the sights of the underground city. Turning their flashlights off they moved to join her. Everyone, including Anakin, was agape at their find and for a while simply looked around it.

Finally, it was River whom spoke first. "It's beautiful." Her voice was awestruck. "I can't believe the Empire didn't know this was here. It looks to be several hundred years old."

Anakin nodded. "Obviously our troops didn't search the planet in its entirety as they were instructed to." He turned to Colonel Shesh to emphasize his point.

"Emperor, you must understand: Until Fifth Princess River Ilithya Tanzania discovered the spot in the ocean we didn't even know it was there," the Colonel tried explaining. "We couldn't even see it until the lid was lifted off, so I'm sure it was no one's intention to not list its location. It was merely an oversight."

Anakin considered his words. "Perhaps. But see to it that this 'oversight', as you call it, doesn't happen again. Next time, someone's neck could be on the line."

Colonel Shesh gave a gulp but nodded. "Yes sir."

As they continued to look over into the city, it was than that they realized no civilians whatsoever – Human or non – were about walking the streets. This was odd, but one simple tap into the Force told why. It was obviously nighttime here, for all presences in the city were in their homes asleep. The only few that were awake were in the city's capital building; the large one on the right side.

It was the Jedi that were inside and awake, probably conversing over their next move. Telling the troops to ready their blasters, Anakin and River cloaked the presences of everyone present. That way the Jedi, or anyone for that matter, wouldn't know they were here until it was too late.

When the guns were charged and switched to their grappling hook controls, they were leveled at the rock ledge beneath the power generator that controlled city electricity and shot towards it. Fifteen hooks connected to it. Taking the other side of the hooks out of the blasters, they were connected around a few of the jagged rock cliffs. From there, Anakin, River and some of the troops jumped off the cliff beside the cables and slid across on them. Once they reached the other side, River did a Force enhanced somersault onto the top of the generator. Anakin soon followed her and pulled Shesh up beside them with the order to help the rest up. As the stormtrooper began to do this, the Sith headed for the stairs and, after climbing them, found themselves in Selonia's underground city. It was as quiet as anything, not even an insect could be heard chirping. But than River reminded herself they were underground. The only insects you'd see down here wouldn't be chirping.

When at least twenty troopers had joined them in the city, they journeyed onward east for the capital building. They didn't have far to go since the building wasn't that long off from the stairs; ¼ mile to the most. Once at the building, they saw that a landing platform was laid beside it, positioned atop a large rock. No ships were on or beneath it however. It was rather odd that there would even be one down here, as there was no other way in besides the one they came through; well no other _known_ entrances. There could be many others they didn't know about, and because of this Anakin ordered half of the troops to go about the city looking for some, while the other half was to stay with he and River.

The front door of the capital building was magnetically shielded and Anakin began to wonder how all this technology was gotten down to this low level of the planet. There had to be another entrance to it somewhere. There was no other way. Cutting the door down and kicking it in, River led the group inside. It was slightly colder in the building than it was out and River began to chastise herself for not wearing a long sleeved top. The passageway they walked was dark and echoed, the only light being at the end of it. When they reached this, they entered a circular room with two doors inside, on the right and directly ahead.

"Can I help you?" a voice rang out.

The Imperials whipped around for the source of the voice and found it on the left side of the room. A female version of the Dragon-Human was sitting at a desk with a suspicious gaze directed at them.

River snatched one of the guns that was trained on the alien away from the trooper holding it and shot the alien herself, clear in the chest. The victim fell limply out of the chair and crumpled to the floor.

Handing back the gun without even looking at the trooper, River marched towards the door labeled 'Stairs' and, after opening the door, began to climb them. She was soon followed, though, Anakin had some of the troops check out what was behind the other door.

As one, father and daughter tapped into the Force to discover the Jedi's exact location in the building. The answer was as clear as day: on the third level and still awake. So when they reached the second, some of the troops were motioned to proceed into it while the rest were to go to the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. He and River would deal with the Jedi alone.

When they reached the floor that led to the third floor, the troopers saluted and went on as ordered. With an powerful kick of his artificial leg, the door was down and Anakin and River marched inside. This level seemed to be a housing residence of sorts, for it had the looks and touches of a home to it, even if it seemed that everywhere one looked all they saw was rock sculptures. The Jedi were in the room straight ahead. With a nod to one another, the Sith activated their lightsabers and made for the door...

* * *

Danni Quee tiredly rolled her eyes. Tenel Ka had been rattling on for the past few hours now, obsessively going over what their next move should be. 

How long should they stay hidden? Could one of them risk going to the surface to discover the situation? Should they even be hiding at all?

The last of which question is what she was going over at the present.

"This conflict, after all, is to be fighting against the Sith. Not hiding from them." She was pacing the room back and forth. Abruptly, she stopped and turned to Danni. "I don't think we should have come down here. The lives of more than ourselves are at risk. We should have stayed on the surface and waited for them."

"Tenel Ka, listen to yourself." Danni propped herself up from the laying position on the cot she was on. "You've been going on about this for the past few hours now. Some of us want to sleep."

"Sleep?" Her tone was disgusted. "You shouldn't be trying to sleep! You should be helping me figure out our next move. All of you should." She addressed the room at large at the last sentence, for the eight apprentices in the room were also laying down and trying to sleep, only Tenel Ka wouldn't let them.

She meant well, but Danni couldn't help but think Tenel Ka was being a tad too jumpy for her own good. The two years since the Battles of Zonama Sekot had humbled the Hapan Princess a bit. Or maybe it was the loss of an arm that had done that. She wasn't as proud anymore and a lot more cautious when it came to danger. _Too cautious_ at times, Danni thought. Unlike most people, whom when they lost limbs had them replaced with prosthetics, Tenel Ka wasn't like that and didn't. She remained one-armed and happy that way. Though the real reason it wasn't replaced was because Tenel Ka wished to keep it as a reminder of her arrogance and underestimation of Leila Skywalker.

But Tenel Ka wasn't the only one who'd been changed by Zonama Sekot's events. They all had, Danni included. Some for better, others for worse. Danni liked to think she was one of those who'd been helped by the events. They'd made her a better, more experienced person. Her wavy blonde hair that'd been cut off by the Imperial Prince Hilton had long grown back. And it was as she thought, as the hair grew, she grew to the point that she was very much satisfied with where she was a Jedi to take on five talented young and old pupils she had beneath her for the past year now.

Returning to the present, Danni tried reasoning with her fellow Jedi Master. "Listen Tenel Ka, do you realize where we are? We're about five thousand feet below the surface. This underground city we're in is unknown to practically everyone. The natives have been living here since before the Old Republic – over one hundred and twenty-six thousand years – and they've been bothered by no one. We are completely safe here. I can assure you. Now, why don't you get some rest. If it means so much to you, we can go the surface tomorrow. The Imperials should be here by then."

Tenel Ka stopped pacing and looked as though she was about to sit down when they heard a bang come from outside the room. This caused all of the Jedi that were laying down to abruptly sit up. They all froze, staring at the door entrance in dread. Tenel Ka was the first to recover from this trance. She quickly activated her green blade and turned to Danni in disgust.

"Just how safe are we now, Danni?"

But before she could answer, the door to the room was kicked in to reveal the figures of Darth Vader and Fifth Imperial Princess River Ilithya Tanzania. Both had their lightsabers activated, ready to fight. Most of the Jedi in the room were a bit shocked to see the Emperor himself standing before them, but Tenel Ka wasn't. In her eyes, a Sith was a Sith. They all needed to be killed. Shockingly enough, the pair did not attack right away; merely observed them a moment, in which time the rest of the Jedi rose from their laying positions on the floor to ready stances. Tenel Ka found her eyes being drawn to River. It was common knowledge that the five most famous of the Grievous-Skywalker heirs were no longer in the entertainment industry. They'd retired not long after the events of Zonama Sekot and Tenel Ka knew it was so they could follow their family into the ways of the Sith officially. And while some of the others in the room may have chosen not to take the girl seriously because of her holodrama star background, Tenel Ka had learned long ago to never underestimate your enemy no matter how much or less experience they have.

River leered at Tenel Ka as her eyes traveled along the Hapan's stump of a right arm. The Emperor also took notice, for he said, "You confuse me Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo. After all this time, you still haven't gotten a replacement to the arm Leila cut off. Why?"

"Because I chose not to," she answered in a level tone. "It's a constant reminder to me of my arrogance, and what can be lost when you let it rule your life."

River snarled but than allowed a slight smirk. Tenel Ka was ready a moment later when River threw herself at her in attack.

The talking and observing was over. It was time for battle.

Anakin immediately made for the Jedi apprentices and sliced them down one at a time with ease. They didn't even have a chance to fight really, causing some of them to back away from the Sith Lord. But he wouldn't have that and pursued them across the medium-sized room, slicing down his fleeing prey.

All eight apprentices were dead, only Danni and Tenel Ka remained; the last of which was locked in a heated duel with River.

Danni slowly approached the Sith Vader, her face void of emotion, and awaited his attack. When it came she was slightly overwhelmed by the strong force behind it, but did not collapse to ground like she may have two years ago. She held her ground and began to engage the Sith in a duel.

They started out in the center of the room, but as the duels progressed the two Jedi found that they were being backed up to the wall-spanning windows of the room and both knew the Sith's intention was to knock them out, having the duo fall to their deaths. Well, it just so happened that Tenel Ka and Danni were ready for a such a thing as this. Just as the Sith were about to pull back their hands to Force push them out the window, the Jedi pair deactivated their lightsabers and crashed through the windows themselves, head first, whipping out their grappling hook guns in the process. As they began to fall, they shot the guns at the ledge between the fifth and sixth floors. The hooks that shot out of the gun caught on and the two began to fly up to the ledge. In the meantime, the troops on the ground began to shoot up at them and the Sith tried grabbing at them as they flew up past the crashed out window. The Jedi evaded both. When they reached the ledge, after pocketing their guns, Danni and Tenel Ka began to climb the rest of the building's doomed length.

River growled in fury. She wasn't going to let those Jedi escape. Climbing onto the broken out glass window sill, she grabbed hold of the above ledge. It still had pieces of glass stuck to it that cut into her hands, but she didn't care. She was going to catch those two if it killed her.

Looking up and out the window frame to make sure River was okay climbing along the building, Anakin left the room to alert the troops on the higher levels of the current situation in hopes of being able to stop the Jedi before they got too far up.

Tenel Ka and Danni continued to climb higher up the building, holding onto the side ledges and beams that protruded alongside of it. Because of Tenel Ka's one arm Danni had to help her sometimes, but the near-Human Princess was mainly calling upon the Force to aid in her climb. Troops from below were shooting grappling hooks up near their location on the building's side, but the duo always disconnected them from where they hooked onto with the Force. They also knew that River was climbing up from behind them, but she was still a bit of a distance so they didn't feel they had anything to worry about. Until River grabbed a hold of Danni's ankle that is. The Jedi were now right above the sixth level and quickly approaching the top of the building when River pulled this stunt. Danni kicked her leg furiously to get out of the girl's grasp, all the while urging Tenel Ka to keep going. She hesitated a moment but finally continued on.

River was pulling sharply down on her leg and gripping her ankle with such force that Danni thought it was going to break in half. Tenel Ka reached the top of the doomed building and at once began looking in her survival belt for a rope to throw down to Danni.

Danni, meanwhile, was still trying to fight against River's grip. Both of her legs were kicking furiously now against the girl; trying desperately to hit her squarely in the head. Than an idea came to her. Dropping one of her hands from the building, she reached into her pocket for her grappling hook gun and shot it at one of the nearby rock formations above the building. It hooked on, but Danni knew it wouldn't stay long because of where she shot it; in the middle where the least amount of rock was. Pressing the button that would fly her up, she let go of the building and began to do so, only than realizing that River was hanging onto her legs and attempting to climb up her body. Danni wouldn't have this. Stopping the gun from going any higher, she began to swing her body around violently, banging herself repeatedly against the hard metal siding of the building's crown. Still River didn't let go, but Danni heard the girl's screams of fury at being consistently banged into it. It was than that Tenel Ka reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling Danni onto the building's crown beside her. Of course since River was also attached to her, she was pulling her over as well yet that problem would soon be dealt with. As soon as River got up off Danni, Tenel Ka kicked the Imperial Princess off the top of the building. River was kicked so hard in the gut that she had no time to react. She lost her footing and was falling through the air, past the city and into the depths of the valley of rocks hundreds of feet below. The two Jedi didn't have time to ponder the fate of the Sith Princess. They needed to get out of here. Tenel Ka shot her grappling hook gun at the dark purple black rocks that laid in the center of the reddish brown oval rock formation right behind the building. Little known to anyone else, an escape passage laid within the abyss of the rocks. Danni made to disconnect her grappling hook from the oval rock surrounding the dark abyss on the right when Tenel Ka stopped her, gesturing that she hold onto her so they could use the Princess' grappling hook together.

"Come on! We don't have time for that!"

Throwing her own gun aside, Danni held onto her fellow as they flew over into the dark abyss of rocks, but it wasn't all dark since there was a single ball of light positioned on the northwest side of it. Upon landing in the small walkway that led to the exit passage, Tenel Ka disconnected the hook and threw the gun into the Imperial swarming city below. She felt bad about what they were about to do, yet the city's leader had been quite clear that if evil should arrive in their mist they would be contaminated for life and could not go on in living. Tenel Ka personally thought the philosophy of evil making good evil simply upon contact as far fetched, but she respected the leader's orders, as did Danni, so they had to do what needed to be done. They turned their backs on Selonia's underground city and proceeded into the passage.

This went on for about a ½ mile before they came across the crawlspace tunnel. They were debating over who should go first when they heard voices behind them.

Imperials!

Hastily ducking into the tunnel, Danni began to frantically crawl as fast as she could. Tenel Ka soon followed.

While the Jedi had been fighting River on the building's crown, Anakin and his troops had been, in between killing off aliens, looking for a way to get to the Jedi. Only thing was, the windows on the fourth level were nowhere near where the Jedi were climbing and the fifth and sixth levels, oddly enough, had no windows whatsoever. This led to the crown level, a technical center. In the center most section of the room was a lidded hatch that led to the roof of the building. It was through this that they tracked the Jedi to the passageway.

The crawlspace tunnel went on a lot further than the passageway; Tenel Ka estimated it was about a mile in length, so naturally it took longer to reach the end of it. When she and Danni finally did it was with the sound of stormtroopers hot on their tail. At the end of the tunnel was the same type of screw lid that could be found on the surface entrance of the underground city. Going into their survival pouches around their waists, both females retrieved a rebreather. Once these were securely on, Danni unscrewed the metal lid and gave one last look into the darkness at Tenel Ka and the distant flashlight beams of the Imperials.

Tenel Ka gave a nod and sent to her telepathically, _"I'm ready whenever you are."_

Danni nodded, took a deep breath and removed the metal lid.

Instantly they were engulfed in water. Fighting against the strong current pouring into the tunnel, the two Jedi swam out of the tunnel and into the open water of the ocean. Instead of closing the lid behind them they simply swam on, the water flooding into the tunnel being their cover.

The underground city was flooded in no time. Its elegantly beautiful stature destroyed from the vicious waves of water. But as the natives of this hundred thousand year old city looked on at their gem's destruction, they did not weep nor mourn the loss. For them it was a new day of renewal, rebirth, and regeneration. One they would never forget as long as they lived in the afterlife.


	80. Battle in the Core: Chandrila

Author's Note: Come on guys. Two reviews? You can do so much better than that as was proven before.

MissNaye: Thanks. To the question: you'll have to wait till the conclusion of course.

dmitchell: I know you meant the conclusion of the fight between Jaina, Lacovia, and Troy, not Hilton. I just thought I'd point it out. However, none of the Jedi go bad or Sith good, officially anyway, until we near this episode's end. And we're far from that.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 21: Battle in the Core: Chandrila

"_Have fun in the afterlife bitch!"_

-Arica Grievous-Skywalker to Chandrilan Queen Nagida

Chandrila was the second in a seven-orbit system of the same name. A luxurious world of natural beauty, it was a favored visiting spot to all who traveled to the Core.

The agricultural planet's two main continents were covered with rolling, grassy plains. An idyllic world, Chandrila remained temperate year round, with gentle winters and warm summers. Dry seasons were interspersed with mild drizzles, leading to a lack of drought. Even the winds were mild. Chandrilans lived in harmony with nature, educated from birth in proper maintenance of a proper ecosystem. Cute, furry squalls could be found wandering city streets, even at times being the cause of traffic trouble, much to the annoyance of offworlders. Nevertheless, these adorable creatures were protected by law from harm or capture. Though there had been the rare cases when squalls were successful smuggled off world and sold as pets, or in rare instances, delicacies by criminals.

Sights on Chandrila included the attractive Gladen State Parks, a wild game reserve near the capital city, Hanna; the Brionelle Memorial Military Academy, since taken over by the empire and currently used as an Imperial Academy; the Hanna Institute of Antiquities, a famous museum that hosted the Cradle of the Galaxy; and a dacha owned by Chandrila's Queen Nagida, on the shores of Lake Sa'hot – a popular vacation spot used by visitors when Her Highness wasn't there.

The inhabitants of Chandrila were overwhelmingly Human (96). Due to government policy requiring small families, Chandrila had a remarkably low birth rate, keeping the world's population of 1.2 billion in check. This was part of their dedication to a balanced ecosystem and environment. Citizens tended to live in scattered, small communities instead of large metropolises. And family homes always maintained a flower garden, fish pond, insect hive, and/or some other symbol of natural beauty.

All world residents had a direct voice in the government, notwithstanding its partial monarchy rule by the Chandrila Royal House, and were known for vociferously arguing politics among each other. Town squares were equipped with public rotundas for such debates. The Chandrilan House was approximately seven-five percent democratic, twenty-five percent monarchy. So strong was the publics' view of democracy, in fact, Chandrila's Regional Governor, Gerald Weizel, choose not to disband the House system. Though debates were largely civil, they sometimes became heated enough to lead to violence. And although Chandrila has had little experience with open war like most Core worlds, some natives have been known to nurse grudges and even attempt assassinations, hence the development of personal weapons such as the datadagger.

Chandrilans acquired a reputation throughout the galaxy as arrogant and argumentative, due partly to their emphasis on political education and debate. Since Chandrila was a world with perfect climate and docile animal life, native Chandrilans were unfamiliar with the everyday struggles of life in less comfortable environments. Eager to share their paradisaical way of life, they found resistance to their ideas baffling. Those who left their homeworld typically found employment as diplomats, negotiators, or artists.

As to the Empress and Fourth Imperial Princess' interest and destination on-world, it was Hanna City, located on the edge of Silver River, and ultimately Hanna Royal Palace.

Upon arriving out of hyperspace in the system, a transmission was sent down to the Royal residence with the request that Queen Nagida grant an audience for the Imperial royalty in question. Being as the request was made by the Empress herself, the Queen didn't really have much of a choice than to agree with her wishes and allow the pair to dock at the Palace. She would be there to greet them at their arrival.

_Just as soon as she's found someplace for the Jedi to hide that is_, Elektra thought as she looked out the cockpit viewport of her mother's flagship shuttle and into the approaching green fields and silver skyscraper landscapes that was Hanna City.

Unlike most capital cities, Hanna was different in the sense that it wasn't overly populated and jam-packed with people at all times. It was mostly a quiet city with little to no excitement happening therein. Today, however, wouldn't qualify in the "usual day" category. It could be described in one word: madness.

Imperial troops could be seen running about all areas of the city, manhandling civilians and causing disconcert. The interesting thing about this, though, was that the planet's defense league forces were nowhere in sight. Obviously, Nagida hadn't thought it wise to openly defy the empire when two of its rulers were about to pay her a visit.

True to her word, Queen Nagida met Arica and Elektra as they arrived in the landing bay courtyard in front of the Palace. The middle aged woman, probably in her early to mid forties to be precise, was donned in a navy blue gown of silk and her brown-white hair was tied atop her head in a loose bun. Oddly, she was by herself with no security of any kind.

"Your Majesties. Welcome." She gave a bow to each royal. It wasn't returned.

"Where is your court, Nagida?" Arica demanded with a suspicious look around of the area. "And why are you out here by yourself without so much as one bodyguard?" Her lip curled slightly. "Are you that naive as to allow yourself in our presence alone and unprotected?"

Surprisingly, all Nagida did was offer the Empress a polite smile. "I'd like to think that you and your daughter are respectable enough not to simply kill on site without a good enough reason, Empress. I have no reason to fear either of you."

Elektra allowed a sly smirk. "That overconfidence in your enemies is going to get you killed someday."

Arica looked approvingly over at her third and fourteen-year-old daughter while Nagida merely gave a slight shrug. "Perhaps. But I still have no reason to fear you."

Elektra pursed her lips together and scowled while Arica glared. The queen didn't seem to take notice of either. "If you'll follow me inside, a meal is being prepared for us to have over a course of discussion. In the meantime, I can give you a tour of the Palace."

"I don't think so."

"Not interested."

Both Arica and Elektra had denied Queen Nagida's invitation at the same time, which could somewhat explain the puzzled look that was now a lit her face. "I'm sorry."

"This isn't a social call, Nagida," Elektra snarled. "We're here for a reason."

The polite smile that had been on the Queen's face disappeared slightly as she regarded Elektra. Her eyes also had gone a tad bit cold.

"In my day, girls your age, no matter what title they held, spoke to their elders in decency and respect."

Elektra's eyes flashed and she was on the verge of activating her lightsaber when Arica stopped her by slapping the proud queen to the ground.

"You will not speak to my daughter in such a disrespectful manner! On your knees!"

It was at this moment that Arica realized a group of guards had come running out of the building – members of the planetary defense league force, and they had their guns trained on the Imperial royals.

Arica openly laughed at this show of _force_. "Oh, I see now! As long as we remained civil with you, you didn't need any protection. But the moment we get rough with you," at the word "rough", Arica slapped the rising queen back onto the ground and the guards averted their guns onto her, "you send for your protective morons." Arica had made her way around the left side of Nagida's crumpled form, so at the word "morons" she kicked the royal woman squarely in the face.

The defense league stepped forward a bit, angling their weapons closer to the empress. Some of them even had their hands on the trigger, yet they didn't shot. Arica eyed them in disdain.

"What's the matter? Can't live with the death of the Imperial Empress on your conscious?"

Elektra gave a small laugh behind her, but the guards merely remained expressionless. Arica took a step away from Queen Nagida and presented herself to the defense league. "Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot me!"

While a few of the guards moved into position to open fire, most simply stayed where they were. By this time, the Queen had pulled herself back up to a stand, but once Arica noticed this, she pushed her back to the ground. This seemed to be the final straw for the guard in the center of the league, the leader among them.

"I will have to ask you to stop manhandling my queen," he said in a tone that meant business.

Arica laughed. "Let me enlighten you on something, little boy." The twenty something guard blinked. "If I saw someone manhandling my queen, I wouldn't just stand there talking threats-"

"I'm not threatening you," the guard said in a higher tone. "I'm telling you to step away from Her Majesty."

"Do you realize who I am, little boy?" Arica asked. "Do you even know who it is you're talking to?" Her voice had grown exasperated.

The guard resisted an eye roll and was on the verge of speaking had Arica not cut across him. "It is I, Arica Grievous-Skywalker, Empress of the Galactic Empire. And here you are barking out orders at me as though I'm some normal civilian."

"Miss, I'm not going to tell you again. Move away from Queen Nagida." By now, the guard seemed quite frustrated.

"Or you'll do what?"

The guard moved his gun closer to her and placed his hand on the trigger. Still, he didn't shoot.

Arica gave him a triumphant smirk. "You see? You can't do it! And you know why? Because you're weak!"

"And such beings of weakness don't deserve to live," Elektra said, coming up beside her mother. "Say goodbye to the world, little boy."

In the blink of an eye, Elektra had whipped out a sword knife and thrown it at the lead guards' throat. He was down instantly. Then, she was whipping out more knives and throwing each of them at the guards surrounding the area. They began to open fire, but with all the knives flying around, the twenty guards were down in no time.

Calling the knife that had pierced the lead guards' throat back to her, Elektra strolled idly toward the man and knelt beside him. Globes of blood was seeping out of his neck and with the way his face was distorted, Elektra could tell he was in horrible pain.

"Let me take you out of your misery," she snarled before than slicing the knife down into his skull. He was dead instantly.

Pulling the knife from his head, Elektra wiped it off on his military uniform and put it back onto her belt. Turning, she saw that her mother had dragged Queen Nagida to her feet, only to than abruptly slam her back onto the ground again. The forty-something royal lady was now openly crying, obviously because of the pain, or perhaps it was because she was scared of what was about to happen. Elektra guessed it was a little of both and went over to join her mother.

"I know you know where the Jedi are Nagida," Arica hissed. "But don't worry. You don't have to betray their location to me. I'll let you die with the easy conscious that you never betrayed them. And now you shall die. Any last words? On second thought, I don't care what your last words are. Elektra, the knife!"

She placed out her hand to accept the weapon and Elektra took it off her belt to give to her mother. Holding it in the air above the Queen's body, Arica sneered, "Have fun in the afterlife bitch!" and brought the blade down into her heart.

Right at that moment, the doors to the Palace flew open to reveal a group of nine Jedi being led by Jacen Solo and the Twi'lek Alema Rar.

* * *

Jacen, Alema, and the other seven – five of which being Jacen's apprentices; the other two some of Alema's – had been in the throne room when the transmission from the Empress came, though they hid themselves while Queen Nagida took the call. After which, they came back out and were told the situation. Jacen had protested point blank to the Queen meeting the Empress and her daughter, but it's not like she really had much of a choice. If she rejected the request, they'd definitely know something was up. Jacen saw this point too, but than presented the idea that one of them – preferably him – go with her when she met the Imperials. She struck this down too, saying it would be better for her to go alone. This brought protests not only from the Jedi, but the court as well. However, Queen Nagida's mind was set. While she went out to meet the Imperial royals, they were to remain inside the Palace, the Jedi keeping themselves hidden. 

Jacen foresaw the Queen being killed, but she merely sighed tiredly. "When you get as old as I am-"

"Forty-three isn't that old," Alema objected.

Queen Nagida gave the Twi'lek a slight smile. "All the same, when you reach as old as I, and see all that I have – the prosperity of the New Galactic Republic, the beginning of chaos with the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic and Jedi Order, the birth of the Empire, the fall of Palpatine as Emperor and the glory days of Vader as the new Emperor...all the freedom and liberty lost." She shook her head sadly. "What with all the dictatorship and control the Empire has over the galaxy, is there really any point left living?"

"Don't say things like that," Alema reproved. "Of course there is."

Everyone else in the room began to join Alema in these protests, telling her to have faith and hold on a little longer. Jacen tried making her see reason by bringing up all the lovely orphans she'd adopted and brought into her home, but she wouldn't listen to anything. With all the crimes she committed against the Empire, she felt her fate should lie within the Empress and Fourth Imperial Princess' hands.

True to the Queen's orders, everyone had remained inside the Palace while she went out to greet the Imperials. The only thing they hadn't done according to her will was watch the scene from the Palace windows. That and the Jedi not hiding themselves.

When Queen Nagida was slapped to the ground by the Empress, the Jedi made to rush out and aid her but some of the defense league members beat them to it and a few members of the court held them back, telling the Jedi to let the defense league handle the situation for now. But when they started to be killed, the court still held them back, saying only if something happened to the Queen could they go out.

"But we don't want anything to happen to her," Jacen protested, fighting against the man holding him back.

Too late! The nine Jedi sensed when the empress put an end to Queen Nagida's life. The members of the court began to stumble back in horror and disbelief at seeing the event occur out the window. The Jedi took that as their chance to dart out the Palace doors and into the courtyard landing bay in front of it.

The Sith Ladies looked up instantly upon hearing the Palace doors fly open and smirked.

"Death does seem to draw you out of hiding, doesn't it?" Arica sneered.

Roughly yanking the sword knife out of the deceased form of Queen Nagida, she threw it at one of the alien apprentices, a Zeltron. The throw of the knife was blocked, however, by the alien deflecting it back at her with its lightsaber. Arica was mildly impressed, but not enough to change her mind on killing him. Whipping out the pocket blaster she always carried with her, she blasted the hand that was holding his lightsaber hilt and the hilt itself. The blast that went into his hand merely made a hole in it, but the blast into the hilt exploded the laser sword, taking his hand along with it. He fell screaming to the ground at the horrific pain. While a few of the others huddled around him to make sure he was okay, the rest turned to glare at the empress.

"I see you're no different than your murderous twin, Antellica," Alema snarled at Arica.

The empress allowed a slight smirk. "Ah yes! You're that Twi'lek she was telling me about. The one whose sister she had the pleasure of killing."

Alema's eyes flashed with rage at the mention of Numa. Though it'd been two years now, the wound that had formed at her sister's death was still there and as raw as anything. She promised herself that someday soon she would kill Antellica for taking Numa away from her, but than another idea came to her.

"And I wonder how one-eyed Antellica would react if the favor was returned?" Alema spat.

Arica and Elektra both laughed. "You think you can kill me, little Twi'lek girl?" the empress asked. "That's awfully arrogant of you. I thought Jedi weren't allowed to have arrogance."

"And I thought Sith weren't allowed to use any other weapon besides their lightsaber," the Zeltron apprentice hissed out in the pain that came with his hand being blasted off.

In a flash, Elektra had retrieved her sword knife off the ground next to her mother and threw it at the alien at such a rapid speed he had no time to duck. The force behind the blow was so strong that it pierced deep into his throat at no time at all. He collapsed to the ground dead.

Elektra sneered. "That's one down and we haven't even begun wielding lightsabers yet. But than again, he wasn't Human so that explains that." She winked at Alema and the Twi'lek Jedi tightened her grip on her lightsaber. "And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded. "That non-Humans are weak? Sanya was a very accomplished apprentice."

Elektra rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he was so accomplished, and you know what, that's why he's dead. Wonderful job training him, Twi'lek. Superb!" Her tone had turned sarcastic halfway into the speech and she gave Alema a jeering thumbs up at the word "Superb!"

Alema growled with rage and made to throw herself at Elektra, but Jacen stopped her, pushing her back away from the battle that was sure to begin at any minute now.

Unlike her fellows, the events of Zonama Sekot had not made Alema into a better person. On the contrary, they seemed to worsen her. She harbored many un-Jedi like feelings for the Sith for taking away her sister and wanted revenge. Jacen feared that should she go too far into this, she could end up turning to the dark side. The events of the living planet had changed him too in the sense that he was more mature, and though many of his friends had been killed there – Lowbacca and Callista especially – he harbored no hatred for the Sith, just the sense that they needed to be stopped. He didn't want to see anymore people be killed, though he knew he would, especially if the person in question was only being slaughtered because they were too blinded by their need for revenge. It was because of this that Jacen pulled Alema back. She seemed ticked off yet somewhat confused, yet Jacen didn't care.

"Unless you get some type of handle on this anger of yours, I'm not allowing you to fight with us in the coming battle," he said.

She started to protest, but he cut across her. "You can go back inside the Palace to cool off or you can stay out here with us and act as a true Jedi does, with no hatred or rage. The choice is up too you Alema. But I hope you make it quickly."

"Indeed." Jacen turned to see both Sith ladies with their lightsabers activated. "Because the battle has just begun."

In no time, Arica's crimson had cut through three of Jacen's apprentices and Elektra's golden blade had pierced into the heart of Alema's other apprentice.

Feeling Alema's anger fuel up again, Jacen ran her inside the Palace and told her to evacuate the building through the secret passageway Queen Nagida had showed them earlier.

"Jacen, I am not a child!" she screamed. "Stop treating me like one!"

Jacen took notice of the tears beginning to form in Alema's eyes and sighed. "Alema, I'm sorry. But I'm just trying to protect you. In your present state, you'll end up being killed and none of us want that."

Alema began to try hiding the tears that were starting to fall, but Jacen soothed her. "There's nothing wrong with crying or feeling grief, Alema. Just don't do anything foolish and join us if or when you feel ready, all right?"

She nodded. "Thank you Jacen."

He smiled. "Don't mention it."

BOOM!

Jacen and Alema were both knocked off their feet as an eruption happened above them. They weren't sure what exactly had happened, but knew they needed to get out of the palace now. A second later, the floor of the second level came collapsing down onto the first and the two young Jedi Masters had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed by the debris.

Through the Force, Jacen discovered that while Arica continued to fight against the two remaining Jedi outside, Elektra was throwing small and green globed bombs in through the windows of the higher levels of the palace and was just now setting the time on a detonator to throw through one of the first level palace windows. The building needed to be evacuated immediately!

Screams could be heard all about them. Taking in their surroundings showed that some were injured, while others were stuck under debris. Jacen and Alema swiftly jumped into action, helping those that needed it and urging others who weren't hurt to do the same. An instant later, the window on the right of the entrance crashed in with the detonator bomb Jacen had seen Elektra setting through the Force and clattered to the floor with a thud. Running towards it, Jacen saw the time on it now read '0:58'. Picking it up, he reached out with the Force, eyes closed and concentrating.

He heard the sounds of continued screams and Alema yelling out to him, demanding to know what it was he was doing, and at the same time he didn't hear them. His main focus was the bomb and destroying it so no more innocent lives were killed. Having the Force rapidly swirl around him, the detonator began to lift into the air. Spinning at an impossible speed it began to shoot out sparks. Keeping his right hand raised towards it, he pulled it back slightly before pushing forward. The spinning bomb rose in the air a few feet, keeping up its rapid speed before exploding in a shower of sparks. The explosion wasn't as big as it would've been had Jacen not tampered with it; it merely caused a few cracks in what remained of the above ceiling.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jacen turned to see Alema carefully leading a small group of children – Human and non – down the half destroyed spiral staircase on the room's left. The one she was holding in her arms – a boy Rodian – appeared to have a slight gash above his left eyebrow and the way his right leg was bent showed that it looked to be broken. But besides that he seemed fine.

These children – all between the ages of two and fifteen and six in all – were some of Queen Nagida's numerous adopted orphans.

Jacen quickly rushed over to help Alema with the group. "Come on, we have to get these kids out of here!" By now, the Sith would surely know that their plan to blow up the palace had failed and they'd be in to fight. Jacen didn't want the kids anywhere near this when that happened. He could only hope that his two remaining apprentices left out of the original five – the Human male, Ganner Rhysode, and the Chadra-Fan, Tekli – could hold them off until they got the children and the others that still remained in the palace out.


	81. Battle in the Core: Alderaan

Author's Note: I meant to say this sooner: My regards to all of those suffering from the results of the Virginia Tech Massacre. I don't know if anyone from that area is reading this, but I thought I'd just say it anyway. Reviews are also greatly appreciated, and Happy Birthday to Star Wars star Hayden Christensen. He's 26 today. Oh yeah, one more thing. The site's now having problems with their email alerts of chapters and such. So for those of you who usually rely on those to know when a new chapter's uploaded, try around 8:00 PM EST every day. That's the time I've been doing updates around the past few days.

Review responses:

twisterblake: Thanks to both reviews, though for 78's I didn't quite understand what you meant in it. Could you phrase it better in your next review? The only thing I could decipher from it was that you were referring to the rouge dark sider that was in this episode earlier on surrounding the events of Muunilinst. Is that what you meant? If you so, they aren't introduced fully until Episode IX: Shadow.

dmitchell: Review #1: What exactly is it that people mean by fillers? The chapter was Arica and Elektra's mission to Chandrila against the Jedi that was detailed in the present sense. How is that a filler? I didn't explain what happened through words alone, but dialogue as well, just like the chapter before that and this as well. Review #2: It doesn't take long to upload a chapter. About a moment or two approximately. And since the site's recent stunt, I upload more than one at a time. As for how far along we are in this presently, go to my profile page for a detailed summary on the series. As for multiple chapters a day, I could do that, but I find only one or two, if I get a lot of reviews, to be easily. The reason? I'm still typing up the next episode, and though I'm nearly finished, after that comes the editing stage. Twice. Then there's episode X, an extremely long episode. The longest of them all. I estimate this story will be finished on this site by the year's end. But thank you for enjoying the story so much. I'm glad to have such an eager fan.

Fallen Senshi: Actually yeah. It's funny you picked that up. However, I didn't entirely base her on the Marvel character. Elektra is, in my opinion, a younger version of Arica, sans the black hair. Yet now that I think of it, River's something of a miniature Arica also. And thanks for the review.

Twisted Words: The apprentices aren't as experienced, hence their deaths. However, one master will die in the conclusion chapter. As for Obi-Wan, yeah he's still alive and kicking. He'll be in the space battle chapter aka 24.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 22: Battle in the Core: Alderaan

"_How touching. You knew we were coming and decided to greet us with a wedding gift perhaps?...Your deaths will be present enough for us."_

-Alexander Grievous to the Jedi

CORE WORLD, ALDERAAN – EN ROUTE TO ALDERA IMPERIAL BASE

In the time Leila had become Queen of the pleasant world that was Alderaan, its resident terrain that of wild grasslands and old mountain ranges, large oceans and in land scattered seas, she'd only been here a handful of times. And besides meeting with the planet's Regional Governor on occasion, she rarely had time to have much to do with its ruling and continued upbringing. This was something she intended on changing however. After her final semester at the on-world University ended, she intended on officially moving to Alderaan with Alexander so they could rule the planet together and start a family therein. Because like her, Alexander didn't want to stay living on Coruscant. And they most certainly didn't want to raise any children they might have there either. Alexander had spent practically his entire life on the capital world and was quite tired of it. Leila, meanwhile, thought it was a nice place to visit on occasion, but saw it as a bit too crowded for her tastes. Plus, she wanted her children to be able to enjoy life to its fullest extent, surrounded by nature and beauty. There wasn't really much of that on Courscant.

Leila was reminded of just how beautiful Alderaan was as they made their descent onto the planet. But they weren't here to scope out the world's loveliness, she scolded herself. They were here to catch the Jedi and stop their treachery from expanding to other worlds.

"_Yet there's nothing wrong with enjoying the view, Leila,"_ Alexander's voice said within her mind.

Leila slowly turned from the side viewport next to her seat to look over at her new husband, both were seated in the cockpit behind the pilot, and gave a smirk to his sly face before leaning over and kissing him sweetly on the lips. But just when he was beginning to deepen it, she surprised him by pulling away and slapping him across the face.

Alexander was greatly taken aback by this and clapped a hand to the spot of where she slapped him. He gave her a look of confusion, but this was merely returned with a playful grin.

"Just keep out of my mind little boy and that won't happen again."

"Little boy?!" His tone was incredulous. "After all we've been through together, you still see me in that light?"

Leila hummed her reply with a little grin.

Alexander smirked. "No you don't."

Reaching over, he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply, running his fingers through her silky dark brown hair that was currently up in a ponytail. They moaned in each other's mouths, their tongues battling against the other for dominance before Alexander abruptly pulled away and returned the slap across the face.

"Ow!" She complained, her gaze that of shock. He merely shrugged. "What can I say Leila, except that you're bitch." But he was smiling. Leila laughed and Alexander soon joined in.

Their ship, a shuttle from Alexander's commanding star destroyer _Ruin_, arrived at Alderaan's Imperial base a short while after and, stormtroopers in tow, the newly-wedded duo entered the building.

Before they'd left Coruscant, Commander Piett told them that Alderaan's Imperial forces were close to being destroyed. However, that was three hours ago, so neither were surprised to learn that the rest had been killed not long after the report was made.

"According to the city's surveillance, the Jedi vanished after that," an officer reported. "There's been no trace of them since."

"We'll see," Alexander said. "Commander, keep the cameras up and running and make sure every home and building on the planet is thoroughly searched. Leila and I, meanwhile, will have a look at those surveillance videos."

The officer saluted and led his troops out of the room and building to carry out their orders.

The Imperial surveillance system that monitored the entire planet inside and out had been Leila's idea. It'd been installed about two weeks ago, and the reason Leila loved it so much was because from than on, anything and everything that happened on Alderaan would be recorded for the Imperials to see. And the best thing about it was the citizens knew nothing about it. She was currently petitioning with her father to put surveillance systems of this kind on all Imperial worlds. It was probably something that would be done once this conflict was dealt with.

For five hours, Alexander and Leila searched the surveillance database for any trace of the Jedi all over the planet, but found nothing. Both were frustrated, but it was Alexander that was literally banging his head against the wall in fury. Leila had practically reached the point of going insane with frustration when something occurred to her. They'd been so focused on searching the planet for the Jedi that they'd forgotten to check the most obvious place of hiding – the Aldera Royal Palace – because it was the last place anyone would think to look.

Switching the frequency from that of the outdoor city cameras to the palace grounds, Leila skimmed the area surrounding her Alderaan home, checking the database around the time the Jedi vanished. And sure enough, there they were. They'd used mind tricks on the guards to allow them entry and have the servants inside go about their merry way.

By now, Alexander had stopped pacing the room and came up behind Leila to look at the screen along with her. For a moment, she considered seeing what the Jedi were up to the past few hours, but than figured what was the point? All that mattered was where and what they were doing right now this instant. As such, Leila switched the cameras to the present time to get a slight surprise. All of them were off-line. Every single last one of them. Even the ones monitoring the palace grounds. This could only mean one thing – the Jedi were still at the Palace, but if the Sith wanted to find them, they'd have to work to do so.

"_Let the games begin than..."_

* * *

ALDERAAN, ALDERA ROYAL PALACE

They were hiding. Waiting. It seemed like they did a lot of that these days, Aaron silently mused. If they weren't hiding, they were preparing to hide, and if they weren't doing that...

He had to stop himself from entertaining these thoughts. If he'd been going over these musings around Jaina or Jacen, he'd probably get a reprimand from each of them for complaining.

Patience was a virtue he knew, but sometimes he found it a bit hard to hold himself back from jumping into things. That's what he was trying to teach himself now. Aaron and the others had known instantly when Alexander and Leila Skywalker-Grievous arrived on-planet, but instead of instantly jumping out at them as Aaron had originally intended, Tahiri suggested holding back and letting the Sith come to them.

"If we just throw ourselves at them, we're practically giving ourselves on a platter," she'd explained. "Letting them come to us and work to find us will give us more of an advantage."

It was hard to believe Tahiri was only fifteen at times. Some of the wisdom that came out of her mouth made one think they were talking to an adult. But than, they'd all grown a lot since the events Zonama Sekot brought two years ago. It'd matured them and showed what the Sith were capable of in action and not simply assumptions.

The five hours the Jedi spent hiding, waiting, in the palace, they prepared themselves for the coming battle with the Sith and made sure to keep the other occupants of the palace – maids and such – out of their way. It was at the chime of the 2000 bell that Aaron sensed the Sith were getting close to discovering where they were, so decided to give them a bit of a challenge. The surveillance system in the palace was controlled directly from the Imperial base downtown.

Strangely enough, before Alderaan was originally conquered by the Empire twenty years ago during the Alien War, there hadn't been any type of security system in the palace besides armed guards. During the times of peace that went with democracy there was no need for one.

The only way Aaron would be able to knock out the security cameras was by deactivating them manually. This meant each and every one of them would have to be taken down by hand. The only problem was the cameras were so small it'd take a lot to locate them on the walls, but with the Force as their ally he and the others were able to do so easily.

This led them to being in the throne room presently, waiting for the Sith to turn up.

* * *

A host of stormtroopers and Imperial agents were alerted and marched to the Aldera Royal Palace grounds. Leila and Alexander weren't taking any chances on the Jedi escaping or any tricks they might pull. They were to be bombarded and swiftly eliminated. 

Upon arriving, Alexander ordered that some of the troops split up and search the grounds. He didn't think the Jedi were outside – his senses said they were in the palace – but again, he wasn't taking any chances.

The long, drawn out search Alexander expected them to endure concerning the Jedi's location inside the Palace never occurred. The instant they stepped inside, he and Leila both knew instantly they were in the throne room. Quickening their pace, they, with their troops close behind, made for the room and swung open the doors when it was reached. Inside was a team of ten Jedi, lightsabers activated and ready.

Alexander's lip curled. "How touching," he mocked. "You knew we were coming and decided to greet us with a wedding gift perhaps? But there's no need for any of that. Your deaths will be present enough for us."

And without another word, he and Leila ignited their own lightsabers and attacked with their forces opening fire behind.

The Jedi met their attack with ease and instantly began deflecting bolts of blaster fire back at the troops who shot them. Aaron engaged Alexander in a duel, and Tahiri one with Leila. The eight remaining Jedi charged forward, slicing down Imperials left and right. The battle got pretty intense, but even after fifteen minutes of fighting in it still none of the Jedi lost any members. They'd prepared themselves too well for this. As the fighting continued, however, it heated up a bit and two Jedi were shot down by stormtroopers. On top of that Tahiri got the side of her hip cut into by Leila. But before the Sith Princess could do anything else to her, Aaron abandoned his duel with Alexander to pick up Tahiri's with Leila. She growled at not being able to finish what she started, but dueled him all the same. Alexander, meanwhile, went to finish Tahiri for Leila, but two Barabel Jedi jumped in his path, swinging their long reptilian tales. The impact of them both knocked him off his feet and onto the floor.

Barabels were an extremely strong reptilian species that appeared Human save for the scales covering their bodies, the tail and long pointed teeth. They were one of the most feared aliens in the galaxy, or at least what was left of them anyway.

As Alexander fell, another Barabel pounced with its blade raised above him to deliver the deathblow. It never came, for right as it was about to bring the blade down Alexander whipped out a dagger from his pocket and stabbed it roughly into the alien's stomach. The Barabel Jedi screamed in pain and fury and began striking its blade around violently. One of the blows cut Alexander in the shoulder blade, but he was able to roll away on the floor before anymore damage could be brought to him. The other two Barabels that had tripped him came at him in full rage, lightsabers swinging. But Alexander was ready. Fueled from the pain of his shoulder blade, he reached out his hands and called their ignited blades out of their hands and into his. Two swift slashes across their centers got the job done.

The Barabel Alexander had stabbed came at him a moment later; his lightsaber in one hand, the dagger from his stomach in the other. The gash Alexander had made with the dagger was spurting out globes of blood, but the Barabel didn't seem to care as he continued on. Alexander didn't even give the pathetic life form time to strike. He simply slashed the blades of his fallen enemies in a horizontal motion at the Barabel, cutting through its body. More blood spurted out everywhere, some of which got on Alexander's robes. But it didn't matter. The Barabel was dead; that was the important thing.

Than another Barabel that Alexander hadn't even noticed, an older female, charged at him. But unlike the others, she was not fueled by rage just the sense of justice. Alexander almost laughed out loud but met her attack when it came. Leila, meanwhile, was still wrapped in her fierce duel with Aaron. One of the other Jedi – a Human male – was deflecting blaster fire while one of the female Jedi was helping Tahiri to her feet. These were the only remaining Jedi left besides the ones that were dueling the Sith. While the male Jedi continued the cover them, the two females made to escape through one of the windows that had been shattered via a stray blaster bolt. Seeing this, Leila made to disengage herself from Aaron, only the Jedi wouldn't let her. Every time she'd try to break away, he kept coming and any sudden move she made was easily pared. Leila was growing increasingly frustrated with this. Throwing a quick glance at Alexander showed that he was busy battling an older female Barabel whom Leila assumed was the mother of the younger Barabels he'd killed earlier. They were so wrapped in the duel that Leila doubted either of them even knew three of the Jedi were escaping. This slight distraction on Leila's part cost her a cut arm from Aaron. Hissing at the pain, she increased her strikes at the Jedi who refused to let up, but he just kept coming. With a growl of rage, she began spinning her violet saber at the speed of light, violently hitting down on the blue blade of the Jedi. This kid would die at her hand today. Leila would not rest until she accomplished this goal.


	82. Battle in the Core: Labore

Author's Note: This one's kinda short, but it's made up for next in the space battle and than conclusion, which leads into yet another conflict sub-plot.

Chapter 81 responses:

MissNaye: Yeah, they do, don't they?

dmitchell: Okay. Now I know what a filler is. The slapping between Alexander and Leila was meant for humor. And don't worry, no kids are to born anytime soon. Not from them anyway.

Twisted Words: Hmm, the conclusion might surprise you.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 23: Battle in the Core: Labore

"_The odds are against you Sith. There are ten of us and only two of you."_

-Zekk to Luke Skywalker and Gabriella Grievous Skywalker

CORE OUTSKIRTS WORLD, LABORE – EN ROUTE TO THE LABORE CITY IMPERIAL BASE

On the outskirts of the Core, right where the Colonies begin, laid the luxurious vacation world of Labore. Once inhabited by savage like creatures and Humans who wore loin clothes and laid on the beach all day, the planet had been wiped clean of its natives right after the end of the Clone Wars. And while originally it had been owned by the Imperial government's first Empress, Padme Amidala, as a private vacation spot for herself, once she and her emperor father had been dethroned, the planet went public as a high class vacation world for the super rich. Besides that, it also housed several film studios; the University of Labore (UOL) – a planetary college that brought in thousands of minds yearly from all over the galaxy to learn anything and everything from engineering to journalism; the Imperial Military Academy of Labore (IMAL); and, of course, the planet's Imperial base.

"It's amazing how much this planet has changed over the years."

Luke turned his attention briefly from piloting his ship, _Dark Sabre_, through the stratosphere of Labore to see his sixteen year old half-sister Gabriella skimming through information on the navicomputer concerning the planet.

He nodded to what she said. "It is. It's a wondrous example of how something so uncivilized can be turned into quite the phenomena."

Gabriella nodded and turned off the computer screen before than settling herself in the co-pilot's seat beside him.

"So how are we going to do this since they're still at the base?" she asked. "Just barge in and attack or...be real sly about it?"

Luke allowed a slight smirk. He, like her, had also sensed the Jedi's presence at the Imperial base. "Which do you think would be the better objective, Gabriella?"

The looked was returned. "Sneaking into the city completely unseen and taking the Jedi by surprise."

Luke nodded approvingly. "There you are than."

Gabriella smiled deviously.

Unlike their other siblings, whom were light complected like their father, Gabriella was darker complected with close to black, long and wavy hair that was worn straight on occasion and a caramel skin tone that was darker than even her mother's. It was this that Luke always found unique about his third sister. It set her apart from the others who were mostly blonde – Lacovia, Elektra, River, Dylan and Cole – brown – Hilton and Troy – or auburn – Philomena.

As they continued their descent onto the planet with the ship cloaked, Luke decided to land on the same hill Antellica and the late first empress had docked on when they first discovered the planet during the Clone Wars. It was a hiking trail now with nicely trimmed trees surrounding it as decoration. Though as they got nearer to landing in some trees on the right side of the hill, Luke and Gabriella saw that the trail was deserted. No hikers of any kind could be seen strolling the trail, which was odd for two reasons: at the time of day it was, it should have been swimming with hikers and because of how popular the trail was. It was one of the staples of everyone's vacation when they came to Labore. Luke had never seen it even close to be deserted before, but should have figured odd play would be about. The Jedi were here and they always brought disorder wherever they went.

Setting the ship down in the middle of the hill trees, Luke kept the cloaking shield up on _Dark Sabre_ as he and Gabriella exited it. With their presences cloaked, they climbed out of the jumble of trees and than proceeded down the hiking trail hill at a swift walk. They came across no one on their way down it.

The hill led them directly into the planet's capital city. Once they reached the bottom, after exiting the hiking trail grounds, they simply followed the pavemented main road that led through the city. On their right was the sandy beach that made Labore so fabulous and on their left were a few gift shops; burger and ice cream stands; a fruit garden; a small park; and the Labore Holiday Lakes Hotel Resort. Life seemed to be going as normal here with plenty of people out and about. Obviously, the Jedi saw nothing wrong with civilians roaming the streets because they were out in the open, but objected to them on the hiking trail because of its slight secludedness.

At the end of the main road Luke and Gabriella were walking along laid the Imperial base. This wasn't the end of the city though. The road that led to the more industrial districts looped around the left side of the building and continued on behind it.

As the two Sith continued down the road, their presences still cloaked, they began to sense the Jedi more and more the closer they came to the building. They were in a room towards the back, oblivious to the presence of their enemies. Upon arriving outside the base, Luke motioned for Gabriella to take position on the left side of the building while he stood at position on the right. The plan was for them to sneak around the sides of the building and in through the back door, thus taking the Jedi by surprise from behind instead of in the front. Only thing was, when they put the first part of this plan into motion, by positioning themselves on either side of the building, the front entrance doors flew open and out came the Jedi.

* * *

LABORE CITY IMPERIAL BASE, LABORE (Several Minutes Prior)

There was something wrong here, he knew. He just couldn't place his finger on what it was. Zekk was inside the base surveillance room with the nine other Jedi of his team – his five apprentices, two of Alema's and two of Tahiri's – when he began to feel this. They were keeping watch of the building's four entrances via computer monitor to know when the Sith arrived. They'd deliberately left their presences out in the open so the Sith would know to find them there. It was not the wish of the Jedi to involve any of the innocent civilians that still resided on the planet. Most of which had been told to leave for their own safety, and while some chose to listen – the Imperials that betrayed the Empire (by giving themselves up to the Jedi after only ten minutes of fighting because they didn't want any violence to scare away the civilians) and a few others – the rest could careless and refused to leave under any means necessary. This was between the Jedi and the Sith, no one else was to be involved.

When Zekk first felt this disturbance, he naturally assumed it was the Sith arriving with their forces, but when he looked outside to check he didn't see anything going on out of the ordinary. No suspicious looking ships or people; everything was going about normally with civilians seeming as though they were having the times of their lives. Nonetheless, Zekk choose to stay on his guard. If Zonama Sekot had taught him anything, it was to be prepared at all times and in all situations. It was because of this that he suggested the team go outside to have a look around, and enforced the notion that they should stick together after one of Alema's apprentices voiced that maybe a few of them should remain in the building in case the disturbance was a trap.

"If it is, we'll all face it together, and find a way out of it," Zekk declared.

Leaving the surveillance room behind, and sticking together, the Jedi began to make their way through the silent, deserted building that was the Labore Imperial Base. As they continued on it seemed that the disturbance was coming more clear to them. The Sith were here on the planet somewhere, that much was certain, but they were obviously hiding, waiting to strike with their presences cloaked. Removing his lightsaber from off his belt, Zekk took it in hand yet would not activate it until he needed it. He sensed the others behind him doing the same.

They entered the entrance hall, but paused briefly before going through the building's front doors. It was nearing sunset. Though the sun was half down, the city and beach were still alive with people. The Jedi cautiously descended the flight of stairs that led to the walk around sidewalk that surrounded the building. Now more than ever they knew danger was near. The Sith were close. But where exactly?

As answer to this mental question, Luke and Gabriella nodded to one another and uncloaked their presences. Luke ignited his crimson blade and the Jedi whipped around as one doing the same with blades of green and blue.

He was mildly impressed and said so. "Impressive."

Zekk moved himself to the center of the Jedi group and glared at the Sith. Now that he was seeing them again, preferably Luke, memories of Zonama Sekot came back to him and all the noble Jedi and natives who'd been killed at their hands. A slight wave of anger rose within him despite his better judgment, and did not go unnoticed by the two Sith. While Gabriella merely rose an eyebrow, it was Luke who snarled, "I thought you Jedi weren't allowed to get angry. It's a path to the dark side."

Another surge of anger rose within him and Zekk found himself having a hard time keeping it in check. Luke smirked and this angered him even more.

"The odds are against you Sith," he snarled. "There are ten of us and only two of you."

Luke was about to let out a sarcastic retort and Zekk, charge at him to begin the battle, but neither of them got the chance to do either of these things for right at that same moment Gabriella did something that changed everything.

Whipping out her specially-made laser ray gun, she took aim and fired at each of the Jedi apprentices, clear in the neck. Naturally, they tried deflecting the red blasts of energy before it could reach them but Gabriella was too fast. One by one they each hit the ground around Zekk in a matter of seconds.

When at last the apprentices were dead on the ground, Gabriella allowed a playful smirk to light her face and toyed with her deadly weapon in hand. She took great pleasure out of the only remaining Jedi's gaping face.

"I'm sorry, did you say something about the odds being against us because..."

Gabriella took a mocking look around the area, her eyes lingering briefly on each fallen Jedi.

"...I'd pretty much say that you're the one the odds are now against."

She shot her last laser blast at Zekk, but it was deflected. Tossing the gun aside, Gabriella gave a shrug. "Guess that means we'll be using lightsabers than."

She ignited her rainbow sparked blade and stroke a challenging pose. Luke stroke a similar one beside her with his own blade. Zekk came at them, and the duel began.


	83. Battle in the Core: Space Battle

Author's Note: Even though I only got one review (thank you dmitchell), I thought I'd post this early as I may not be on my PC at 8PM tonight.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 24: Battle in the Core: Space Battle

CORE, OUTER SPACE

"This is boring! When's the astral action gonna start?"

Dylan and Cole, Four and Fifth Imperial Princes of the Galactic Empire, were on the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer _Executrix III_ under the command of their aunt, Antellica.

This destroyer was one of the many that were sweeping the Core, keeping all twenty-eight systems therein and their direct routes under constant surveillance. Supreme Commander Grievous was leading the forces that were sweeping the Inner Core while Commander Hilton Grievous Skywalker was leading the rest to sweep the Outer Core and even into parts of the Colonies. The fleet wasn't going to take any chances when it came to the Jedi and the perfidy they seemed to cause wherever they went.

But this had been going on for the past several hours now with no sign of the Jedi or any type of action in space. This could explain why an over hyper eleven year old like Dylan would start growing restless. All the same, Cole just rolled his eyes at his twin. This was the third time in an hour he'd asked this. Out of the two of them, Cole considered himself to be the more logical and patient one, whereas Dylan was always wanting things now and could careless about logic.

"Have patience, Dylan," Cole urged. "I'm sure something will happen eventually."

It was than that both of them caught sight of their aunt conversing with a nearby officer about their current status in space. From what they could overhear, it sounded like they were in the Kuat System.

Antellica gave a nod to the officer when he finished speaking and made her way towards the boys who were sitting and pacing on the bridge overhanging floor. They looked up expectantly when she reached them. Giving a pacing Dylan's hair an affectionate ruffle, she spoke.

"You boys seem a bit restless, though, I can't really say I blame you. There isn't much going on here. I doubt it'll interest you, but perhaps you'd like to come back to my quarters and look over some readouts with me."

Dylan shrugged. "Okay."

Cole affirmed this with a chirp. "Sure. It's better than what we're doing out here."

So while the twins joined their aunt in looking over planetary readouts, on board the _Executrix II_, Hilton and Philomena were doing the same in Hilton's quarters, and had been for the past few hours now. So much, in fact, that Philomena was growing quite tired of it.

"This is getting really boring Hilton," she complained. "Let's do something else."

Hilton, all of nineteen, sighed and turned to look at his younger sister at the computer terminal she was seated at. She did look bored, but he didn't have anything in mind that might interest her.

"Such as?" he asked.

"Sparing perhaps," she suggested.

Hilton shook his head. "I don't think so Phila."

Philomena huffed. "This is getting really pathetic Hilton! I'm sick of all this reading stuff. I'm going to go crazy if I just keep sitting here."

"Then get up and do something," he snapped, going back to his own computer screen.

Philomena got up and placed her hands on her hips. "Fine. I will."

Turning tail, she stalked out her brother's quarters and into the ship's bridge. The officers inside nodded to her, but she mostly ignored them. Going over to the frontal bridge view port, she simply looked out it, gazing at the stars.

There were many things Philomena did to clam herself – meditation and flipping through magazines came to mind – but none calmed her more than star gazing. She could do this for hours, finding inner peace in the white balls of gas, but oddly the stars did not comfort her now. Looking at them at the present, she found instead of peace, chaos. Something was wrong. Something was about to happen.

No sooner had Philomena thought this that suddenly out of nowhere, they began to be fired upon by an unknown source. The bridge was alive with action immediately and a moment later Hilton came running out of his quarters.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"We're under attack, sir," the Captain answered.

Hilton rolled his eyes. "I can see that. But who from?"

"We don't know sir," another officer, a lieutenant, answered. "It seems that whoever is firing at us has a cloaking shield on their ship."

"Are you trying to say that it's just one ship firing at us?" Hilton asked in exasperated disbelief.

The Captain nodded. "I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's the way it seems. And by simply looking, you can tell."

Hilton took up the man's suggestion and looked for himself. Sure enough, the fire being shot at them was coming from just one spot, consequently one ship.

"Ridiculousness!" Hilton turned back to the officer. "Have you tried contacting them and asking who they are and why they're firing at us?"

"Oh, isn't is obvious who they are Hilton." He turned to see Philomena looking up at him matter-of-factly. He choose to ignore her as he turned back to his ship's captain. "Well?"

The Captain looked uncomfortable. "We tried, but we're not getting a frequency from the ship. If it has one, it's either off or has been disabled. I'm placing my money on it being disabled though. Because even if it was off, we'd still get some type of signal from it, and we're not getting anything."

"Imperial Star Destroyers can easily have their frequencies disabled, correct?" Philomena asked.

The Captain was slightly puzzled. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Philomena ignored the question. "Take a close look at the type of lasers we're being shot with," she instructed, pointing out the viewport.

The Captain still looked confused, but moved to do so, only Hilton stopped him.

"Alert the gunners to fire at maximum voltage-"

"That's not going to work Hilton," Philomena objected.

Hilton looked down at his nine-year-old sister in disgust. "Will you shut up?"

Philomena placed her mouth in a thin line, but remained silent. Hilton turned back to the Captain. "After which, I want you to alert the Supreme Commander of this. Though now that I think of it, maybe she doesn't need to be alerted."

"Yes, she does," Philomena protested.

"Will you shut your mouth?" Hilton snapped.

"No. I will not shut up! Weren't you listening to what I was saying? The lasers that are being shot at us, the frequency being disabled, plus the ship is being cloaked. Isn't it obvious what ship it is?"

"I grow tired of listening to this nonsense you're chattering about," Hilton snarled. "Go back to my quarters and stay there!"

"Sir, wait a second. Please." The Captain was looked inquisitively down at Philomena. "She might be onto something." As Hilton huffed, the captain turned to her. "What ship do you think is it Princess?"

"It's the _Executor II_," she stated. "I know this. I don't think it."

Hilton laughed. "The _Executor II_," he scoffed. "That ship's been missing for the past two years, ever since the Jedi-" He abruptly stopped and made his way to the frontal viewport, looking out at the shots that were still coming from nowhere.

Philomena gave a triumphant sniff. "Oh ho! So now he understands! To finish your sentence Hilton, the ships' been missing for the past two years ever since _the Jedi stole the ship from Zonama Sekot."_

Hilton turned from the viewport and directed his attention back to the Captain. "Alert the Supreme Commander of this immediately. As her forces are in Kuat, they should be here in no time."

The Captain saluted and ran off to carry out his orders.

Hilton turned to look at his smug sister and grinned. "You're not as stupid as some think you are Phila."

She smirked.

"Come on, let's go to the cannon bunker and make sure everyone's doing their job!"

CORE, OUTER SPACE – _EXECUTRIX III_

_How could they've forgotten about the _Executor II Antellica pondered as she and the twins made their way to the bridge to alert the crew to make for the Colonies world of Commenor immediately.

"I don't know," Dylan said. "Maybe with everything going on, you just naturally forgot about it."

Antellica slowly turned to look at her nephew, somewhat startled. "Were your eavesdropping on my thoughts?"

Dylan turned scarlet. "Well, I-"

"You're as bad as your father," she reproved. But she was smiling. She slipped an arm around Dylan's shoulders and pressed his head against her left hip. He smiled up at her and she returned it before reaching over to Cole and gesturing that he come over to her other side. He did this and she hugged him to her right hip. This is the way they entered the bridge.

Her command was barked and once the other ships in her force were alerted, they all jumped to lightspeed together. It only took about eight minutes until they reached where Hilton's forces were stationed on the outskirts of the Core. What they found upon arriving was mildly intriguing. Hilton's forces were positioned together in a half circle and firing at nothing. The only trace of there being something where the fleet was firing was the small amount of return fire that was coming out of what seemed nowhere.

"Gotta admit, it looks kinda weird," Cole commented.

Antellica and Dylan both nodded. "What I don't get is why they're hiding," Dylan said. "They come out to fight, yet they keep themselves hidden." He shook his head. "It's cowardly if you ask me."

Antellica nodded. "That's the way Jedi think and act. Like cowards."

Turning her back on the viewport, Antellica walked over to her ship's admiral. He was just finishing up a conversation with another officer. By the time she reached him he was at full attention.

"You have something to report," she stated.

"Yes Supreme Commander. Commander Grievous Skywalker has suggested that we position our forces on the other side of _Executor II_. Behind it." He walked her over to a computer and showed her a diagram of the emperor's ex-command ship on the screen. "There's a weakness to the cloaking system on the bottom rear side of the ship on the right. Around where the sublight engines are located. Constant fire on this should uncloak the ship."

Antellica gave a nod. "And it doesn't matter if they suddenly decide to turn around while we're firing because the other forces will be on the other side. I'm guessing Hilton's eventual plan is to box the ship in?"

The admiral nodded. "Once the cloak's down, yes."

"Very good admiral. Move the ships into position."

"Yes Supreme Commander."

Antellica nodded and joined her nephews at the frontal viewport once more.

OUTER SPACE – _EXECUTOR II_

This was not something he enjoyed doing. He felt no pleasure whatsoever in commanding a Star Destroyer during battle. It reminded him too much of the Clone Wars; the turning point of not only his life, but that of many others as well. But this had to be done. Because of that turning point the Clone Wars had made with the birth of the Empire, thousands of lives had been killed and continued to be even twenty some years later. Peace would never return to the galaxy until the Sith were eliminated once and for all. And while at times it seemed useless to continue fighting what seemed to be a losing battle – ala, the Alien and Galactic Civil Wars – they pressed on anyway because they knew they could win this, despite the odds. No matter how long it took, they'd keep going.

"Master Kenobi, the other fleet of Imperials that arrived are moving into position behind us. What should we do?"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Obi-Wan turned from the bridge viewport to look at the native Zonama Sekotan, a Ferroan, who'd spoken.

Since they'd escaped from the living planet two years ago with the surviving natives of Ferroans and Langshais their lives had changed drastically. Out of the original two thousand natives that lived on the planet, only five percent survived – one hundred – which mainly consisted of women and children, but a few males here and there. The natives had come a long way from the poor souls toiled with grief that they had been two years ago. Now they came close to multiplying their numbers and were living their lives quite well. Whereas before, only a select few had known how to speak Basic, now all of them could and their mannerisms had improved greatly from being near savage like to collectively unique. While Obi-Wan suggested they make Dagabah their new homeworld since they loved it so much, the natives declined saying they wanted to fight with the Jedi in the war against the Sith. Obi-Wan and the rest objected to this, but they won't hear of it. So this is how Obi-Wan came to be commanding a Star Destroyer full of Ferroan and Longhesi Zonama Sekotans.

The Ferroan who'd spoken was the male crowned leader of the since made eco-Ferroan/Langhesi tribe since Obi-Wan declined their generous offer. Suy was his name. He was the son of the late Ferroan tribe leader Sensku and slightly young, late twenties at least, with a brisk, upfront manner with everyone. So Obi-Wan wasn't surprised upon seeing the pale-blue skinned Humanoid appearing somewhat irritated that he hadn't received a quick, direct answer from the Jedi Master.

Going over the importance of the situation in his mind, Obi-Wan came to a decision. "Cease fire and move the ship out of the circular encasing they're trying to box us into," he instructed. "After which, begin taking out individual ships, one at a time with the ship still cloaked and constantly moving. That should buy us sometime until reinforcements arrive."

The Ferroan leader gave a bow. "A wise decision, Master Kenobi. It will be done posthaste."

Obi-Wan gave the retreating Humanoid a nod before turning back to the viewport and watching his plan play out.

OUTER SPACE – _EXECUTRIX II_

None was more surprised than Hilton when the _Executor II_ abruptly stopped firing. He and Philomena were back on the bridge going over their course of action once the ship was boxed in when it ceased fire, thus vanishing completely. Without the bolts of laser as a guide to figuring out where exactly the ship was, the Imperials were blinded in the dark without a glow rod.

Hilton muttered a curse under his breath and Philomena banged her fist on the table she was sitting at.

"Uh sir?" the Captain asked. "What exactly should we do now?"

"What do you think we should do?" Hilton snapped. "Move the ships into position for the box in. Now!"

OUTER SPACE – _EXECUTRIX III_

Antellica was furious when the _Executor II _ceased fire and immediately ordered her ships forward to meet Hilton's. Through the Force, Antellica felt the Star Destroyer making a getaway, but she wasn't about to let it escape. She couldn't. Not after the treachery Kenobi did to her on Zonama Sekot two years ago – blinding her in the right eye. She could never live with herself at knowing she had the old fool in her grasp, yet he slipped through her fingers right as she was closing in. For she knew it was he who was commanding the stolen star destroyer.

Sadly, for the Imperials, they didn't box together their ships fast enough for the _Executor II_ escaped the encasing just as the box in was closing up. A second later, the ship opened fire again, but right next to one of the destroyers on the outskirts of the circle encasing. Taken by surprise, the ship was in flames in no time. It took a little while for the Imperials to realize what was going on before they made to attack the still cloaked ship, but by that time the _Executor II_ had taken out three more Imperial destroyers.

Antellica was screaming with fury and barking out commands at her crew as they ran in confusion around the bridge, tripping to do the jobs she commanded of them. The twins mainly fed off the excitement of the chaos by hollering, hooping and running around in glee.

The _Executrix III _broke away from the circle encasing most of the destroyers were still formed in and raced to where the _Executor II_ was taking out yet another ship. Plasma and laser beams rapidly spilled out of _Executrix III's_ cannons and hit the _Executor II_ hard upon continuous impact. The cloaking shield was down in no time and Antellica instantly commanded that the tractor beam be activated to full power. It was and other surrounding ships began to do the same. There was nowhere for the _Executor II_ to go. It was trapped and a moment later it got caught in three of the numerous beams activated.

Antellica grinned evilly. This time, for the last time, there would be no escape for Kenobi.


	84. Battle in the Core: Conclusion

Author's Note: Here's the thrilling conclusion to the Battle in the Core sub-plot. Enjoy!

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

dmitchell: The Jedi of the NJO wield the Force in it's entirety. What does that mean? To them, there is no light or dark side to the Force. It's all in the way one uses it. That is the philosophy of the New Order under canon Luke, not the old with Yoda and Obi-Wan. As for a possible mutiny on board a Star Destroyer, that already occurred in Episode VI with Arica in the Unknown Regions.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 25: Battle in the Core: Conclusion

"_The end draws near."_

-Obi-Wan Kenobi

The moment _Executor II_ was caught within the various tractor beams of Imperial ships, Obi-Wan called out to the surviving Jedi on Corellia, Selonia, Chandrila, Alderaan, and Labore to retreat from their battles and ready themselves for escaping the planet.

CORELLIA

Jaina had heard Obi-Wan's call quite clearly and hastily made to end the everlasting duel she'd been fighting in for the past twenty minutes now. Only thing was Lacovia and Troy wouldn't let her end it. They'd long gotten past the point of mocking and taunting her, and simply wanted her to die. This was a satisfaction Jaina wasn't going to give them.

The pain of her five surviving apprentices, each suffering from the loss of a limb, suddenly hit Jaina like a ton of bricks. They were losing blood, some of them would die if they weren't tended to quickly. Jaina sent what soothing comfort she could in between blocking strokes, but she knew what she had to do. Despite the odds, this needed to end now. She began to fall back from the battle, so much that she found herself running from the Sith.

Troy and Lacovia both smirked, but stayed back. "What's the matter Solo?" Troy sneered. "Getting tired? Perhaps you'd like us to finish it for you? Say goodbye to the world little Jedi girl!"

Jaina had had quite enough of Troy's mockery of her. Yelling in rage, she came at them in such anger she knew she was touching the dark side, yet she didn't care. She wanted these Sith dead, and she wanted them dead now. Violently, she swung and attacked the two with her lightsaber, cursing their very existence as she fought and swore death upon them. She could tell the siblings were taken aback by her display of force and she took pleasure out of it. As the battle heated up, she even picked up on an un-Sith like emotion coming from the two – fear.

This caused her to snarl in disgust. "Not so tough now are you Sith? You're pathetic and your existence puts a foul taste in my mouth. Prepare to die!"

"Jaina, stop!" The call was coming from one of her apprentices – Dash, a Human male around her own age of whom she'd since grown semi-close to despite her better judgment. But the call was ignored as she continued to throw herself at the Sith in blinded fury.

Lacovia and Troy were in absolute shock. A Jedi wielding the dark side?! It was unthinkable, and yet it was happening. And the scary part about it was with the dark side Jaina seemed to flow more with the Force, so much that she was easily beginning to beat them in this duel. The young Sith found themselves backing away from Jaina in fear and disbelief, but she wouldn't have that and kept coming. More and more fierce by the minute.

As her blows became stronger as did her anger. She stroke on and on, putting her all into it. The blades of the royals soon went flying out of their hands and the two themselves were being knocked to the ground. In the background, Jaina's apprentices continued to yell for her to stop, but she was beyond caring what they said. She was too blinded by the dark side. The Sith made to pick themselves up off the ground, but Jaina swiftly kicked them back down; the blow that went to Lacovia's head so hard it knocked her unconscious. Troy was beyond shocked by Jaina's behavior; he was floored! He too made to pick himself back up again, but should have known better for he was kicked back down again. Troy looked up at Jaina in realization of what was about to happen. She sensed fear coming from him. He didn't want to die. Jaina could've cared less what he did or didn't want. All that mattered was what she wanted. She prepared herself to deliver the deathblow and swung down, only her lightsaber wasn't slicing through the figure of Troy holding his unconscious sister, but that of Dash.

He and the others had been screaming at her to stop this madness she was being blinded by. Yet knowing Jaina, Dash knew she would never listen via word of mouth so sacrificed himself to show her the error of her ways. And it worked. No sooner had Jaina sliced through Dash that her lightsaber was slipping from her grasp and she was falling back from the scene before her. She couldn't believe what she'd just done and found that tears were leaking from her eyes. She collapsed at the lifeless form of one of her greatest pupils and cried out in anguish.

Troy, though happy to still be alive, was disgusted at the fact of being saved by a Jedi and Jaina's sudden change of mood. He made to call the foolish Jedi's discarded lightsaber to him, but she was too fast. Catching the handle before it could come not even three meters towards him, she left her dead apprentice's side and stroke Troy hard across the skull with the handle. He wobbled off balance a few moments, his eyes going blurry, before he blacked out and collapsed to the ground beside his sister, unconscious.

Jaina gazed down at the two fallen Sith a moment. She could do it. She could finish it right than and there. But she didn't. She'd seen what the dark side could do to you firsthand if you let it blind you. Jaina was still recovering from her touch of it. She couldn't kill them. She wouldn't give into the anger she was still toiled with. She would leave them to whatever fate the planet had in store for them, and if the Force permitted it, face them another time.

With one last look at Dash, Jaina collected her four surviving, if yet injured, apprentices and left the downtown square. Hiding in the shadows of the city, the five awaited the reinforcements' arrival.

SELONIA

The underground city was utterly destroyed; the ocean waves sweeping in through the tunnel Danni and Tenel Ka had used to flee Imperial forces. Their escape from the planet went accordingly to plan. The female duo swam from the underground city and into the deep realms of the ocean; making sure to duck behind sea plants whenever they caught sight of any of Selonia's sea creatures. Eventually coming across one of the world's distant vacation islands, they secretly stole one of the many starships docked near the shore.

All Imperial forces had been killed in the vicious waters that destroyed the underground city, the only survivors being Anakin and River. They made it out, up through the way they came, but just barely for the water quickly rose and seemed to follow their every move of escape. River had survived her fall from the capital building by gradually slowing it down to a stop as she hit the bottom of the rock valley. She than climbed alongside the mountain with the aid of shooting grappling hooks at rock ledges every so hundred feet. Upon exiting the ocean tunnel, the duo was reloaded onto the overhead gunships still circling the area. After which, they were returned to the Imperial base in Sinta to discuss where they thought the Jedi could've gone.

CHANDRILA

Elektra was furious when her plan to blow up the Hanna Royal Palace failed, all because that scum Jacen Solo had to tamper with the bomb. But she choose to let out her anger by joining her mother in dueling the two remaining Jedi – a Human male and female Chadra-Fan. The last of which being, in Elektra's eyes, nothing more than a glorified brown furry pig. She was mildly surprised these two were holding up so well. They were pathetic beings with skill, but they still needed to die in her eyes. Launching herself into the battle, Elektra found herself dueling the Human male. He was pitiful and a bit sloppy in the way he swung his lightsaber. She could take him.

Or so she thought. Elektra's overconfidence in her abilities and underestimation of the enemy was her downfall that day. She was too busy swinging her lightsaber around in all her arrogance that she didn't even notice that she'd just given the Jedi an opening. He quickly took it and she realized her mistake all too late. Elektra screamed as she felt a piercing pain cutting into her stomach and she collapsed to the ground in agony. Looking down she saw that the Jedi's lightsaber had punctured her stomach.

The scream and pain of her daughter fueled such a rage in Arica that the remaining Jedi were dead almost instantly, sliced down by her crimson blade. Arica rushed to her daughter's side and pulled the blue lightsaber blade out of her stomach. Elektra was screaming out cries of agony and globes of blood was spurting out of the lightsaber made hole in her stomach. Arica soothed her as much as she could, demanding the midi-cholrains to keep her life sustained. Collecting Elektra into her arms, Arica rushed her onto the _Executrix_ in orbit around the planet where she underwent surgery.

Arica's leaving of the planet with Elektra enabled Jacen and Alema to get the remaining people inside the half destroyed palace to the safety of its secret underground passageway.

ALDERAAN

As the duels between Leila and Aaron, and Alexander and the Barabel, Saba, continued, the two surviving apprentices – Tionne Solusar and Plexico Sim – successfully made it out of the throne room's busted window with Tahiri being supported on by Tionne. Leila and Alexander made to follow, only their duelists wouldn't let them. This enraged them to no end, but it's not like they could do much about it so simply barked for the remaining troops to follow the Jedi out while they continued to keep up their duels.

Under constant fire, the three Jedi ran to the Imperial base where they fought even more troops to eventually hijack a starship. Flying it to the palace, they continued to be fired upon but made it through. In a bold move, Plexico piloted the ship through the stained glass window behind the queen's throne itself. It shattered to a million tiny pieces as the ship flew further into the room. With wide eyes, the four duelists ducked out of the ship's way. But as it went by, the boarding ramp was lowered and Aaron and Saba quickly grabbed onto it. In fury, Alexander and Leila gave chase after it as it crashed through the rest of the palace, out the front gates, and into the sky.

LABORE

It was over before it started. Luke and Gabriella allowed the duel to go on a few minutes in humor of Zekk, but he was more than dead from the beginning. Acting at the same time, Gabriella stabbed her saber into Zekk's stomach while Luke swung his blade across the Jedi's throat. Zekk had a moment to gasp at the agony before he fell to the ground dead.

SPACE BATTLE, OUTER SPACE

Not a moment after the _Executor II_ got caught in the three tractor beams of Imperial ships, the Hapan Military Fleet arrived and opened fire upon the Imperials.

Originally objected to the idea, it took Tenel Ka a lot to convince Obi-Wan into allowing the military fleet from her homeworld to help fight in their attack of the Core Worlds. The reason he'd objected was because this war was between the Jedi and Sith alone. He did not wish to involve any outsiders who didn't need to be apart of this. Tenel Ka had argued, saying that since she was the heir to the Hapan throne, her homeworld and its entire sixty-three world consortium was apart of this rather he liked it or not.

"Just because this is an attack against the Sith, do you really think they're _not_ going to use their navy in any battles we throw at them?" she'd emphasized.

Obi-Wan saw her point and so agreed to the Hapan involvement in the war. And being that the Queen Mother – Tenel Ka's mother, Teneniel – had already approved the matter, it was a go.

The Imperials were greatly surprised to find themselves the target of so many unrecognizable forces. Naturally, they fought back but soon found that they were losing many of their ships to this group of enemies. Distress calls were sent out to the remaining members of the fleet that weren't there due to their positions around the other Core worlds the Jedi occupied. But they also were sending distress calls for help. It seemed that other parts of this enemy fleet were spend out all over the Core, attacking Imperial ships on a whim.

It wasn't until a closer look was taken at the ships that it was revealed who the enemy forces were. No one was surprised. On the contrary, they were more surprised something of this sort hadn't happened sooner, what with Tenel Ka being a Jedi.

The battle continued with both sides taking hits. Chaos and destruction was everywhere. In the cover of all this, Hapan forces were able to go down onto the attacked Jedi worlds and retrieve their fellows. Most of the Imperial forces on these worlds were killed. Finally, the entirety of both fleets joined together and the battle got even hotter. Most of the Imperial ships being taken out were smaller class Star Destroyers. This caused the occupants of the many larger ships to take on some sense of security at not being in risk of abruptly being blown out of the sky. This analogy soon went out the window, however, when about ten or eleven cruisers and a dozen star fighters began to open fire on the _Executrix III_. The shields on the Super Star Destroyer could only hold so long before they were burnt out and the ship started taking some massive hits. Antellica needed to get herself and the boys off of it immediately.

Grabbing both by the hand, she ran them out of the bridge and took the stairs down to the lowest level where the ship hanger was located. It took a while to get to it that way because of the great number of stairs, but Antellica wouldn't risk taking the elevator in the ship's present condition. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she swung open the door to be greeted by a disastrous sight. The hanger was engulfed in flames. Actually, the entire ship was in flames, but she had no way of knowing this. Fire was everywhere and all the ships were being cooked to the ground. And the air was becoming so clouded with smoke it was becoming hard to see or breathe. Dylan was in a coughing fit beside her and Cole's eyes were tearing, probably from the mixture of the smoke and his feelings of fear. She collected them both into her arms and spoke words of encouragement to them. Everything was going fine. They were going to make it out of here. But the question that rose itself was how? All the ships were pretty much destroyed, but then there was the escape pod bunker. She made a run for it only to be knocked off her feet. An explosion had rippled over the ship, causing it to lose its level orbit. Antellica gestured for the boys to grab onto the nearby door handle before doing so herself. The ship was moving from its normal horizontal orbit to vertical. It than began to go down, nose first, diving rapidly. The twins were screaming and Antellica knew she had to do something fast. The door handle wouldn't hold on forever.

Looking down showed her the abyss of space and the burning ships from the hanger falling into it. At that moment, one of the hinges on the door decided to fly off. All three slipped down a few inches and were rocketed violently against the floor they were hanging alongside. Antellica was far beyond desperate now. She refused to die and would not take her nephews with her. Than the other hinge started to break off and they were thrown down even even lower as the ship continued its dive. However, something appeared beneath them that made Antellica's heart leap with joy. An Imperial flagship shuttle, being piloted by Hilton, was hovering in the bottom half of the ship, its engines squealing to keep up inside the falling vessel. Cole and Dylan noticed the ship a moment after and began screaming down at it for Hilton and Philomena, who could be seen conversing in the cockpit, to do something and not sit there talking. They disappeared a moment later and the boarding ramp of the ship was opened up slightly at an angle. They reappeared holding onto the inside of the ship and both yelled for them to jump.

"Are you crazy?!" Dylan screamed, the sound of the whipping winds entwining with his speech.

The second door hinge choose to break off officially this time, throwing the trio down even further. That's all Antellica needed to happen. She prepared to push one of the boys down, but Cole beat her to it by falling on his own. He screamed in terror as he fell through the air, afraid that this was the end and that he was going to die. But just when he was preparing himself for that final breath, he fell into someone's open arms. At first he thought he was in the afterlife, but than he realized it was his brother Hilton's arms. He was quickly passed onto Philomena, though, and she shooed him further into the ship. But he wanted to stay and watch. He'd never forgive himself if something terrible happened to his twin or aunt and he wasn't there to see it. Philomena had run back to where Hilton was and yelling for the others to jump so no one saw him sneak over to where they were.

Dylan was shaking with terror. He didn't want to jump, yet he didn't want to stay where he was either. He was currently arguing these points with his aunt whom was urging him to jump.

"We don't have time for your nonsense Dylan, now jump!" Antellica yelled, giving him a slight push, but he held onto the door handle, never wanting to let go. An instant later, however, he had no choice but to let go for the last hinge on the door broke off and he and Antellica went falling through the air. Dylan was in scared tears with his eyes closed, begging for this nightmare to end. A moment after he fell onto some type of hard substance. He thought he was dead or close to dying but than heard a familiar voice laughing. "We're not dead you pig. Get up!"

It was Philomena, but by the time he'd opened his eyes all he saw was the figure of her following Hilton and Antellica to the cockpit at a run. Cole than reached over and helped him to his feet.

"Come on buddy. Let's go."

By the time the twins reached the cockpit it was in enough time to hear Hilton command, "Hold on!"

The shuttle gave a sudden jolt and they were diving as fast as the speed of light, out of the flaming Star Destroyer and down millions of feet. Then they abruptly stopped, causing them all to jolt back, and the ship was being swerved hard left away from the flaming Star Destroyer, and than jolted up through the air. The battle that was raging on millions of miles above them looked nothing more than small dots of light.

Once they returned to real space and the battle, Hilton carefully flew the ship through the crossfire of laser beams and onto _Executrix II_.

Stepping out of the flagship shuttle, and onto the hard steady floor of the hanger, Dylan looked around in relief and grinned. "Awesome! That was a cool ride! Let's do it again, but with more suspense this time!"

This earned a laugh from everyone present.


	85. The Hapes Conflict I: The Witch Jedi

Author's Note: Thus is the beginning of this episode's second subplot: The Hapes Conflict. Like the Battle in the Core series, this branches over a course of several chapters, but not eight, five. After which is the Dathomir Crisis in a three chapter format.

MissNaye: It was about a 60-40 win, with the Sith winning the land battles, but the Jedi that of space. I couldn't have the Jedi lose the battle entirely. As for the Hapans, their fate will be decided in The Hapes Conflict subplot, naturally.

dmitchell: Originally, I wasn't going to kill Zekk off. Not for the sake of romance, mind you, but for a future plot line. However, I thought it'd work better with one of the Solos instead. Sorry about that. As for perpetual updates in the form of more than one a day, I thought I'd already made myself clear that it would remain one, occasionally two, a day. Though I'm finished writing it yes, I'm still typing up Episode IX and going through an editorial phase of Episode X. There's about 80-plus chapters of this left. The story will be over by the year's end, but probably summer's end. I'm pleased that you like it so much, but the aftermath work of writing does take time. Again, you don't have to review twice to simply say the same thing over and over again. Thank you, but two reviews from one person per chapter isn't entirely necessary.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 26: The Hapes Conflict I: The Witch Jedi

"_I married a man, not a crown."_

-Queen Mother Teneniel Djo to Empress Arica Grievous-Skywalker

The Battle of the Core eventually ended when the Hapan Military Fleet retreated with about half of their original number. The fleet could've been pursued back to Hapes right then and there of course, but when the emperor learned of his daughter Elektra's condition, the Imperial Navy was ordered to return to Coruscant; the notion of it going on without its royal leaders denied. This was a problem the emperor needed to address personally.

The Jedi, meanwhile, went back with the Hapan fleet to its homeworld briefly before returning to Dagabah and holding a memorial for the thirty-five Jedi lost. After which a knighting ceremony was held for the only seven apprentices that survived the Core battles:

Saba Sebatyne, 49 – Apprentice to Aaron Solo  
Plexico Sim, 25 – Apprentice to Aaron Solo  
Tionne Solusar, 28 – Apprentice to Tahiri Velia  
Senni Tonnika, 26 – Apprentice to Jaina Solo  
Movac Piv, 22 – Apprentice to Jaina Solo  
Nichos Starstone, 18 – Apprentice to Jaina Solo  
Klink, 32 – Apprentice to Jaina Solo

With a mixture of the Force and much medical attention, Elektra survived the stomach puncturing, but remained under constant care for the next few days.

It was during this time of recovery that Hapes made its next move against the Empire. Three days after the Battles of the Core, word was sent to the capital that the Imperial forces based on Hapes and the other sixty-three planets in the Hapes Consortium, a ruling government of the Hapes Cluster in the Inner Rim, had been killed, the Imperial academies and bases burnt to the ground. The Consortium declared itself free of the Empire and an independent sector.

The emperor wasn't about to stand for another rebellion. He and Arica left for Hapes immediately on _Executor III_ with the rest of the navy accompanying them. They would get directly to the heart of this matter with force. Also accompanying them were Gabriella and Philomena while the rest stayed on Coruscant to keep peace in the Empire and help Elektra fully recover.

As could be expected, the Hapan Navy was there to meet the Imperials upon arrival outside the Hapes Cluster and a vicious battle ensued.

The Hapes Cluster, a region mostly in isolation, had been ruled by the Hapes Consortium since before the birth of the New Galactic Republic. It was a hereditary monarchy based on the capital world Hapes, protected by the Transitory Mists – a region of ionized space that surrounded the Hapes Cluster. It spanned sixty-three closely positioned star systems, each with an inhabited world, and was ruled by the Queen Mother, who's heir was her eldest daughter. If she bore only sons, the eldest son's wife would become Queen Mother. On Hapes women were the dominant gender, men only acting as secondary roles.

The strong military force of Hapes was something known throughout the galaxy. It was their way of keeping the cluster isolated and strangers out. During Palpatine's rule, the ex-emperor had made to invade it numerous times, but these attacks were always countered. Because of its non-violent philosophy to never attack unless attacked first, the cluster was mainly kept in peace and left alone. Until now, the cluster had never done a single thing to oppose the Empire. But this was before the Queen Mother allowed her daughter to be trained as a Jedi.

Knowing that the battle was imminent to last some time, the emperor had his Command Ship barge right through the middle of it, destroying any ship that dared to block its path. Soon, the battle between the Hapans and Imperials was leaving the cluster's outskirts and entering within it. The Hapans were trying to stop the _Executor III_ from getting too far in and, at the same time, continue fighting against the rest of the fleet. But the moment the emperor's Super Star Destroyer got in range in between the fighting, it jumped to lightspeed, headed for the Hapan capital. It didn't take long, an hour or two perhaps, before they arrived outside the world of Hapes – Homeworld of the Hapans, a near-Human race, and the administrative capital of the Hapes Consortium.

Surrounded by shimmering nebulae, and with seven moons in the sky after sunset, Hapans never knew the darkness of a true night, causing them to have proverbially poor night vision.

Only a few small, neat cities were necessary to cater for the needs of the state bureaucracy and the Consortium's commercial and legal institution, and much of the planet was unspoilt wilderness of broad oceans, snow-peaked mountains and lush prime valforest, where tightly-controlled commercial fisheries and game-preserves were the major focus of human activity.

Points of interest on the planet included the Fountain Palace, also known as the Castle of Per'Agthra, the premier royal residence of the Queen Mother. Situated on Hapes itself, this centuries-old fortress palace that overlooked the capital city of Ta'a Chume'Dan served as an ancient symbol of royal authority for the monarchy. Reef Fortress was the private shore side retreat of the Royal Family of Hapes. Its main attraction was the dewberries that grew nearby. Lorell Hall was an assembly hall located in the capital city. It stood with the royal palace on the bluffs of overlooking the city, with vast windows that allowed a dramatic view of the Hapan sky.

In its entirety, Hapes was attractively beautiful in appearance and structure, ranking with the likes of Alderaan, Chandrila, and Naboo in the department of elegance.

The Emperor and Empress Grievous-Skywalker and their third and sixth daughters took a flagship shuttle down onto the planet and had it docked on the palace landing platform. The Imperial royals weren't even halfway down the ship's boarding ramp when Queen Mother Teneniel Djo herself came strolling out of the palace at a brisk walk, surrounded by aides and servants.

Not much was known about Teneniel Djo except that she was a Dathomiri Witch from the outer rim world and a direct descendant of Dark Jedi Allya. But nothing was known about how she and her husband, Hapes' Prince Isolder, met. Arica, however, suspected the woman had used her dark magic to lure the Prince into making her his wife after she conceived his child. Either that or she used her looks to impress him. And the empress had to admit, the woman was quite the handsome specimen. With her long, silky auburn hair and lovely face, she could've easily been a holomodel as a teen. She was medium in built and height, in her mid-thirties and was currently donned in a green garden colored dress that came right above her ankles in length. Draped over her right shoulder was a dark green shaw that fell to the ground as the Queen Mother walked. Her hands and wrists were loaded with a small amount of jewelry and around her neck were two necklaces; on her feet, sandals.

"What is the meaning of this, Emperor?" she demanded in a rich voice and within several feet of the royal family. "What part of the 'Hapes Consortium is an independent sector, free of Imperial control' do you not understand?"

"Calm down Teneniel, please." Prince Isolder came beside his angry wife in an attempt to do what he'd requested. She seemed to calm down a bit, but still appeared angry.

A light brown haired man in his early forties, Prince Isolder didn't even begin to look attractive. Not in Arica's eyes anyway. He was too pasty faced for her tastes.

The Prince turned his gaze to the Imperial Royals with a smile and bowed. "What a pleasure this is to have the Emperor, Empress and Third and Sixth Imperial Princesses here to visit us. Welcome to our humble world. Would your Royal Highnesses care to come in for a refreshment or delicacy?"

Yet before any of them could answer, Teneniel bit out, "Of course they don't want a refreshment or delicacy! They've come here to try and force me into having the Hapes Consortium rejoin the Empire, and it's not happening. Our Consortium existed long before there was even a New Galactic Republic, let alone an Empire, and its proudly stood for over a thousand years. We don't need to be apart of a government that's so wishy washy it could collapse at any given time."

"I think I'll take that refreshment, Isolder," Anakin said, completely ignoring Teneniel's speech, much to her irritation. Isolder, however, was relieved and gave another smile. "Right this way..."

He led them inside the palace, through several hallways and into a brightly lit and vast dining hall. Inside, servants could be seen ladening an elegant brass table with a variety of delicious foods. It was set for four, but two more plates were quickly being added. Isolder explained this. "We weren't sure how many of you were coming."

"You were expecting us?" Arica asked in mild interest.

Isolder lowered his head somewhat. "I knew someone from the Empire would turn up. I simply wanted us to be prepared."

"So bribing us with food and drink is being prepared on Hapes?" Gabriella asked with a sly smile. "I like that."

Not waiting for anyone to pull out a chair for her, she did so herself and snatched away the plate that a servant had just taken from her spot on the table.

"I can serve myself, thank you," she snapped with a glare and pushed the servant aside. Gabriella than began loading up her plate with food.

Her parents and sister were looking on in mild amusement; Teneniel's mouth was in a thin line, though, she remained silent; and Isolder was looking around and nodding his head, obviously glad no one had gotten killed yet. You could sense the fear and nervousness on him a mile away.

"Let's not just stand here in awkwardness," he said, breaking the ice. "Everyone dig in!"

Isolder's bribing peace meal was very well made and tasted nice. During this duration of eating, casual conversation was made about the planet and consortium as a whole. Teneniel didn't speak much, only when spoken to, though she was quite firm in dropping the subject of Tenel Ka when Anakin brought the Hapan Chume'ta into the conversation.

"Why?" he asked at her insistence of it being dropped. "You should be proud of your daughter. Not many would have the courage to oppose the Empire so openly. But I guess that's something the two of you have in common."

The Queen Mother's eyes were flashing and she was instantly on her feet. "How dare you?!"

Yet before a confrontation could start between the two, Isolder quickly jumped in. "Dewberry pie, anyone?"

The tiff somewhat forgotten, everyone sat down for dessert.

The rest of the meal was mostly silent, sans Philomena continuously barking at servants to bring her more food and punch, mainly to annoy the Queen Mother. At the end of this, a nervous silence followed, finally to be broken by Isolder clearing his throat. But Anakin decided to save the man from whatever more bribery he had in store for them.

"As nice as it is to dine among fellow royals, I think it's time to address the reason we're here."

"As do I," Teneniel was quick to agree.

Everyone turned to look at her and Anakin rose an eyebrow beneath the mask that was nonetheless heard in his speech. "You do?"

"Yes I do," she affirmed. "I've just about had enough of this beating around the bush."

In an act that shocked everyone, Teneniel rose from the table and activated a green bladed lightsaber.

"Teneniel, no!" Isolder rebuked, half irritated, half fearfully. "Sit down and put that away!" He glanced nervously at the Imperials. "You must forgive her! She doesn't mean how it looks!"

"No Isolder," she said, though her eyes were still on the Sith. "I will not be made the victim here."

A chuckle could be heard in Anakin's tone. "I should have known Kenobi had you trained as a Jedi also."

"Correction: I trained myself to be a Jedi, and Tenel Ka also before she began tutoring under Yoda and Obi-Wan."

"How could you train yourself to be a Jedi?" Philomena wanted to know. "It sounds a bit impossible."

Teneniel allowed a slight smile at the nearly ten-year-old Princess and explained.

"I was born into the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri Witches on Dathomir and taught how to use the Force in the sense of speaking incantations by my grandmother, Augwynne Djo. My mother, Allaya Djo, was War Leader of the clan at my birth, but died soon after in the desert, thus I was raised by my grandmother and she was renamed War Leader as I was too young. As I grew, I learned to know the Force without incantations, something I was banished from the clan over. They were horrified and didn't think it worthy enough to use the Force without speaking the spells. Four years after my banishment, however, I was allowed back and the clan apologized for its harshness. I accepted their apology and they asked me to teach them the ways of the Force without incantations. I did so and the power of the clan grew. Before I met Obi-Wan and Yoda, I'd never wielded a lightsaber in the sense of what you think of one as. But I was, and am, a fantastic swordsman and am quite gifted in archery as well. The only thing Obi-Wan and Yoda taught me to do was construct a lightsaber; nothing more, nothing less."

"I didn't realize Tenel Ka had such an impressive heritage," Gabriella commented, "or you for that matter."

The Queen Mother gave a proud nod. "It's something I'm quite proud of."

"Is that so?" Arica asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you're really so proud of your heritage, than why is it hidden from the public? And while we're talking about your background, why don't you tell us how you manipulated Isolder into marrying you, thus enabling you to take over the Hapes Consortium."

"I married a man, not a crown," Teneniel growled. "As to why my background's hidden from the public, I suggest you ask Isolder's mother. She's the one that didn't want it released. She has a bonified hatred for all things Force-sensitive and is not happy with the idea that the present and future Queen Mother will be a Jedi. As for the second question, I did not manipulate Isolder into marrying me. We fell in love."

"Dathomiri Witches don't fall in love," Anakin countered. "They use men for their own means before than eliminating them when they have no further use. It's something I've always admired about your kind."

"An admiring I used to share until I met Isolder."

"Explain!" Anakin barked.

"Aren't you more interested in fighting right now?" she asked slyly.

"People of my rank and class can always do with a good history lesson every once in a while," he said with a wave of his gloved hand.

"Besides, it's not like you have much longer to live," Arica added. "Why not learn about you a bit before your death? Then, when the funeral's held, the Hapan people can finally know who Teneniel Djo really was."

"Good luck with Ta'a Chume on that." Teneniel's tone was sarcastic. "But than she'd probably be so thrilled at my death that she wouldn't care."

A moment of silence went by before Teneniel abruptly deactivated her lightsaber. "I'll tell you, but only with the premise that no sudden moves are made while I'm speaking."

At Arica's chortle, and the Princesses' smirks, she added, "Despite my distaste for you Sith, I'd like to think that you're respectable enough to come to terms with something without breaking it."

They seemed to go over her words a moment before nodding.

"All right," Anakin finally said. "No sudden moves until you finish speaking."

"Right."

"Very well."

Teneniel gave a sigh and sat back down. She looked over at Isolder. The Sith followed her gaze. The Prince had been silent during all their talking. He appeared nervous still and fear continued to radiate off him, but besides that he seemed fine. He was doing his best to put forward a brave face. Teneniel drew her eyes away from her husband and back onto the Sith.

"We happened upon one another on Dathomir when Isolder's ship crash landed on the planet in the middle of exploring the Outer Rim. I duly captured him as a slave for breeding purposes, and he impregnated me with Tenel Ka. But in the time he remained in our company, we grew fond of one another and eventually fell in love. I asked my grandmother's permission to marry him, and once she found out how accomplished a man he was, agreed. A ceremony was held there with my family and our honeymoon was spent in one of the distant, secluded areas on the planet. Actually, it was one of the very same places I'd spent my exile at. We later returned to Isolder's ship and he was able to call for help. It came in the form of his mother and the Hapan Navy.

Ta'a was horrified that a Force-sensitive commender from a backwater planet would succeed her and objected to the union. I used to Force on her however, assuring her that I was no pacifist and had no qualms about executing the Queen Mother if the situation warranted it. Ta'a backed down and accepted the union, although there was no love lost between myself and she.

During my time as Queen Mother, I've tried to keep the Hapes Consortium out of galactic politics for the most part, and consistently refuse to listen to the advice of Ta'a. It's simply her way of continuing to rule the consortium through me, and I don't want that. I can rule it just fine with my husband by my side and will continue to do so for the years to come. Until Tenel Ka reaches twenty-one and becomes Queen Mother herself."

"Which is something I'm still confused over," Gabriella presented. "How can she be Queen Mother and a Jedi at the same time? For what I've read, the Jedi of old weren't allowed to possess anything. And as a Queen, you possess a throne."

"I have always been clear with Tenel Ka to choose her own path," Teneniel explained, "and she has yet to decide if she wants to be Queen Mother or not. I know there's a part of her that wants to be, but than there's the other part, the warrior side of her, that doesn't. She feels torn, but she's still young. Seventeen. She has a few years to decide."

"But she'll be twenty-one in four years," Philomena pointed out. "What if she doesn't make her decision until than and abruptly decides she doesn't want to be Queen Mother?"

"Than another heir will be conceived and I will continue to rule until that child reaches twenty-one, or in the case of a male, until they take on a consort."

Silence followed this for a moment before Anakin spoke again. "Getting back to the reason we're here..."

Teneniel was on her feet instantly, lightsaber activated, and Isolder let out a sound of fear. Anakin gave no notice to either of these actions as he addressed the Queen Mother.

"Teneniel. You are one of the most intriguing of persons I have ever met and hold quite the impressive background. In light of this, perhaps you'd like to consider-"

"Becoming a Sith?!" she finished in disgust. "I don't think so! I'm proud of my heritage and will not disgrace it by turning to the dark side."

The Royal foursome were on their feet. "And you refuse to have the Hapes Consortium rejoin the Empire?" he asked.

"It'll never happen under my rule," she defiantly stated.

Anakin allowed an unseen smirk that was nonetheless heard in his tone. "Than perhaps it's time the Hapes Consortium has a new ruler." He ignited his blood red saber. Arica, Gabriella, and Philomena soon followed with their own weapons.

Teneniel gave a small laugh. "The only other who can be Queen Mother is Tenel Ka, and she'll never turn to the dark side."

"Maybe, maybe not," he said vaguely. "But there's always Ta'a Chume. I'm sure she'd love the idea of reclaiming the throne."

It was common knowledge that the ex-Queen Mother hated her daughter-in-law and would stop at nothing to have her removed from the throne. In fact, she was currently under house arrest at Reef Fortress for attempting to do just that through the form of poisoning Teneniel via a glass of wine at a state dinner. If Teneniel's Force senses hadn't picked up on it in time, she'd probably be dead.

"That'll never happen!" Isolder firmly stated, raising from his seat. "I won't allow it!"

"It may be hard to not allow something when your dead," Gabriella said and in the blink of an eye she'd whipped out a dagger. Before Teneniel could stop it, the blade went flying and cut into her husband's throat. He fell to the floor clutching at it and Teneniel quickly ran to his side.

That's all the Sith needed to see. They were in full attack mode, running at the Witch Jedi with the intent of killing her. At the last minute, however, she swung from the ground and blocked all their attacks.

Somersaulting over them to the other side of the room, she yelled for the screaming servants to leave at once. She didn't have time to see if they did though, for she was blocking more attacks from the Sith. She pared them each, closing all openings with her quick swinging movements. She was able to keep up this attack of fighting against four Sith, and surprised even herself at how well she was holding up. That is until she was knocked back by the impact of Philomena grabbing hold of her dark green shaw and Gabriella kicking her in the face with her high heeled shoe (she was donned in a little red dress, easy to move around in because it's looseness, and matching sandal heels).

Quickly getting up, Teneniel threw off the rest of the shaw just in time to block an attack from Anakin. They shared a few strokes and jabs, and Vader had to admit he was very impressed with how skilled she was.

"You are quite gifted, Teneniel," he said in between dueling her. "Such beings of skill shouldn't be killed, but perfected to greatness. I'm only going to offer one last time."

"You can keep offering until you're blue in the face," she snarled, straining to hold down a blow aimed at her stomach. "I will never turn. Ever!"

With a growl, Vader increased his attacks on the Queen Mother, but she kept them up without flaw. He was backing her up into a corner, his wife and daughters circling around them to box her in, but she was far from caring. She still had one more trick up her sleeve.

Abruptly moving her lightsaber from its upright position, Teneniel reached forward her hand and performed the most advanced Force skill she taught herself over her four year banishment on Dathomir – the Spell of Storm aka the Force Whirlwind, a much more advanced version of the Force push that allowed the wielder to alter the air pockets around the opponent, turning into a maelstrom.

The swirling force that Teneniel currently wielded lifted Vader into the air and spun him around at a rapid speed, completely immobilizing him. Yet before she could attack him without resistance, Arica threw herself at the Queen Mother while Gabriella and Philomena calmed the winds surrounding their father.

Strike, strike, slash, slash! Arica came at the Queen Mother again and again, snarling in fury. She was hitting down on Teneniel's blade so hard and fast that the Queen Mother was finding it hard to keep up with the older woman. In a move that shocked Teneniel, Arica abruptly slashed forward and cut into her right shoulder blade before than cutting down through it, decapitating her arm from its socket. Teneniel fell back at the pain of the wound as blood gushed out, but she kept a firm grip on her lightsaber in her left, and now only, hand.

"Like mother, like daughter," Arica mocked. "One armed witches."

Behind her Gabriella and Philomena gave a few soft cackles, but it was mostly ignored as she smirked. "You won't be the first Queen I killed this week. I took out Nagida of Chandrila just a few days ago."

"She was a noble woman," Teneniel defended.

Arica sniffed. "She was weak, pathetic, and treacherous. And won't be missed. By accomplished people such as myself anyway. And you're going to join her and your worthless husband shortly. Any last words?"

Teneniel snarled. "Twisted fools like you don't deserve to wield the Force!"

And without another word she plunged her lightsaber into Arica's stomach...only it wouldn't go through. The harder she pushed, the more nothing happened.

Arica opened her arms and laughed. "Hello! I'm wearing a Force protected vest beneath my blouse. You can't cut into me." Her smile turned devious. "But...that doesn't mean I can't cut into you."

Teneniel never got the time to react. Arica's crimson blade went plunging into her chest and through her heart.

Teneniel Djo, Dathomiri Witch, Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, Jedi Knight, and mother and wife to Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo and Isolder 'Dan was dead.


	86. The Hapes Conflict II:A Twisted Alliance

Author's Note: Finally! I should have figured the reason I wasn't getting many reviews lately, following the site's obviously downtime on updates, is because it isn't sending out alerts for the chapters I'm posting anymore. Or anyone else's story for that matter. Hopefully, it'll be fixed soon. It's as annoying for me as it is for everyone else in the sense that I have to connect online to read or see if I have any reviews compared to just checking my email and reading them there.

Caroline: The timeline I have listed on my profile page will tell you how many years the empire reigns.Believe me, it _does not_ go on forever. However, it does last a little longer then the canon version. So which Caroline is you? The one who reviews as the signed in user DarkVampireWitch, or the one who reviews anonymously as Caroline?

arzum: I think what you meant was plz kill two or three Grievous Skywalker kids by the episode's end, not the chapter's end, being as there are 12 chapters left to this plus an epilogue.

Twisted Words: Actually, Ta'a plays in a starring role in this conflict. I won't reveal too much, but you can read some of it below.

Jesse: First off, welcome to the story and thanks for the review. Obviously, the reason so many Jedi are being killed, you might also note that it is the apprentices that are falling mostly, is because how can a person who has two or three years of experience compare to someone whose been training their whole entire life? That's with everything. Of course, some people are fast learners, but that's not always the case.

MissNaye: Yeah, she wasn't gonna turn, and Anakin knew it. He just offered for the sake of it mostly.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks, but why do the Hapans scare you?

Thrawn716: I know. It's so annoying. First they weren't letting updates be posted, and now that you can post again, email alerts aren't being sent out for new chapters or reviews. It sucks.

dmitchell: No comment.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 27: The Hapes Conflict II: A Twisted Alliance

"_Hapes is only as strong as those who lead her."_

-Ta'a Chume, Former Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium

Ta'a Chume 'Dan, Teneniel Djo's predecessor of the Hapan crown, was known for her manipulative, ruthless, and arrogant personality. She would not tolerate the defiance of those who crossed her and would more than readily order the death of anyone who got in her way of power. These traits had been instilled into her due to growing up surrounded by the intrigues of the Hapan Royal Court.

Her mother, the late Queen Mother Ni' Korish 'Dan, hated Jedi and would ruthlessly hunt down and murder any she came across. This hatred of Force sensitives was shared by Ta'a, which explained why she hated her daughter-in-law and disliked her granddaughter.

Upon her mother's sudden death at age fifty-seven due to a brain hemorrhage (Ni' Korish was crowned Queen Mother at the usual appointment age of twenty-one, but choose to rule singularly for fifteen years before taking on a consort at thirty-six), something that was rumored assassination, though no one knew for sure and the truth was never found out, Ta'a, at the age of twenty and the eldest of four female heirs, became Queen Mother and took a consort whom fathered her two sons, Kalen and Isolder (two years apart). The consort was later killed, however, when Ta'a found no further use of him.

As leader of the Hapes Consortium, she ruled with an iron fist and advocated a large military presence all across the sector. But it seemed not everyone was pleased with Ta'a's appointment as Queen Mother and an attempted assassination was done five years into her reign (17 NRE) by young sisters, Tanginika, Thalassa, and Tiponya no less, and a host of nobles. Rather than order death upon them, Ta'a commanded their banishment from the consortium and an escort was made for them into the Unknown Regions of space where they were never heard from again.

Eventually, when it came time for Ta'a to step down from the throne at Kalen's twenty-first birthday and betrothal of a wife, she decided that her older son lacked the necessary skills to be a leader to his people so arranged his kidnapping and murder by pirates. This event prompted her younger son, Isolder, to go undercover as a privateer for two years to search for those responsible. She was impressed and named him Chume'da of the Hapes Consortium; Chume Ta', or also Chume'ta, being that of a female heir.

Being the Queen Mother of a matriarchal society, she was disappointed when her consort fathered sons. Having no daughter of bloodline to rule in her stead, she took it upon herself to manipulate events to choose her successor.

Not long after Isolder was crowned he took a fiancée, a Hapan noble, Lady Elliar, but Ta'a was not thrilled when she learned this news. She felt Isolder's pacifism would be the ruin of the Hapes Consortium and thus had Elliar drowned in a reflecting pool near the palace. Isolder never knew who was behind his fiancée's death.

Naturally, Ta'a was not pleased with Isolder's second choice of a wife either. Most especially because she was a Force sensitive witch, but backed off upon being threatened by the commoner. Yet this did nothing to halt her assays at having the Dathomirian killed. Numerous times she'd hatched plans for Teneniel Djo's death, and every time the Queen Mother evaded them unscathed. Until recently no one had known who was behind these attacks on the Queen Mother's life. Not until Ta'a slipped at a state dinner a few weeks ago.

She, Isolder, and Teneniel had all been sitting down enjoying the food that was being served at Fountain Palace's annual State Dinner that celebrated the Royal House and it's cast of nobles, all the while Ta'a was waiting for her chance to spike the Queen Mother's drink with a toxin poison. One swallow and the witch would be dead instantly. She took her chance when Teneniel ran out of wine by offering to get her another glass. Not surprisingly, Teneniel was startled by this generous offer but did allow Ta'a to refill her drink. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

Pleased that her plans were finally coming to fruitation, Ta'a didn't notice that a servant was watching her as she spiked the drink. Taking it back to Teneniel, the woman graciously accepted it and was about to take a sip when she abruptly stopped herself. She looked down into the glass' contents and over at Ta'a. A moment later, the servant came running over, yelling for the Queen Mother not to drink from the wine glass.

"It's poisoned!" he yelled.

While most scoffed at the prospect, Teneniel and Isolder glanced over at Ta'a suspiciously. She tried brushing it off as nonsense, but Teneniel insisted upon Ta'a drinking from the glass instead. Ta'a wasn't about to do that, but she wasn't giving up either. She gave multiple excuses why she couldn't – high blood pressure, not thirsty, her being an non-alcoholic – the last of which being a laugh as she had a glass of wine in her hand at that very moment.

A lot of arguing back and forth proceeded before palace guards placed her against a wall and searched her pockets. It was all over for Ta'a Chume that night. At the poison's discovery, she was placed under a five-year house arrest at Reef Fortress and Isolder decreed that even after that period ended, she would remain living there and not move back into the palace. He voiced privately of growing more then tired of her telling Teneniel how to run the Hapes Consortium, both of them how to raise Tenel Ka, and coming in between his and Teneniel's marriage. She was to retire at the shore side retreat, only being allowed at the palace on holidays.

This is where the Imperial Royals found the former Queen Mother after their meeting with the deceased Teneniel Djo and Isolder went successfully. At first, the guards outside the sterling silver with white diamonds to top if off gate, weren't going to let them in, saying they needed clearance from the Queen Mother or Prince Isolder, but once they were swiftly sliced down the royals let themselves in. They met more guards on the way through the front garden and into the elegant building, yet like the first two, they were sliced down as well.

The Sith sensed that Ta'a was aware of the activity going on outside her home, but was patiently waiting inside her room without an ounce of fear, merely sitting. Once all the guards were killed, the Sith let the Force guide them to the room that contained the former Hapan Queen. It was up the left entrance hall spiral staircase and straight ahead. Upon arriving outside the door, Anakin considered barging in but than thought against it and knocked three times. For a moment, not a creak could be heard from the other side and he was just considering kicking the door in when it abruptly swung open to reveal the strikingly beautiful form of Ta'a Chume.

Hapan women, royals in particular, were known for their jaw-dropping good looks, but nothing could've prepared the Imperial Royals for the beauty of the former queen. Thick, flowing locks of auburn that came to the bottom of her lower back adorned her head and big brown eyes that begged you to look into them gazed back at the foursome. Ta'a was sixty-three years old, and while she looked her age, there was a forever young aspect to it that rivaled even the Empress at thirty-nine. Her hair obviously was dyed to remain its natural color because not a strain of gray could be found within it. She was petite in figure and donned in a lavish deep ruby dress. By far, she was much better to look at than the deceased Teneniel Djo. It was clear now whom Tenel Ka had gotten her looks from.

A mocking smile lit Ta'a's red lipsticked mouth at the sight of them. "Emperor and Empress Grievous-Skywalker. Ah, and I see you brought two of your daughters with you. Princesses Gabriella Vanessa Melania and Philomena Aliana Haney." She gave a slight bow to each. "Come in. I've been expecting you. A pot of tea has just been prepared."

Ta'a stepped aside to allow the Imperials entrance and closed the door behind them once they'd done so.

"I'm sorry, but did I hear you say you've been expecting us?" Gabriella asked, turning her gaze from about the room and back to Ta'a.

A smirk played at the corners of the ex-Queen Mother's mouth. "I may not be able to wield the Force like some, but I am quite educated in the fact that if a system does something to oppose the Empire, you can bet it'll be swarming with Imperials in no time. I wonder how high of a rancor Djo's sitting on now? But than," her eyes sparkled with hope, "I don't even know whether or not she's still."

"You'll be pleased to know that Teneniel Djo is indeed dead," Arica informed. "Dying at my hand no less."

Ta'a smirked in triumph. "Excellent! And Isolder, is he dead also?!"

"I had the honors of doing that first," Gabriella proudly boasted. "He was too weak and pathetic to live."

"Wonderful!" the older woman exclaimed. "Now just tell me Tenel Ka's dead so I can reclaim my throne as Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium."

"Sadly, that hasn't been accomplished as of yet. However," Anakin quickly continued at Ta'a's furious gaze, "I might know of a way that would allow that to happen. All it'll take is a little of your time."

"Please, sit." She gestured to a sitting lounge on the room's far right and the five sat. Snapping at her server droid, she had it bring the royals hot cups of tea. Everyone except Anakin took theirs. He was more interested in getting down to business.

"Now: I am more than willing to clear your name of all charges and have you reinstated as Queen Mother."

Ta'a smiled deviously. "Splendid. But there's anyways a catch. Ah, of course! You want the consortium to rejoin the Empire."

"Correct. And pay for all damages the Hapan Navy did to Imperial property. That includes land _and_ fleet property. The figures are in this datapad." He passed it to Philomena seated beside him at the round table of cinnamon they were seated at, who in turn passed it to Ta'a beside her. "The credits are expected to be transferred through the account number included with the information listed."

Ta'a gave a once over skim through the data and nodded. It was basically a list of damages of Imperial property, which not surprisingly, amounted to a lot. "I can have the credits wired as soon as tonight." She turned the datapad off and looked back to the emperor. "Now, how does Tenel Ka's death fit into my crowning?"

Arica, seated on the other side of Ta'a and next to Gabriella, who was on Anakin's other side, gave the datapad in the ex-Queen Mother's hands a glance and looked back up at her. Naturally, Ta'a was confused. "What?"

"You do realize how much it's going to cost to cover all the damages?" Arica asked.

Ta'a gave a huff. "The consortium has more than enough credits to pay it off, I assure you." Her tone was haughty. "Now about Tenel Ka-"

"So you're saying that you're aware 900 billion credits is going to be handed over from the consortium's account for Imperial damages?"

Ta'a's face paled. "What?!" She snapped the datapad back on and scrolled to the bottom of the listed page. She gasped upon discovering all the damages had accumulated to such a high cost and began a protest. "But this will bankrupt the consortium! We don't have this type of money to give! We have it yes, but it can't be given away."

"What a pity." Anakin's tone was sarcastic. "I guess that means you'll be staying under house arrest and the consortium will go into disconcert until Tenel Ka learns of her parents deaths and sets everything in order again. Than there'll be no possible way for you to ever become Queen Mother again. Everyone wins."

He and the others made to get up, but Ta'a stopped them. "No, no, no. Wait! Can't the consortium take out a loan, or pay half of it now and the rest later?"

"I don't think you realize how much damages your navy did to Imperial property," Anakin shapely stated.

"But I didn't order for the navy to attack or damage anything!" Ta'a protested. "Djo did! And she's dead now. Why can't the debt just die with her?"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way." Anakin rose from the table. "All of the credits paid in full and the consortium's rejoining of the Empire, or no clearing of your name and the chance of you becoming Queen Mother again will be lost. Think it over."

He and the others made to leave again, but again she stopped them. She was beyond desperate at this point and was not going to pass an opportunity like this up for the world.

"All right, all right! I'll do it. I don't care how much it costs. I just need out of this house. I'll go insane if I remain in here much longer."

Anakin smirked beneath the mask, and he and the others lowered themselves back onto the red couch seating around the cinnamon table. "Wise choice Ta'a. Very wise. Now about your granddaughter..."

The devious smirk returned to Ta'a's face as she eagerly awaited to hear the plot to kill Tenel Ka.

* * *

The next morning, as promised, the Emperor cleared Ta'a Chume's name of all charges and she was reinstated as Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium since it was announced that not only had Teneniel Djo and Isolder been killed, but Tenel Ka as well. Being that no other heirs existed, it was only natural that the consortium return to her. 

Keeping up her end of the bargain, the Queen Mother again Ta'a transferred the required credits to the Imperial account given and the consortium rejoined the Empire, much to the anger of many citizens, but they were soon dealt with.

Since the semi-rebellion of the Hapes Consortium had been stamped out, the emperor and empress returned to Coruscant. Gabriella and Philomena, however, secretly remained behind to watch over things on Hapes for the next few weeks. Mostly to make sure everything stayed in line and no crooked, underhanded business went on that the Empire would want to know about.

Ta'a didn't mind the sisters staying behind; on the contrary, she actually welcomed it. She felt safer now with two Sith, even if they were apprentices, staying with her while the heat was still up on the planet. Many protests were going on about her being Queen Mother again and there were bound to be a few assassination attempts. Besides that though, she actually enjoyed the company of the girls. They were like the granddaughters Tenel Ka should have been. And she began to think that maybe some Force sensitives weren't that bad after all.


	87. TheHapesConflictIII:TheReturn of an Heir

Review responses:

arzum: Sorry, but I'm happy with the way it is. I'm not changing it. The story will play along the way I intend it to. The Grievous-Skywalker's will get what's coming to them eventually, but until then...

MissNaye: Interesting guess of foresight.

Caroline: I happen to like Tenel Ka too, but her daughter with Jacen (in the canon universe that is) is named Allana, not Alanna. As for the grayness of the Force, not giving away too much, you will see some of that in this episode later on with the return of a certain character.

Twisted Words: Oh yeah. She's not going take this laying down. I can assure you of that. Hence the chapter's title.

Fallen Senshi: Thanks. I was just saying the same to Thrawn716 and everyone else yesterday about the review and chapter alerts. It's annoying, but hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 28: The Hapes Conflict III: The Return of an Heir

"_I may be a Jedi, but I'm also a Hapan Royal; the true Queen Mother of the consortium since my mother's death."_

-Tenel Ka Djo, Chume'ta of the Hapes Consortium

Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo, Royal Heir of the Hapes Consortium, was taking a stroll in the mosey swarms of Dagabah. She did this every so often to be alone and think. Various times some of her fellows would try and come with her, but she preferred doing this alone. She liked some of the isolation the planet gave, unlike before.

When she first came to Dagabah three years ago, to continue the Force training her mother had already started with her, she was somewhat repulsed with it, as it was a far cry from her native Hapes or Dathomir. Yet eventually, she grew to like it.

Most of the Jedi, after the recuperation of the Core battles, had rushed off to find more recruits across the galaxy. Never had they expected to lose so many of their members in the Core battles. Thirty-four apprentices and one master. Now they back down to just fifteen. It was heartbreaking. Tenel Ka, who'd lost all five of her apprentices in the battles, was in no rush to train anymore at the present. Nor was Jacen or Tahiri, who'd lost all but one of her apprentices. The three of them plus Obi-Wan had remained on Dagabah with the Ferroans and Langhesies, whom were just now getting back to their normal lives since being cramped on a Star Destroyer for the past few days.

For some reason, thinking about the others made Tenel Ka want to be with them again, so abandoning her stroll, she returned to the village. It wasn't overly large in size, but it wasn't exactly small either. It mostly consisted of little tepees and fires here and there with the moderate sized Jedi Temple they'd built in the center of it all.

She sensed the presences of her fellows various places: Obi-Wan inside the temple; Tahiri with some native children; and Jacen, oddly enough, inside the _Executor II_. She opted to go see what he was doing there of all places. The Star Destroyer was docked right outside the village. Once aboard, it wasn't hard to find him, she just followed his Force signature. He was inside the old quarter chambers that once belonged to the Emperor when the vessel was still Imperial property. She heard voices coming from inside the elegant sitting arena and was slightly confused until she looked through the cracked open door. Jacen was inside watching the HoloNet.

Ever since Jaina had returned from Corellia with the news of their father's death, Jacen hadn't at all been himself. While Aaron had gone into a tirade of fury, Jacen quietly slipped away to be by himself and had been staying isolated ever since, but usually in his room in the temple. Obviously, he'd grown bored with his room's environment and wanted a change of pace. Tenel Ka sensed he was watching the HV as a way to take his mind off the sorrow, and as such didn't want to disturb him. She was just turning to go when his voice rang out.

"You know, you don't have to go Tenel Ka. I'm fine. I've pretty much accepted it now and am just watching this out of boredom."

Tenel Ka turned back around and cautiously entered the room. Looking at Jacen confirmed that he was fine, as he was smiling at her. And she didn't sense an ounce of grief from him, but all the same...

"Tenel Ka, I'm fine. Really," he assured, his smile broadening. "It's behind me now. I've moved on. Why don't you take a seat and join me? There's something you need to know about."

"Oh?" Tenel Ka sat herself down beside him. "What's that?"

He flicked the channel from a Gabriella Grievous Skywalker horror/adventure holofilm that was playing on the screen – a thirteen year old Gabriella was running through the middle of a desert from a serial killer – to a news station. Tenel Ka gasped upon seeing what was on the screen. Shots of her homeworld, Hapes, in chaos and disarray.

"_We bring you to earlier today where you can see mobs of protesters at the Fountain Palace of Hapes," _a twentyish news correspondent, Hapan herself by the looks of her, reported while the protesters could be seen behind her in the backdrop of the Palace itself;_ "protesting against Queen Mother Ta'a Chume's latest act to keep the citizens of her consortium under her thumb. From high taxes to arresting people on a whim for not being able to pay them, the Queen Mother is putting her foot sharply down on those who aren't up to scratch with her standards. Earlier today, she announced that all male citizens of the Hapes Consortium be made slaves under the female gender. Yes, this an matriarchal society, and even before that Hapan females were always known to be the more dominant when it comes to leading, but this is just ridiculous! When asked for comment, the Queen Mother had this to say..."_

An image of Tenel Ka's grandmother, Ta'a Chume 'Dan, filled the screen and the young Jedi/Hapan heir pursed her lips. Notwithstanding her confusion over what was going on, the image of her grandmother in arrogant glory, a satisfied smile playing at her lips, made Tenel Ka's blood boil in disdain. Ever since the woman tried to poison her mother a few weeks ago, Tenel Ka had nothing left to say or do with her grandmother.

Ta'a Chume was dressed in an elegant white gown, a white transparent veil hanging over her face, and her auburn curls falling around her hips. She was pleasantly gazing at the same news correspondent with mild fascination.

"_My dear child: when you've reached as old as I am, and gone through the things I have, you'll understand."_

She than strolled off with a team of guards, one of which looked oddly familiar, yet out of place of the setting to Tenel Ka. She didn't get a good look at them, though, for the shot than changed back to the reporter outside the mob again.

"_A very confusing statement that really didn't make much sense, but I suppose the Queen Mother knows what she's doing. I'm Nadia Ta'na of the Holo Net News. We'll be right back after this commercial break to bring you more word on the events surrounding the late Queen Mother Teneniel Djo's sudden death, as well as that of her husband, Prince Isolder. It's coming up after this."_

The theme music of the Holo Net News than played, soon followed by a commercial about dancing banthas, but Tenel Ka wasn't paying attention.

Shock.

Confusion.

Sadness.

Grief.

Fury.

These are the five emotions Tenel Ka was feeling at the present. She had so many unsaid questions. So much she wanted, no needed to know. But she didn't know where to start or what to say. Tenel Ka found that tears were falling from her eyes and she was collapsing into Jacen's arms to cry. He soothed her as best he could, but she would never be satisfied until she went to Hapes and got to the bottom of this mess.

For sometime did Obi-Wan object to Tenel Ka leaving for Hapes. He said it was a trap set up by the Sith to draw her into the open, but she wasn't listening to him. Her mind was set, and nothing he said or did would change it.

"Those are my people that are suffering Obi-Wan," she argued. "I must help them. I don't know what the situation is there or what's going on, but I have to go. I may be a Jedi, but I'm also a Hapan Royal; the true Queen Mother of the consortium since my mother's death. Don't you see Obi-Wan? I'm the only one who can put an end to this. Please!"

Obi-Wan saw the determination in her eyes and nodded. "All right Tenel Ka. But you're not going alone. The rest of us are coming with you."

She smiled. "By all means I welcome your help. I didn't want to go alone anyway."

Unlike last time, it was decided that the natives of Zonama Sekot would remain behind on Dagabah while the Jedi went to Hapes to put an end to Ta'a Chume's madness.

In the brief time Aaron was on Dagabah before rushing off with Jaina, he was able to fix the cloaking system on the _Executor II_. None of them knew how he'd done it for after he informed them he was off with his sister. Despite that though, the Jedi didn't feel comfortable taking the Star Destroyer all the way to the Inner Rim from the Outer. Besides, they doubted that even with their combined powers, they wouldn't be able to man the entire star destroyer without some help. So instead, they took one of the vessel's flagship shuttles. In that, they flew to Hapes, sneaking past the Hapan and Imperial Navies stationed outside the cluster and into the planet unnoticed.

Landing in a patch of unspoilt wilderness northeast of the palace, the Jedi team of four trekked through the forest and onto the outskirts on the palace.

* * *

"Queen Mother, we have splendid news for you." 

"What is it?"

"They're here."

"They who?"

"Tenel Ka and her group of Jedi. Be ready for them when they arrive."

"How do you know?"

"The Force, naturally. Be in your throne room waiting for them. And make sure they know you knew of their arrival beforehand."

"Where will you be?"

"Around. But we'll be there if you need us."

"Don't worry Queen Mother, everything will proceed as plan..."

* * *

As a little girl, Tenel Ka used to sneak away from the palace in the early morning to run through the woods of the forest and escape her various nannies whom she didn't like that much. She preferred it when her mother cared for her, not some old lady she didn't know. Of course, she would get in trouble for her acts of terrorizing her nannies, not to mention being harshly reprimanded by her grandmother, but she continued to do it anyway as a message to her mother to say, "I want you to care for me the way a mother should, not throw me off to some old person I don't know." 

Teneniel eventually got the message and made it a point to always have time in the morning to care for her daughter.

There was a secret route Tenel Ka knew that led to and from the palace without being seen. This was the same route she knew as a little girl and had told no one of it's location, not even her parents. She was glad she hadn't, for if she did, she, Jacen, Tahiri, and Obi-Wan wouldn't have been able to sneak their way through it without detection. It was a little overgrown and wild now, and they had to duck as not to be stuck by thorn needles, but the path was still there and led them to the palace without notice.

There was a back servant's entrance that enabled palace workers to enter to and from it without being seen. This is the entrance Tenel Ka chose for them to use. None of the palace servants were out and about in the back room that was used as a galley for their use on break or lunch period. This was odd because usually the room was always filled with at least one person. But than that was before Ta'a Chume reclaimed the throne and began working everyone to death.

Creeping through the door that led to the rest of the palace at a tip tap pace, they entered one of the main entrance halls that eventually led to the throne room. But before they knew what was happening, the Jedi were being surrounded by at least thirty armed guards with rifles pointed directly at their chests.

"Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo," the voice of the head lieutenant guard rang out, "you and your cohorts are under arrest for breaking and entering into the palace. You will come quietly with us as we take you to the Queen Mother, and _you will_ hand over your weapons."

Tenel Ka considered arguing with the lieutenant, whom had been working at the palace ever since she was a small child and many years before during her grandmother's first reign, but figured what was the point? He was simply following orders. Tenel Ka's duty was to deal with her grandmother, not her underlings. So bowing her head, she and the others quietly handed over their lightsabers and were led into the throne room.

There, they found Ta'a Chume sitting in the diamond assorted throne dais in a lavender-brown silk dress and the Hapan crown on sixty-three rhinestones sitting atop her head. She looked quite pleased with herself as she gazed upon her Jedi captives, but most especially Tenel Ka.

"At last granddaughter!" she declared in triumph. "For a while I thought you'd turned coward and decided not to face me. You always were too weak for your own good. You get it from your father."

After fourteen years of spending almost constant time around her grandmother, Tenel Ka was used to her insults. That didn't mean they didn't still irritate her though, she simply choose not to show it.

The guards left the room and the four of them were alone with the Queen Mother.

Ta'a studied them a moment before allowing a jeering smile. "But of course, naturally, you had to bring your Jedi friends with you. Weren't strong enough to face me yourself. But I understand of course. What with the deaths of your worthless parents, I would expect nothing less."

Tenel Ka knew what Ta'a was doing. They'd played this game many times before. Her grandmother was taunting her, baiting her. She wanted Tenel Ka to attack her as a way to try and have her killed. Tenel Ka wasn't going to allow that to happen though. She simply stood there, gazing at her grandmother, her face void of emotion. She knew this would aggravate her, and it did.

"What, are you just going to stand there Tenel Ka?" she asked in exasperation. "Surely you didn't come all the way from wherever your Jedi base is to just stare at me."

Tenel Ka allowed another moment of silence to go by before speaking. "You why I'm here grandmother. And you know what I want."

Ta'a decided to play coy. "No. I'm afraid I don't know why you're here or what you what. Do tell though. I'm quite the busy person you know, being Queen Mother and all. It's a real job, Tenel Ka. I don't just sit here and look pretty all day. So commence with whatever is you want."

Tenel Ka forced herself not to grow angry at her grandmother's sarcasm and remain calm.

"You have a choice Ta'a Chume." She spoke in a level tone. "Step down from the throne quietly and you may continue your wicked life, or else-"

"What Tenel Ka?" she asked in a mocking tone. "Or else what? You kill me?! I thought Jedi weren't allowed to kill out of cold blood or revenge."

"This isn't about revenge Ta'a." Her voice was close to a hiss. "This is about me taking what's rightfully mine."

"What's rightfully yours?!" Ta'a repeated. "Do tell what that is!"

"As long as I live, you have no business sitting on that throne!"

Ta'a nodded. "Quite true. But that leaves one to wonder what makes you think you'll be alive much longer?"

Tenel Ka pressed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. "You always were too arrogant in the sense that you could continue living out your life without any type of justice being brought upon it."

Ta'a gave a chuckle of laughter. "Indeed! And you my blaspheming granddaughter were always too foolish to see that eventually your witch mother would meet her end at the hands of the very same Empire she secretly opposed."

At Tenel Ka's look of confusion, she smirked. "Yes Tenel Ka. I did not order the death of your parents this time. They were murdered by the Empress and Third Imperial Princess with the aide of the Emperor and Sixth Princess. This was after Teneniel proclaimed the Hapes Consortium independent of the Empire. The Imperials came and your parents were killed. I was sought out and placed on the throne. It's really quite remarkable, isn't it?"

In spite of her shock, Tenel Ka glared. "Not as remarkable as me giving what's been coming to you for the past sixty-three years now."

As Tenel Ka was preparing herself to go into attack mode, Ta'a gave a tired sigh. "No. I'm afraid I won't have time for that."

"You'll make time." But just as Tenel Ka was about to throw herself at her grandmother, Obi-Wan held her back and the team of guards that escorted them in reentered the room.

"Take them to the dungeons," Ta'a ordered. "And have it arranged that the press knows of Tenel Ka's execution scheduled for tomorrow morning, bright and early. I'll let the Imperials deal with the other Jedi."

Tenel Ka and her fellows were dragged out of the room and thrown into the palace dungeons where they were chained to the walls of their cells and gagged.

Tenel Ka looked pleadingly up at the lieutenant guard that was doing this to her, but his face remained that of stone. He left her once he was finished and the door slammed behind him. The Hapan heir fought uselessly against her chains and cried with grief. Somehow she didn't see any trick of the Force getting her out of this scrap.

* * *

_Author's Note: The plot thickens! Do you think Ta'a'll get what's coming to her or Tenel Ka be killed? There's still two more parts of this semi-plot left to see._


	88. The Hapes Conflict IV: Throne Reclaimed

Author's Note: I'm beginning to wonder if I should even post this anymore. The joy that once came with reading what my reviewers had to say has since turned to mostly irritation and annoyance. But hey, I'm an equal-minded person. You decide. However, if I don't get at least five reviews with this chapter stating why I should continue it here, I am finished with this site and will post my story elsewhere. The review feature is not for chatting. If any of you wish to speak with one another, I suggest you send messages via account pages.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 29: The Hapes Conflict IV: Throne Reclaimed

"_And now I shall be Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium!"_

-Gabriella Grievous Skywalker

Queen Mother Ta'a Chume was feeling quite pleased with herself. Her son and daughter-in-law were dead, her granddaughter locked up in chains and about to follow their fate the next morning, and soon she would forever rule the Hapes Consortium with Imperial Princess Gabriella Vanessa Melania eventually following as her successor.

It had been released to the press earlier that day, after Tenel Ka and her friends were locked up, about the Queen Mother's presumed as dead granddaughter returning to Hapes and attempting to assassinate her out of revenge for her parent's deaths. In Ta'a's eyes, Tenel Ka was no longer worthy to be an heir to the throne, let alone be crowned Queen Mother, so she would be executed in front of Lorell Hall at sunrise for all to see.

This news led to the question of who Ta'a's eventual successor would be. It was said that before Isolder died, he filed for divorce from his wife, the former Queen Mother, and proposed to the young Third Imperial Princess Gabriella. She accepted and Ta'a approved. The wedding was supposedly set for the week after, but he died. Gabriella was said to be devastated and felt she was in no fit state to rule as Hapes' Queen Mother presently. Thus, she would wait until Ta'a's death before taking the throne.

Many questions had been asked concerning these two announcements, but Ta'a hadn't answered any of them. She said she was still shaken from the assassination attempt earlier and was rushed back inside the palace.

In its entirety, the day had quite successful, the Queen mused as she climbed into the bed of her royal chambers. But tomorrow would be much more thrilling at the sight of Tenel Ka's death.

It was this thought that lured Ta'a Chume into a blissful sleep.

* * *

Tenel Ka didn't know what time it was; she just knew it was late. Her cries of grief over with, she was trying to get comfortable against the cell wall without much success. A part of her wanted to go to sleep and forget about all this, at least for a little while. But than there was the other part that knew she should be trying to get out of here, despite the odds. 

She called out to her fellow Jedi in the Force to lend out some type of comfort, only to find that they were doing the same for her. She smiled and allowed the Force of the four of them flow around each other. They would find a way out of here. She just knew it.

Several hours went by and still Tenel Ka hadn't thought of a way for them to escape. Checking in with her fellows told her they weren't having much fortune either. She was at the point of giving up until morning when she sensed an outside presence enter the dungeon. The ripple of alertness that filled the Force told her the others had sensed it too. It didn't seem evil per say, and it wasn't an Imperial. It was...

The door to her cell quietly opened to reveal the figure of the lieutenant guard. Tenel Ka smiled against her gag. She should have known.

Closing the door softly behind him, the guard rushed over to Tenel Ka and removed her gag. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness," he apologized in a hushed tone, "but you have to know I had no choice. The Queen Mother-"

"It's alright," she hastily cut across. "I understand. But we need to get out of here."

With a nod, the lieutenant helped her out of her chains. On her feet again, she accepted back her lightsaber that he handed over to her.

The same was repeated with Obi-Wan, Jacen, and Tahiri. Their gags were removed, they were unchained, and given back their weapons. The guards stationed outside the dungeon saluted and wished them success as they made their way out of it. The same was repeated as they continued along.

In a deserted corridor not far from the Queen Mother's chambers, they finally stopped and the lieutenant filled them in on everything that had transpired since they were locked away. Tenel Ka was furious to learn of the twisted story concerning the meeting with her grandmother, and practically livid at the made up one concerning her father and Gabriella. When asked if the Imperial Princess was here on planet, the lieutenant expressed that he wasn't sure.

"Emperor and Empress Skywalker left two weeks ago," he explained. "It's assumed she and the Sixth Imperial Princess went with them, but than, I have no way of knowing for sure. I wasn't there when they left."

Because of this, the Jedi stayed in tune with the Force at all times, and made sure to always keep their eyes open. Though the lieutenant wanted to come with them, Tenel Ka objected to this, saying things could get a tad bit violent if it turned out the Sith were still here. She requested that he and his troops guard all palace exits, including the secret one she's never told anyone about.

"I don't want any Sith or Queen Mothers escaping if it comes to that," she said.

With a nod, he was off to do as she commanded.

Tenel Ka, Jacen, Obi-Wan, and Tahiri quietly proceeded along the corridor that led to the Queen Mother's chambers. At this time of early morning, Ta'a was bound to be asleep. Yet Tenel Ka wasn't entirely sure she was happy with that idea. Somehow killing her grandmother in her sleep didn't seem as fulfilling as doing it while she was awake and aware. But it wasn't like she was going to just wake her up, only to kill her a second later. That seemed a bit too Sith like to her. Besides, killing Ta'a in her sleep would be easier for everyone. It would be brief and simple, and afterwards Tenel Ka would be...crowned Queen Mother. She knew this of course, naturally. But than if that was so, why was she having doubts all of a sudden? Did she feel that she wasn't substantial enough a leader? That she wasn't ready?

She felt Obi-Wan's hand come to her shoulder and rest down onto it. She slowly turned to look into his wise, old face.

"Never doubt yourself Tenel Ka," he said. "This is what needs to be done for the good of everyone. It'll turn out fine. I promise."

Tenel Ka smiled at the older Jedi, who'd been like a father to her for the past three years, and nodded. "Thank you friend Obi-Wan."

They continued on along the corridor in silence. Turning the corner at the end led them to the elegant entrance hall of the Queen Mother's private chambers. The two guards that were usually posted at the hallway's entrance were gone, but none of them thought anything of it. They were most likely with the other guards stationed at the palace exits.

Tenel Ka was ready to cut the door to her grandmother's chambers down when she abruptly noticed that it was already unlocked. Intrigued, she turned the knob of the door and used the Force to turn on the various candlelights around the room. Though the entirety of the royal chamber seemed fine and Ta'a could be seen sleeping peacefully in bed with a conniving smile on her lips, Tenel Ka and the others couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right. And this was only confirmed when the door behind them suddenly slammed shut and locked with a click.

Four lightsabers instantly sprang to life. The Sith were here, but where the Jedi didn't know. With their lightsabers at the ready, the foursome circled about the room, back to back and side to side. They weren't going to give the Sith any opening to striking them down on a whim. Tenel Ka was just considering to dart over to the bed and pierce her blade into her grandmother's heart to end it now when the lights abruptly went out. The only light in the room now being that of the Jedi's laser swords.

They knew the Sith were about to make their entrance and they didn't have long to wait. A moment later, two other lightsabers activated in the darkness – rainbow and cyan with a silvery glow. The way they were arched you could only see shadows of the holders, but they'd already known who it was they'd be seeing here: Princesses Gabriella and Philomena Grievous Skywalker.

"Find what you were looking for Jedi?"

At the sound of the person who was trying to steal her crown, Tenel Ka snarled, "You're not about to take my throne from me Grievous Skywalker."

Gabriella gave a mocking laugh. "Your throne? I thought Jedi weren't allowed to possess things."

Tenel Ka stroke a ready pose to begin the duel. "Think again."

In no rush did Gabriella come at her, and as they fought Tenel Ka felt that in no way whatsoever was the Imperial Royal taking this duel seriously. It was a joke to her. And somehow Tenel Ka found that to be quite irritating. How was she supposed to focus on a duel to the death battle when her opponent was practically mocking her in the way she was fighting her? Maybe Gabriella thought she was all that because she'd singlehandedly killed nine Jedi and aided her half-brother on the tenth. Tenel Ka didn't know. What she did know, however, was that she was going to show this girl that she wasn't going to be so easily killed as the ones she murdered on Labore.

* * *

"An old man such as yourself shouldn't even be holding a lightsaber, let alone wielding it," Philomena sneered as she danced around paring each of Kenobi's attacks. 

She'd thrown herself at the older Jedi once her sister began dueling the one-armed Tenel Ka.

"And I see your parents have done nothing in teaching you to respect your elders," Obi-Wan said calmly back to the girl.

"Shut up old man!" she snarled. "At least my parents have been there for me whenever I needed them. Unlike some parents and their children whom they haven't seen in years and one they've never even met."

Obi-Wan knew Philomena was trying to make him angry with her leers concerning his children with Antellica, but he wasn't falling for it. She tried another approach.

"Of course some people often wonder if the man even cares about anything else in life except overthrowing the Empire with his pathetic Jedi Order and taking over the Galaxy himself." Philomena shook her head while striking down a blow that was easily ducked. "Thoughts like that'll get you in an early grave, Kenobi. But than, that would be wonderful wouldn't it? You'd get to reunite with all your old Jedi friends – Yoda, Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Aayla Secura, and various others. Including your first love, Siri Tachi."

The name of the last person, which was one of Obi-Wan's fellow Padawans growing up – one he'd grown quite close to in fact – is what took him by slight surprise. She died long before the Clone Wars, around the time the Trade Federation invaded Naboo thirty-six years ago. So how could Philomena know that name?

Philomena smirked at his surprise. She'd done her research and decided to play on it. "I wonder...how do you think she would feel if she were still alive and learned of you marriage to a teenage Sith Lady whom you simply used for your own pleasure? Surprised at your un-Jedi like traits, or disgusted that you haven't at all changed when it comes to taking advantage of women in the bedroom?"

That last comment stroke such an irritated anger into Obi-Wan that he found himself picking up his pace in the duel and swinging his lightsaber about rapidly at the young Sith. Oddly enough, she began to applaud him. "Finally Kenobi! Much better! At last I feel as though I'm actually fighting a live person and not a dead corpse!"

Obi-Wan continued to increase his pace on the young girl, though he let go of his angered irritation. He would not let himself come anywhere near to touching the dark side. He would resist the temptation and surpass it.

* * *

Tahiri was still waiting for an opening in one of the duels. While Jacen had joined the duel between Tenel Ka and Gabriella not long into its start, Tahiri had yet to make herself useful in the battle. Whenever she'd try to jump into either duel, the opening that had been there would close and she was left standing with her lightsaber in hand and nothing to do. Finally, she decided to guard the room exit and stay alert for any sudden moves the Sith might make. 

A few moments later the lights abruptly turned back on and Queen Mother Ta'a Chume was rising in her bed, barking out demands as to why lightsaber duels were taking place in her room at this hour. While Gabriella and Philomena chose to ignore the Queen Mother, the Jedi fighting threw a few looks in her direction but didn't get too caught up in it. They weren't going to be stroke down just because of her ridiculous screams.

Tahiri saw her opportunity when it presented itself. She made her way towards the Queen Mother, lightsaber raised, but soon found herself deflecting bolts of blaster fire from Ta'a's handout blaster. The Queen Mother than began shooting the gun all about the room, even at the Sith, continuing to yell for them to answer her and for Gabriella to kill Tenel Ka.

In a move that shocked everyone, Gabriella disengaged herself from her duel with Tenel Ka and Jacen, whipped out her laser ray gun and shot Ta'a Chume to death, laughing maliciously. Shock is what was seen on the face of the Queen Mother as she died after three laser blasts to the chest. While the Jedi gaped in disbelief, Philomena smirked, and Gabriella pronounced, "And now I shall be Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium!"

Tenel Ka growled and made to throw herself at Gabriella once more, but the Sith jumped back to evade her and began firing off her gun, still cackling evilly.

Unfortunately for Gabriella, it seemed she wasn't paying attention to where she was going as she continued to back up closer and closer to one of the room's windows. Tahiri tried to take this as an opening, but this was her downfall. Just as she was about to throw a Force push at the Sith, Gabriella aimed her gun at the Jedi and blasted Tahiri's left arm off. The strength of the laser exploded her entire arm, causing Tahiri to scream and fall to the floor in utmost agony.

Gabriella was still cackling. "You are pitiful Jedi!" she yelled. "Die!" She aimed her gun at Tahiri's head with the intent of blowing it off, but Tenel Ka cut it out of Gabriella's hand just as she was about to pull back the trigger, burning her hand mildly in the process.

Giving a roar, Gabriella resumed her fight with Tenel Ka and Jacen, the various colors of her blade flashing rapidly through the color spectrum, screaming death upon the Jedi as they fought back with all their might.

Obi-Wan had abandoned his duel with Philomena to care for Tahiri, but the fiery young girl wasn't about to be pushed aside so easily. She pursued her prey to the sobbing form of the blonde Jedi, but was soon knocked unconscious with a Force shove into the wall. It was not Obi-Wan's wish to kill a ten-year-old girl. Even one so accomplished as her that would only grow up to be stronger and more deadly. Unlike some, he did not go around killing children in spite.

Collecting the sobbing Tahiri into his arms, he fled the room to get the teen medical attention. Neither Jacen, Tenel Ka or Gabriella stopped him from going; they were too absorbed in their own battle to notice or care.

The duel had gotten vicious. Gabriella felt she could've beaten the Jedi if she wanted to, she simply chose not to. She wanted to revert to Plan B. Not only would it teach the Jedi a valuable lesson, but it would also make sure without a shadow of a doubt that no sector in the galaxy ever opposed the Empire again.

Abruptly deactivating her lightsaber in the middle of a blow, Gabriella dropped to the floor and rolled out of the Jedi's reach under the bed that still held the smoking remains of what was left of Ta'a Chume and than out on the other side. Rising from the floor she raised her right hand and held it towards them, using the Force to hold them back.

"If there's one thing I learned from fighting your mother, Tenel Ka, it's this!"

Gabriella threw a whirlwind of Force energy at the two Jedi. It lifted them into the air and spun them around at rapid speed. Giving the wind of energy one last spin, Gabriella retrieved her lightsaber, as well as that of Tenel Ka and Jacen's before awaking her unconscious sister. Looking back at the Jedi after this showed that the Force whirlwind was still in effect, but slowing down in speed.

Gabriella allowed one last sneer before flying the coup with Philomena. "Sorry to leave you hanging Jedi but, gotta jet!"


	89. The Hapes Conflict V:DeathandDestruction

Author's Note: Hilarious! I can't believe you all fell for that! Do you honestly think I'd stop doing this because of what a few naysayers have to say? Ha! So funny. I'm seventeen, not a child. On April Fools Day, I was pondering what prank I was going to pull on you guys but couldn't think of anything...until now. As can be seen from the sidebar, this chapter isn't that long. The reason? Mostly it just ties up the loose ends of this Hapes sub-plot. Coming up next is the three-parter Dathomir Crisis and an unexpected return of Anneliese. Do enjoy!

MissNaye: You've been reading since the beginning and know this isn't the first time I've encountered criticism (booksaboutnothing anyone?). I didn't stop than, and am certainly not stopping now.

arzum: Thank you.

dmitchell and Darkvampirewitch: I respect both of your comments each time. I really do. But the title of this is _The Domination of the Sith_, you know. With a title as such, you can't honestly be too surprised that there haven't been many Jedi victories.

G-Anakin 13: Yeah, I know Siri died during the Clone Wars, but I didn't have her in my version of it so made it that she died earlier. You're another that's been reading for a while. Obviously, you knew I was joking about not doing this anymore from what you said in your review: "Great job! Hope to see some more tomorrow!"

Twisted Words: No worries! For the most part, I merely let criticism go in one ear and out the other. Unless I find somehow that it can help me.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 30: The Hapes Conflict V: Death and Destruction

"_The death of Hapes is what the New Jedi Order has brought to it; I hope they're satisfied with the demise of the consortium's myriads of civilians."_

-Emperor Skywalker

The start of a new day can often times be compared to the start of a new beginning. Thus was the way it was during the aftermath of the Battle of Fountain Palace. With the death of Ta'a Chume 'Dan, the Hapes Consortium would no longer be under the oppression of a wicked tyrant. All the Acts she had made during her reign as Queen Mother for the second time were abolished and peace returned to the cluster. Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo was crowned the new Queen Mother and the Hapes Consortium was once again proclaimed independent of the Empire, much to the anger of the Imperials.

Obi-Wan had pointed out to Tenel Ka the dangers of this, explaining that it could turn into an all out war between Hapes and the Empire, but the new Queen Mother didn't care.

"I hope it does turn into another war," she said at a press conference when many others presented the same cautions. "The Jedi and Sith are already at war. Why not add another one to the list? Because I refuse to bow down to a ruthless empire that I don't agree with."

News of Queen Mother Tenel Ka's bold statements against the Empire traveled fast in the galaxy, and before long the emperor and empress were sitting down watching a news report of the press conference. But neither of the Imperial rulers cared about the foolish girl's rants or her consortium. For in a short while there would no longer be a Hapes Consortium.

For the past two weeks now, while Gabriella and Philomena had been on Hapes, the Emperor had been overseeing the final stages of the second Death Star project, in orbit around the outer rim forest moon of Endor. He and a large group of engineers, including Luke, were getting the space station up and running for its test run.

When Gabriella and Philomena had fled Hapes, this is where they'd gone. Everyone was there, sans Alexander and Leila, whom had remained on Coruscant to act as emperor and empress in Anakin and Arica's stead.

The Hapes Consortium would be dealt with individually; one by one until all sixty-three planets in the cluster were destroyed. When Tenel Ka had made her announcement about the cluster being free of the Empire, Anakin had pulled all Imperial forces from the sector. This was only to give the Hapan people the false sense of security until chaos broke out.

The Death Star II had been in production for the past two years now and the emperor was quite pleased with the way it'd turned out. It was much more elite and better-designed than the first, and it would be almost impossible to destroy from the outside. It was finally ready a week after Tenel Ka was crowned, and the space station and entire Imperial Navy set for Hapes immediately.

What followed was forever remembered by those select Jedi and Sith involved:

The Imperial fleet arrived outside the cluster to engage the Hapan Navy in battle. During the crossfire of lasers, Death Star II was able to sneak inside unnoticed because of its cloaking system. Upon arriving outside the first planet in cluster, however, the cloak was dropped and the primary ignition of the Death Star's laser power was fired. The planet that had been sitting peacefully in space a moment before was destroyed, exploded into nothingness by the wrath of the Empire.

And again and again this was repeated; a planet would be suspended securely one minute, gone the next. Eventually the Queen Mother was informed of this and she ordered that all planets evacuate into space with the Hapan Navy. But the citizens were dead wherever they went, for whenever an escape ship would make a getaway from one of the planets, it was soon blasted out of the sky by Imperial forces. The Hapan Navy tried to defend their people, but their numbers were falling too with the excessive show of force from the Empire, and soon there were no longer any Hapan forces left.

The Jedi continued to sense the deaths of quadrillions all across the cluster with the feeling of helplessness. They felt like their hands were tied and didn't know what to do. With the navy gone, the citizens didn't really have much of a chance. Yet despite all odds of survival being remote, the evacuations continued only to be blasted out of the sky. Tenel Ka spoke with the emperor, pleading for him to stop, yet all he gave was a death ear to her anguished cries and cut the transmission halfway through one of them. Tenel Ka was devastated. Her people were dying and she felt like she was dying with them. Tears of grief fell from her eyes at the fact that if she hadn't become a Jedi, none of this would be happening. She was so toiled in emotional agony that she didn't want to leave Hapes. She wanted to die along with the planet and consortium. She was so stubborn in this decision in fact that Jacen and Obi-Wan had to literally drag her to _Star Home_, the flagship of the Queen Mother, and strap her down in a chair to get her to leave with them. And even than she was still fighting. Tahiri tried calming her down and making her see reason, but she wouldn't listen to anyone. Eventually they just left her alone.

Looking back on it, Obi-Wan and the others didn't know how they'd escaped Hapes before it was blown out of the sky. All they remembered was a blast of blinding green light and suddenly they were in hyperspace.

The example the emperor had hoped to make with the destruction of the Hapes Consortium was done, and quite clearly. The worlds who'd been interested in rebelling with Hapes soon changed their minds after this display of force and quickly submitted under the Empire without question or opposition.

When _Star Home_ arrived on Dagabah a good time after leaving Hapes, Tenel Ka surprised her fellows by staying on board. She told them she was leaving to find a new apprentice and wanted some time to herself. They quietly left her and she fled the planet not long after. By now she'd come to terms with Hapes' destruction, yet she couldn't help but still be a little sad over it. Although she'd always preferred the traditions and customs of her mother's people over that of her father's, she couldn't help but feel robed at the prospect of never being able to rule Hapes the way a Queen Mother should. And the way she'd always secretly dreamed of doing.


	90. The Dathomir Crisis I: Dark Tides Arise

Author's Note: Wow! I thought it'd take till the end of the Dathomir Crisis before reaching 300 hundred reviews! Any who, here we are at the start of the Dathomir Crisis. As previously said, it's a three parter and features the return of Anneliese.

MissNaye: Absolutely. But you notice Tenel Ka didn't die as some assumed she would.

dmitchell: At the story's end obviously. But stop attacking MissNaye. Naturally, everyone's entitled to their own beliefs. But the reviews are for the author to respond to, not fellow readers.

twisterblake: Wow twisterblake! Thank you! Eleven reviews for the past eleven chapters! One for each! You didn't have to do that. But thanks anyway. We've reached the 300 hundred mark in reviews sooner then expected thanks to you! Rock on dude (or dudette; whichever you are, I'm not out to offend anyone).

Twisted Words: As a ff reader myself, I know what it's like to get into a story and than the author abruptly halts it because of writer's block, disinterest, or something else entirely. I promised myself when I did this, not to ever do that. I was just having some fun with you guys. Hope I didn't scare ya too much. As for Anneliese: Nah, she's not dead. Nor was she hiding in the Hapes Consortium. She pretty much stars in this chapter so you'll discover what she's been up to the past two years within it. And the shocking occurrence that happened concerning her during that period.

G-Anakin 13: Indeed!

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 31: The Dathomir Crisis I: Dark Tides Arise

When Anneliese Grievous left Coruscant just prior to the Third Battle of Zonama Sekot two years ago, at first she wasn't entirely sure where she was going or what she was doing, and for a while simply roamed the Outer Rim in her aunt's old Clone Wars-era star cruiser, _Jeweled Dolphin_. Being alone with only the stars for company was soothing for her to unwind from her chaotic life. Eventually though, she grew tired of the stars and wanted to settle down on a planet somewhere. But which should she choose?

She knew she wanted to go someplace that was somewhat uninhabited and not swarming with Imperials. But the thing was, there weren't many planets like this in the galaxy anymore. The Empire pretty much monopolized the entire universe. However, there was one place Anneliese had always wanted to go that was mostly uninhabited with a few small clans here and there: Dathomir

Dathomir was a low-gravity planet in the Outer Rim that featured three continents, a large ocean, and purple savannas. Slightly smaller then Coruscant in size, Dathomir was considered a temperate and beautiful planet by Human standards, with a varied terrain that included coastal lakes and tar-pits, thick forests and snow-capped mountain peaks, powerful rivers and broad savannas, and small icecaps and dramatic rift valleys. However, even as of the present, after centuries of immigration, nine-tenths of the planet remained unexplored and uninhabited, with the population limited to a relatively small area along the edge of one of the three main continents, a zone of uplands and river plains bounded on one side by the unsailed sea and on the other by vast expanses of desert.

The world was mostly avoided by space travelers because of its native Force sensitive witches that roamed within it. These witches were said to be the descendants of a Dark Jedi, Allya, who was dismissed from the Jedi Council a great many years before the Galactic Empire took over the galaxy.

Anneliese had always found the history of the planet to be fascinating and promised herself that she would go there someday when she had sometime to herself. Her running away, or as she liked to call it, "journey to herself", was no better a time than any. And who knew? Maybe these Witches of Dathomir could help her with her lost feelings.

Augwynne Djo, War Leader of the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri Witches and Queen of Dathomir's entirety, sensed something amiss upon Anneliese's arrival on-world and left her clan, located near the mountain of the same name, under the lead of her first daughter, Gethzerion, while she went to investigate.

When the elderly woman found Anneliese at the base of Singing Mountain, all suspicion she held upon seeing and feeling a foreign ship and presence vanished when she looked at her. She felt emptiness, confusion, and the sense of being lost from the girl, who couldn't be any older then fifteen. Moving from the obscurity the foliage of nearby plant life offered, Augwynne introduced herself to the teen and took her back to the Singing Mountain Clan.

There, Anneliese was told of its customs and introduced to its fellow members. The witches of the clan were mostly welcoming to her after they discovered she was Force sensitive and were told a bit about her. They offered her comfort and a place to stay, and before long, Anneliese found that she was joining the clan of Dathomiri Witches. She was taught how to tame and ride the witch's customary transportation of choice – rancors – and was shown around the planet's other five clans, though they all mostly kept to themselves, they did get together on occasion for celebrations.

Anneliese found the witch's usage of the Force in the form of spells, where they chanted a specified set of words and the desired effect was produced, intriguing. No matter the fact that they'd been shown how to use the Force without saying incantations by Augwynne's granddaughter, Teneniel, the usage of spells was preferred. It felt more real to them when they did it that way, and Anneliese had to agree. But as with the Jedi and the Sith, the Dathomiri Witches had a light and dark side to their Force usage. Excessive use of any spells called the Night Spells could turn a witch into a Nightsister, a witch gone bad that's exiled from whatever clan she's apart of. However, if a Nightsister wished to forsake her dark past and return to her clan, she had to endure a period of exile for purification purposes before she would be allowed back.

"Never concede to evil – that is our oldest and most scared law. When we concede to evil, even in a small way, we feed it and it grows stronger."

Thus the words spoken by Augwynne about the dark side when Anneliese told the war leader about her former life as a Sith, and even went as far as showing off some of the "spells" when asked. While some found things like Force lightning and chokes to be interesting, most disapproved and nothing more was said about it.

Anneliese, under the guidance of Augwynne, began to practice the Force's light side regularly, and soon found herself feeling more comfortable wielding that compared to the dark side. It just flowed around her in a more meaningful way. She wasn't using the Force to kill or torture someone or for her own greed, but for the wisdom and understanding that came with it.

But as Anneliese continued these light side trainings, Augwynne's middle-aged daughter, Gethzerion began to grow more and more interested in the ways of the Sith and the dark side. She'd ask Anneliese questions about it every so often, and while at first, Anneliese would gladly answer anything she asked, as time went on and the girl became more advanced in her light side skills, she no longer had interest in their dark side discussions and told Gethzerion to forget about it.

Enraged, Gethzerion left the clan for a period of time with second sister Barukka going with her. Augwynne told Anneliese, who thought it was her fault the witches left, not to worry too much about the two. Gethzerion had always had a rebellious streak in her and Barukka was always bound to follow Gethzerion in whatever she did. They just needed time and space, that's all. They'd be back and everything would be fine.

Dathomir clans lived in a simple village and adhered a matriarchal society, where men were used only for breeding and slave labor. Women chose their men by capturing them, but if the man was unhappy, the witch had the right to sell him to another clan sister. As a warrior based society, the Dathomiri Witches trained daily in the art of war and used both their muscles and the Force to aide them in combat. They wore their hair in elaborate braids – sometimes with a helmet decorated with mementos – and lizard skin armor.

About a year and several months into Anneliese being on Dathomir something happened. Large or massive wouldn't quite cover it; more along the lines of life changing...

It was that time of year again. The annual breeding passover of the Dathomir witch clans. A time in which the male population came forward and bred with the selected clan sisters.

The previous year, Anneliese had spent this week period with Augwynne, and she intended on doing the same this year. But also with some of her fellow clan sisters who weren't participating in the festivities. Two in particular, Kirana Ti and Damaya, being close friends of hers since joining the Singing Mountain Clan. The foursome and two others, Mother Rell (the oldest witch of the clan at 300 local years; equivalent to four decades standard) and Vurlene (a clan healer), were about to leave for one of the distant rivers on the northwest side of the planet when Anneliese abruptly realized she'd forgotten to pack her lightsaber.

Muttering about how stupid she was, she returned to the village and made for her tent. The passover had already begun, as she could hear the obvious sounds of her fellows inside their own tents. However, she mostly ignored them. Upon reaching her tent, she was about to pull its entrance flap up when she was suddenly being pulled inside and thrown on the tent floor. She hit her head as she landed, but quickly picked it and herself back up to see a person she knew only by face, not acquaintance – Anon Djo, the youngest slave son of Gethzerion.

Something of a disappointment for Gethzerion was to have six sons and no daughters. She'd tried so many times for a daughter with numerous different males, yet one never came and eventually she stopped conceiving all together. Her sons, naturally, were used as slaves and Gethzerion had nothing to do with them. By now, however, there was only one that was still living, Anon; all the others had been killed due to their lack of being able to produce females. The reason Anon wasn't dead yet is because no one wanted to use him as a breeder. He was considered useless expect for cooking and fixing things. Anneliese had noticed the thirty-something male staring at her a few times, but besides a few polite waves nothing had been exchanged. Which was why she was very much confused over why he was throwing himself on top of her and chanting a spell in ancient Dathomirian.

Anneliese was demanding to know what was going on when she abruptly felt herself being dowsed in feelings of pleasure. Anon was using a Night Spell on her to make her have sex with him without being able to anything to fight back. He'd learned it from his older brothers before they'd been killed. Anneliese tried with all her might to fight it, but she couldn't. He was taking advantage of her defenselessness and stealing her innocence. Yet he couldn't careless. He was too busy humping his crotch into her privates and letting out groans of desire. Anneliese was doing the same, but only because she was under the spell she couldn't fight.

As to how long this mating session went on, Anneliese never knew. All she remembered was the pleasure vanishing and opening her eyes to see the angry face of Augwynne. But the war leader wasn't looking at her, but Anon who'd been pulled off of her and was being slapped sharply across the face by his grandmother.

"Pervertedly twisted slave!" she was yelling.

At that moment, Anneliese felt two people on either side of her – Kirana and Damaya. The two helped her out of the tent and gently placed her on the ground not far from it, where Mother Rell and Vurlene than began to fuss over her well being.

She later found out that Augwynne had executed Anon and the rest of the breeding passover was canceled until further notice. But that wasn't the important part. The part that said Anneliese was pregnant with the deceased slave's child. She was scared, hurt, and confused over the events that happened, and for a while cried daily. She didn't want a child. She was practically one herself. She was too young to be a mother.

Anneliese still didn't know how she made it through the pregnancy. But with the help of Augwynne and the other clan sisters, though most especially Kirana, Damaya, Mother Rell, and Vurlene, she did. Late one rainy night, on the day that marked two years of Anneliese being on Dathomir – 23.1 IE – she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl – Allana Layla Grievous Djo. The Djo surname was given to Allana out of Anneliese's respect for her daughter's great-grandmother, Augwynne. As for the name Allana itself, that was gotten from the mother of all Dathomiri Witches, Dark Jedi Allya. And the middle name of Layla was after Augwynne's deceased fourth and youngest daughter, Allaya.

The joy that came with baby Allana's birth, however, didn't last when Gethzerion and Barukka finally returned from their "time of having space" as Augwynne had called it. No longer were they Dathomiri Witches, but Nightsisters. And they weren't alone. Gethzerion had an entire clan of dark side users that consisted of the Dreaming River and Red Hills clans. The other three clans besides Singing Mountain – Misty Falls, Frenzied River, and Great Canyon – remained witches as of the present, but none could tell how long that might last.

Gethzerion announced her return atop the highest mountain of all Dathomir. She'd used her newfound powers to cause a thunderstorm and speak in a loud booming voice, as lightening flashed behind, her intentions of taking over the planet as its Queen and how if there were any insurgents to her rule, they would be swiftly eliminated.

There hadn't been any type of war between the Witches of Dathomir for centuries. And while it shocked most of them, there was a part of Augwynne that always knew her oldest daughter would become a Nightsister eventually. She wanted to keep denying it, but it was clear from the beginning. The rebellious nature, the anger fazes, the defiance as a child and young adult. She should have known it would only be a matter of time. Yet despite that, she knew they could win this if they fought hard enough and kept holding on.


	91. The Dathomir Crisis II: Bloodlines

Author's Note: The real action doesn't really start until the next chapter. This one's what you could call a filler. But here's something funny to note: I'm surprised no one commented on the fact that Anneliese had a daughter.

MissNaye: Only time will tell.

Tsubasa no Michi: Again, only time will tell.

Jakiray Axmiris: Here ya go!

arzum: We're two chapters away from that. Right after the Dathomir Crisis ends.

* * *

Episode VIII: The Twilight of War

Chapter 32: The Dathomir Crisis II: Bloodlines

During the reign of Gethzerion, many Dathomirians were either killed or captured by Gethzerion's clan of Nightsisters. These women's control over the Force was developed from a method of selective breeding to ensure power. While Nightsisters believed that they had to perform rituals to unleash the ultimate power of the dark side, only Gethzerion realized the true power she could control.

In the year and a half she was gone, she and Barukka had done a lot of studying into the dark side, discovering and learning many things, but none so much as the ability to gather control of a person's mind via their signature in the Force. With the minds of thousands under her control, and to do her bidding, not only would Dathomir be hers, but soon the entire galaxy as well. She was unstoppable; no one could beat her.

The first place Gethzerion and the Nightsisters struck was the Great Canyon clan, near the canyon of the same name, and for obvious reasons. Out of the six clans on Dathomir, the Great Canyon clan was the only one that accepted males as equals. This was unheard of in most instances and distasteful in Gethzerion's eyes, an emotion she'd always expressed whenever the subject was brought up in the past. It was only natural that she chose to attack there first, and the Singing Mountain, Misty Falls, and Frenzied River clans were there to meet her and the Nightsisters when they arrived.

An epic battle ensured below and atop the Great Canyon, resulting in the deaths of many, and capture of many more. Making matters even worse, some of the clan sisters fighting against the Nightsisters, Damaya included, abruptly turned on their fellows in the heat of battle and began fighting alongside the enemy.

Soon, the Great Canyon wasn't the only clan being overtaken. The Misty Falls followed, and after that Frenzied River. It was the same at each battle: the death of the innocent and capturing of the weak. Gethzerion would use her captives as warrior slaves for her bidding and hostages as a way to lure the light siders into engaging her clan in battle, a feat that almost always worked.

However, when there were no other clans to overtake, save Singing Mountain, Gethzerion and her Nightsisters came to the clan to do the same there. The invasion was well planned – they came in the dead of night – but the clan sisters were more than aware of their arrival and greeted them in attack.

The battle lasted until the crack of dawn, and after hours of fighting it was easy to see that the Singing Mountain witches were losing this one. Augwynne suffered a loss at the death of her third daughter, Kara 'Teel, who died while protecting her from Gethzerion's attempt to kill their mother, thus becoming the planet's Queen.

Upon being overtaken, the surviving witches of the clan fled to Dathomir's high mountains, but they were pursued and the battle continued.

When they finally got away, it was only for Anneliese to discover that Allana was gone; stolen by her Nightsister grandmother. Somehow Gethzerion had found out that Anneliese's daughter's father was her youngest son Anon and was pleased that finally she had that female heir she'd always yearned for. She would train the baby in the path of being a Nightsister, but not if Anneliese could help it.

Blood was being spilt everyday without cease, with hundreds of witches being killed per battle. Like the Battle of Singing Mountain, not only were they losing all the battles, they were losing the war. They needed help. Yet Anneliese couldn't leave to get any, due to the fact of her destroying _Jeweled Dolphin_ to ensure that Gethzerion never left the planet. But even if she hadn't, she still wouldn't leave even if she wanted to. She'd started this mess by showing off her dark side powers and wouldn't rest until the Nightsisters were defeated and Allana was back in her arms. Because notwithstanding that Anneliese hadn't wanted Allana while she was pregnant with her, now that she was born Anneliese found that she couldn't imagine life without her little bundle of joy and wasn't about to give that up.

These thoughts led to her own mother and the help Anneliese wanted to call from her and the Empire. It'd been more than two years since she'd left and her last meeting with her mother hadn't been the greatest. If Anneliese called out to her, would she answer? Was she still mad after all these years, or hurt that she'd ran away? She'd never know unless she tried.

Cautiously, Anneliese reached out with the Force to locate her mother's signature. It was on Coruscant in a restaurant with the rest of the family. They were conversing over their latest victory, Hapes, when Antellica abruptly stopped talking and excused herself from the table. Arica and Alexander made to go after her, but than began arguing about which of them should go, while Lacovia tried to stop the argument from getting too violent and Dylan and Cole hooted at their sister to sit down and shut up.

But Anneliese didn't hear much of that because her mother was no longer in the reserved dining lounge the family was eating in at Manarai, but the restroom on the floor below. She went into one of the stalls and sat down the lidded toilet.

With a nervous swallow, Anneliese called out to her. "Mom?"

"Ani?" she asked uncertainly. "Is that you? Please say it is!"

"Yeah mom, it's me." Anneliese found herself getting choked up. "How are you?"

"How am I?" she repeated. "Anneliese, never mind how I am! How are _you_? And where are you? We've been worried sick. We miss you. I miss you," she added a little above a whisper. "Anneliese, I'm so sorry if I ever hurt you-"

"Mom, it's alright, really," Anneliese assured. "I understand. But I need to talk to you about something I need your help with."

"You're not hurt are you?" Antellica asked, fearing the worse.

"I'm fine...for now. But with the war that's going on here that may not last."

Anneliese explained in full detail all she'd been up to the past two years, sans the part about her daughter. That's something she wanted to tell in person. Antellica listened intently as she spoke and didn't interrupt once.

When Anneliese concluded with that day's battle, Antellica assured her that they would leave immediately and be there as soon as possible, hopefully within a few days. Anneliese thanked her and apologized for their last meeting, but Antellica brushed it off saying it was alright and she'd see her soon. The telepathic connection than broke and Antellica exited the restroom, making her return to the royal family's private lounge.

Upon arriving, it was to find the room in uproar with people arguing back and forth all about one topic: her.

"Aunt Antellica!"

This exclamation that came from Lacovia as she rushed towards her ended the arguing. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

Antellica smiled at her oldest niece's concern. "Yes Lacovia, I'm fine. On the contrary, I've never been better. But I think it's time we end this dinner." She clapped for the attention of their nearby waitress and the girl practically tripped in the process of coming over. "We're doing to Dathomir."

"Dathomir?" Practically everyone repeated.

"Isn't that where those freaky dark witches that are shown on HV are from?" Dylan asked.

Mostly all in the room either allowed a smirk or gave a dry laugh. Lacovia rolled her eyes and muttered, "Freaky dark witches. What'll come out of their mouths next?," while Elektra and River circled O's next to their heads to indicate their brother's insanity. Alexander, however, is the one that set Dylan straight. "Those witches they show on HV aren't real little man. Actually, there's no such thing as witches in general. Or warlocks for that matter. They're just made up figures from someone's overheated imagination; a rip off of Force users. Nothing more."

"That's interesting Alex," Antellica said before Dylan could start arguing his point. "Especially since that's the reason we're going to Dathomir, and the fact that one such witch I know of is your sister."

Alexander choked on his wine and confusion took over the room. And along with that, many voices.

"What?!" (Lacovia)

"What are you talking about?" (Gabriella)

"I'm confused!" (Elektra)

"I need more punch!" (Philomena)

"I think she's gone crazy!" (Cole)

"I think you need to shut up!" (Troy)

"I think I need to pee!" (Cole)

"I think I need to dance on the table!" (Dylan)

"Witches aren't real." (River)

"You're not real either!" (Dylan)

"This is nonsense!" (Hilton)

"Everyone shut up!" (Luke)

"You shut up!" (Cole)

"Silence!"

Everyone quieted down at Anakin and Arica's yell, and before anyone could start talking again Antellica launched into the situation on Dathomir and how Anneliese was involved. Naturally, everyone was floored, and Antellica was glad she wasn't alone on that part. Dylan began boasting about how right he was concerning the witches, but was quickly silenced when Leila got up from out of her chair, picked him up by the collar and tossed him out the room. His yells to be allowed back in were ignored.

All were happy that Anneliese was safe at the present, and more than ready to go help her and the witches of Dathomir out of their planetary war that if not stopped could spread to other worlds. Especially since Tenel Ka Djo's maternal grandmother was the war leader of the exact same clan Anneliese belonged to. The Empire didn't need anyone else starting trouble within it, so after getting the check from the waitress and than paying it, the royals left the restaurant and prepared for their journey to Dathomir.


	92. The Dathomir Crisis III

Author's Note: Here we are at the long, thrilling finale that is the Dathomir Crisis. The first two chapters didn't offer that much, I'll be the first to admit. But this is where all the action lies. And for all of you who've been asking, Anneliese finally meets her father, Obi-Wan, in the chapter after this.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks. Question #1: Read below to find out. Question #2: I guess it depends on how you look at it.

MissNaye: Read on to find out.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 33: The Dathomir Crisis III: Nightsisters, Sith, and the Dark Side

Imperial records listed Dathomir as an obscure world in a ten-planet system of the same name, located in the Quelii Sector with a sun and four moons, including Koratas. Its rotation period was 24 hours, orbital period 491 days, and had a diameter of 10,460 km. In addition, Dathomir was also proclaimed the unofficial sixty-forth world of the Hapes Consortium when Teneniel Djo had been crowned Queen Mother seventeen years ago. But since the consortium's destruction by Death Star II, it was probably safe to say it was an independent world again. Both Emperors Palpatine and Skywalker had always stayed clear of Dathomir to let its native witches go about their own business. The Sith masters had no wish to get themselves involved in the matters of witches and enchantments. Yet here they were in orbit of the planet about to do just that. But this was because of Anneliese. She was one of these witches now, and needed their help. Anakin found the idea of his teenage niece spending the past two years in the company of witches much more intriguing than the other things she could've spent the time doing.

Yet besides the witches, Dathomir was also famous for being the crash sight of the Jedi training vessel, _Chu'unthor_, three hundred and forty-three years before: 320 NRE. Anakin had learned of the immense ship as a Jedi Padawan. And though he usually kept his current life piled atop his former, the _Chu'unthor_ wasn't something you easily forgot. The ship's primary function was as a spacefairing academy for groups of Jedi apprentices, and operated under the command of a number of Jedi, sans any Anakin had ever heard of.

The cruiser, made through the long dead Republic Fleet Systems, was about two kilometers long, one kilometer wide, and at least forty meters tall. A command pinnacle in the center of the ship housed the majority of the non-Jedi crew, with the sublight and hyperdrive engine array mounted directly aft. The _Chu'unthor _could accommodate ten thousand Jedi students, with hundreds of exercise and lightsaber-sparring rooms to hone each student's concentration, form, and body. Workshops were provided for the construction and maintenance of lightsabers, while meditation chambers gave both student and master a place to contemplate the nature of the Force and further their mental discipline. A medical wing contained hundreds of healing and hospital rooms used to teach Jedi healing arts to young students, both for use in the aftermath of battle or accidents, and to aide the physically or mentally impaired. The ship contained its own extensive library with texts covering the myriad of Jedi teachings, advanced and theoretical science to mes, historical annals, literature from across the galaxy and encyclopedias covering the galaxy's languages, arts, and cultures.

To alleviate the sense of confinement and banality that can be experienced while traveling for long durations in a spaceship, the _Chu'unthor_ had wide corridors with high ceilings, while many rooms had transparisteel domes or expansive view ports. The effects created had been very much like Coruscant's old Jedi Temple, rather than a simple starship. Classes were often held within these rooms, open to the stars, reminding the Padawans that a Jedi was obligated to serving the galaxy at large and not to use his gifts in selfish ends.

The service of the _Chu'unthor_ was tragically cut short when she crashed into the exile world of Dathomir. The damaged _Chu'unthor_ was surrounded by the witches on their rancor mounts. A group of Jedi, including the deceased Yoda, were sent to attempt a rescue of the vessel's crew and passengers, but were stopped by the Dathomiri Witches. After Yoda saved the life of Rell, a young witch at the time, the two were able to negotiate a settlement. The _Chu'unthor_ and its library would be abandoned on Dathomir, but the Jedi were free to leave. Yoda asked Rell to hide the ship's record-discs until he or another Jedi Knight returned for them, freeing her world from the Nightsisters once and for all in the process.

During the time the New Order had been reestablished, however, the discs had been retrieved, but the world had yet to be freed from the Nightsister menace that had yet to break at the time.

Anakin was curious to see if there was much of anything left of the ship after all these years, and since the crash sight wasn't that far from where the mountain Anneliese and her fellows were hiding at, it only seemed natural to land there. Upon arriving, though, it was to find the Nightsisters grouped in a circle around the crash sight with captives in their grasp, Anneliese among them.

The over one hundred Gunship Bombers that came down onto the planet were spilling out stormtroopers right and left, from all directions. Soon the entire area was surrounded with Imperials, yet the Nightsisters did nothing but glance around at their enemies in amusement.

When at last all ways of escaping were sealed, the Sith – all fifteen of them – stepped through the crowd of stormtroopers to be greeted by an older woman who looked to have once had the face of beauty. Only now it was scarred and corrupted from excessive use of the dark side. Her eyes were blazing red and what was left of her hair was concealed beneath a black hood that connected with the rest of her robes. Her skin was deathly pale and Anakin was distantly reminded of the wicked tyrant Palpatine. In all likeliness, she looked scary and terrifying; a true evil villain. He knew without a doubt that this was Gethzerion.

"Welcome Sith," she greeted in a hissing voice that went along with her demon like physique. "So good of you to come and celebrate with my fellow Nightsisters and I the starting of a new era."

"Really?" It was Lacovia who'd spoken. "And tell me Gethzerion: does this new era of yours include holding my cousin against her will."

Gethzerion turned a leering smile in Lacovia's direction. "You may want to watch it girl-"

"My name's Lacovia," she cut across coldly. "Know it well."

Gethzerion gave a dry laugh. "Arrogant. I do like that in a good dark sider. You've trained her well Vader." She turned to the Human/cyborg emperor and grinned. "But together, we can train more in the path of the dark side. All I ask is the simple favor of being made the new empress and ultimate ruler of the Galactic Empire in return."

"Ah, a sense of humor," Arica said sarcastically. "Everyone loves that in a ruler. Especially in one so old she'll probably drop dead at any minute."

The Nightsisters behind Gethzerion hissed and snarled, but for the most part, Gethzerion herself seemed not to notice. She actually looked somewhat humored. "You of all people should know the power of the dark side, Your Highness. And what you're capable of doing when you possess it."

Arica's eyes flashed. "Are you threatening me?"

Gethzerion's lip curled. "What do you think?"

For a moment, Arica said nothing, though it was seen in her face that she wanted nothing more than to strike Gethzerion down from where she stood. Eventually, her face took on a slight smirk and she toyed with the lightsaber hilt in hand.

"I think," she ignited her crimson blade, "that I'd like to kill you right about now."

"By all means, I'd like to see what Vader finds so fascinating about a woman who wasn't even able to use the Force until she was given the ability by the very person she helped kill," Gethzerion said. "Tell me: how long do you think it'll take until you're next on her death list, Vader?"

Arica gave a yell of rage and made to throw herself at the Nightsister, but Anakin held her back, sending soothing waves of Force energy into her angered soul to calm her.

Gethzerion was disgusted by this display of gentleness. "I would think that as a dark sider myself, you wouldn't want to display such weakness around me and my clan. It makes you appear weak."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I won't be able to help you in your scheme of taking over _my_ Empire," the emperor said calmly. "However, I can help your sister in taking her hands off my niece."

With a wave of Force, Barukka was knocked to the ground and Anneliese, who'd been being held by her, was scrambling off of it. Gethzerion roughly grabbed her before she could get too far though. Alexander, Troy, and a few others made for her rescue, but Anakin motioned for them to stay back. Gethzerion was now manhandling Anneliese to keep the teen in her hold and it took all of his will power to stay back. But the Force was telling him that he need not attack just yet. Something needed to be said first before the time was right. He shared these feelings with the others, and though they didn't want to, remained where they were. Anneliese was gazing at them in confusion, but this soon changed when Gethzerion began to speak again.

"She's such a beautiful girl, isn't she Antellica?" Gethzerion sneered. "A lot like my granddaughter, Allana."

Anneliese's eyes went fearful at the mention of her daughter and Gethzerion took pleasure out of her equally fearful face. She cackled. "Bring her out Astrinol," the Dark Lady instructed. "I think it's time the Sith here meet the latest edition to their impressive family dynasty."

As Anneliese began to softly cry, Astrinol Hja, former War Leader of the Dreaming River clan, brought a bundle forward that she'd taken out of a nearby leave surrounded manger. Anneliese began to fight against Gethzerion's arms, to try and stop this from happening before it was too late. This is not the way she wanted them to find out. But the evil witch proved her more powerful strength by continuing to hold Anneliese back, despite the girl's hysterical screams of protests.

Throwing Anneliese to another Nightsister, Grania, Gethzerion accepted the baby bundle from Hja's arms and into her own. A spell had been placed on the baby inside the bundle to keep her calm and less noisy. Gethzerion didn't really approve of the spell since it didn't come from the Book of Night Spells, but was pleased nonetheless that it hadn't worn off yet.

Anakin was in the utmost shock. Ever since the baby, Gethzerion's granddaughter, had been brought out he'd felt a twinge of recognition in the Force at the girl's Force presence. It was impossible who she was and didn't make any sense. Yet at the same time, it was possible and did make sense. But the thought was still so...

"Ah! I see you realize what's being shown here, Lord Vader," Gethzerion said smoothly. She turned back to Anneliese who'd stopped screaming, but was still crying silently. "You're a lot like your mother Anneliese." She turned to Antellica. "In more ways than one."

Antellica and mostly everyone else was looking confused, except for Alexander, Troy, and Arica. Shock could be felt radiating off of them, and even a hint of anger from Alexander. Gethzerion didn't seem to notice or care about the Sith's various emotions. She was too occupied with leering down at her granddaughter.

"The similarities between the two of you are remarkable," she finally said, her eyes returning to the Sith, but preferably Antellica. "There's the obvious things – the looks, the beauty, the fact that the both of you became accomplished warriors at a young age. Than there's the not so obvious – the practicing of the Force's light side, the involvement with an older man, and the fact that both of you had a child at the tender age of seventeen."

Anakin sensed the emotions that attempted to overcome Antellica as she gazed at her daughter in betrayed disbelief and readied himself for any fireworks that might start, all the while staying close to her in case he needed to hold her back.

Again, Gethzerion ignored the various emotions of the Sith as she continued speaking. "For years, I prayed to the gods for a daughter. Yet sadly, each and every time I conceived, I always had a male. Eight continuous times. I was disappointed, but hoped it could be made up to me through a granddaughter. I never received one. The only thing my slave sons produced were more males and were eliminated as a result. I was about to give up all hope at having that granddaughter I wanted, but than came Anneliese. She was everything I could've hoped for in a potential mother of my granddaughter. Bright, intelligent, beautiful, and most important of all, Force sensitive. And a dark side user at that. But than she began progressing as a Dathomiri Witch, in the meaning of throwing away her dark side heritage and pursuing one with the light, and I began to wonder if my plan would work out after all. Because despite what many think, I didn't start practicing the dark side when Anneliese came here and showed us her thrown away powers. I've been learning dark spells for years on end and using them in secret."

By now, Anneliese had stopped crying and was looking over at Gethzerion suspiciously incredulous. This look was mirrored on Arica, Antellica, and many others. Gethzerion, however, merely continued on.

"I left the Singing Mountain clan about three months after Anneliese joined and went with my second sister to the desert. I'd wanted Anneliese to be apart of my plan in the sense of actually knowing and actively participating in it, but her mind had been so filled with light side nonsense by that time I knew I couldn't risk it. Until I stumbled upon my youngest slave son Anon that is. He'd never been brought by any of the clan sisters as a breeder, but a servant for cooking and fixing things. They assumed he would produce males like his brothers, but only I knew different. Though he lacked intelligence like his brothers, there always was an interesting spark to him in the looks department. I knew if I possessed his mind and spirit with my dark side powers, not only would he do everything I commanded, but I'd be able to achieve the goal I wanted in having a granddaughter. Naturally, it-"

"Am I to understand that the only reason I was attacked and raped by Anon is because you took possession of his mind and spirit to make him do so to me just so you could have yourself a granddaughter?"

Gethzerion slowly turned to see Anneliese's eyes changing to Sith yellow in Grania's grasp. Her face was contorted with rage and she began to look deadlier by the second. Gethzerion was pleased. "Well Anneliese, if I'd known this was going to be your reaction to the news I would have told you a lot sooner; at the Battle of the Great Canyon for example. I'm happy that after all this time you're finally accepting your dark side powers again. Tell me, how do you feel?"

If the looks Anneliese was giving Gethzerion could've caused pain, the Nightsister would've been on the ground screaming in agony.

"Right at this moment?" Anneliese asked in a deadly whisper.

Gethzerion nodded.

"I am so going to kill you."

The action began before anyone could stop it. Anneliese grabbed a hold of the hands that were holding her and broke them with the force of her rage. Her captor screamed in pain, but Anneliese decided to end it right than and there for the Nightsister. Her main concern was Allana. Yet she needn't worry. The moment Anneliese gave her death threat to Gethzerion, Gabriella, Hilton and River leapt into action, racing forward at Force enhanced speed and tackling the Dark Lady to the ground. She soon threw them off of her with a wave of Force, but not before River got her hands on Allana. The screaming baby stayed with her as they landed hard a few seconds later. River was on her feet in no time, running Allana away from the battle that was starting. She evaded the spells that were thrown at her and jumped into one of the gunships. Softly sitting Allana down in the copilot's seat next to her, River fired up the bomber's engine and began to fly it into the air.

On land, Gethzerion was furious about Allana being taken from her and began throwing spell after spell at the flying ship that was making an escape from the planet. River dodged most of them, but ended up getting hit with one. The ship would've descended back to the land battle had River not called upon the Force to keep it afloat. Luke and Elektra were able to keep Gethzerion occupied long enough for River and Allana to escape the planet unharmed. As battle continued on Dathomir, River took Allana to the _Executor III_ and cared for the confused baby in the Star Destroyer's royal quarters. She would remain in space with the fleet until the battle below ended.

Gethzerion was beyond furious now; she was livid with rage. Allana had escaped the planet with one of the Sith and her clan of Nightsisters were either being shot down left and right from the extensive fire power of thousands upon thousands of stormtroopers or sliced down by the Sith that weren't ganging up on her. She needed to get off planet and retrieve Allana before it was too late. If only she could disengage herself from the duel she was in. She was using Anneliese's yellow lightsaber to fight against Luke, Elektra, Alexander and Antellica. She would've liked to think that she was winning, but the fact was she wasn't. She continued to throw in spells every other lightsaber swing, but they were all evaded. She was getting quite frustrated here and was at the point that she didn't care about anything except getting off planet and retrieving Allana. Let her clan of Nightsisters perish, they could always be replaced with new and better ones.

Suddenly the yell of "Stand clear!" had the Sith backing off and Gethzerion being blasted off her feet and spinning around at a rapid, impossible speed.

Unfortunately for Anneliese, Gethzerion knew the counter jinx for the Force Whirlwind and it was even more powerful than the original attack. Slowing down the winds surrounding her, the moment Gethzerion was on solid ground again, she threw the Force Whirlwind counter jinx at Anneliese. But in a shocking move, Anneliese simply stood there until the last minute and added a lightning attack to the whirlwind as she pushed it back at its sender. Gethzerion hadn't been expecting that, so wasn't ready. She was blasted off the ground for the second time, but with much more added force, losing Anneliese's lightsaber in the process. As the winds swirled around her, she was being electrocuted by massive amounts of Force lightning. She was finally able to gain some control over the winds and ended up falling to the ground with a thud face forward. Her body ached, and in some areas were stiff, but she picked herself up anyway and whipped around quickly at the sense of danger. Anneliese was running at her in rapid speed, her lightsaber in hand and a battle cry admitting from her mouth. She'd be upon her in no time. Thinking fast, Gethzerion called one of the many crimson blades that were flashing around the area to her, but from one of the blond haired twin boys who was engaging Astrinol in a duel singularly. At the loss of his lightsaber, he didn't panic like Gethzerion thought he might, but sent forward a wave of Force that attacked Astrinol's mind. It was the Insanity Attack, a Night Spell so strong that it drove the victim insane with madness to the extent that it could only be cured by death, which the boy – Cole – did a moment later.

What Gethzerion didn't understand was how the boy could know such an advanced Night Spell; it took some years to get down. But she didn't have time to think this through fully because Anneliese was upon her, striking down rapidly. Gethzerion met each of her attacks thrust for thrust, but the rage that was fueling Anneliese over Allana's conception was stronger than her powers and soon Gethzerion found herself losing hand in the fight. She tried to gain it back by swinging an upward stroke at Anneliese's head. It was blocked and their blades locked in the upward blow. The electricity of the swords screeched at the impact as Gethzerion began to push down on the lock, aiming it at Anneliese's face. She didn't get the chance to cut the girl's face open, for right as she was about to Anneliese surprised her with a sharp kick in the gut. She had the Force behind it which made it even stronger. Gethzerion was thrown back and slammed into the crashed remains of _Chu'unthor_, in which time Cole claimed back his lightsaber.

Gethzerion knew this was the end, but she refused to accept it. Upon impact her back bones had moved out of place and were on the verge of broken, but she wasn't giving up. Throwing several more spells at Anneliese proved useless as they were evaded, but she kept throwing them. By the time Anneliese reached her, she'd pulled herself to a stand and was about to throw the Insanity Attack at her when Anneliese swung forward her lightsaber and impaled it into the Dark Lady's chest. Anneliese and Gethzerion's eyes locked briefly, both showing nothing less than hatred for the other. Anneliese shoved her blade even deeper into the Nightsister, so it came out the other side of her back, before than riping it out and decapitating her with a swing of her body.

For a moment, Anneliese gazed down at the dead form of Gethzerion. The battle around her had ended. It'd only continued at the life of Gethzerion. Yet there was a part of her that couldn't believe it was actually over. Anneliese knew that if Gethzerion had gone against someone like her uncle, her head would've been off in no time, but that was something she felt she had to do herself and she was glad she did.

Suddenly, she was being scooped up from behind and Anneliese beamed at who it was. "Alex."

She turned to find herself looking into the smiling face of her older brother and threw her arms around his neck. He accepted her embrace and held her tight. In fact, they only broke apart at the sound of a ship arriving overhead on-world. River landed the gunship she'd used earlier to return and handed baby Allana over to Anneliese. Allana cooed at being in her mother's arms again and Anneliese beamed. In spite of being so young, and for a while the thought of having a baby was horrifying, she'd eventually grown to love being a mother to her baby girl. She thanked River for looking after Allana during the battle and than introduced her week old daughter to the rest of the family.

A festive meal was held that night in celebration of the war's end, but by the next morning the Imperial royals knew they needed to get back to the Empire before word spread of the fleet's disappearance and people started in a panic. Antellica and Alexander especially urged Anneliese to come home with them. But the thing is, she wasn't sure where she should go. There was a part of her that wanted to come with them and reclaim her former job as Commander in the navy. Yet at the same time, she couldn't just leave Dathomir so soon after the war's end.

Sensing her hesitation, Augwynne encouraged her to go. "When I met you Anneliese, you were lost. But much has happened over the past two years that's matured you into a fine young woman. You belong with your family once more."

As a gift to the clan for their kindness and because she didn't want any harm to come to her daughter with the Legacy of the Force war still going on, Anneliese left Allana to stay with her great-grandmother on Dathomir when she left the planet with her family later that day.


	93. A Father and His Daughter

Author's Note: The long awaited meeting between Obi-Wan and Anneliese is finally here! You will not be disappointed (I hope not anyway) with how it goes down. Enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks for the reviews. Now with the questions: Will Anakin and Obi-Wan meet again in battle? That question in itself would reveal too much, so sadly I can't answer. As for 92's question, I didn't quite get what was being asked besides what happens next.

G-Anakin 13: As of the present, Allana's staying on Dathomir with her paternal family. However, that doesn't mean she'll be staying there for the long run. But she Anneliese's daughter after all. The Grievous-Skywalker's may not like it, but only Anneliese can decide where she wants her daughter to be. Actually, this is elaborated on a little bit in this chapter.  
Yup. Father and daughter finally meet in this chapter, hence the title.  
Palpatine is yes, dead. He _will not_ be coming back. Padme died in the explosion of her ship outside Coruscant soon after in her attempt to avenge him. At least it's assumed she was aboard the ship that was taken out.  
Thanks.  
It doesn't matter the review length. If you feel like doing a long one, you can. If you prefer merely saying "Great job!", that's fine too. I myself have problems sometimes figuring out what to say when I review chapters.

MissNaye: Maybe, maybe not. Allana's fate won't be determined officially until the next chapter.

Twisted Words: To 90: Definitely. But Allana's birth was necessary for...future plot lines. To 91: Probably not. But then again, perhaps eventually. To 92: Something like that. Allana will be raised by a lot of different people, in different environments, growing up.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 34: A Father and His Daughter

"_Antellica never told you what happened to your father."_

"_Next you'll be saying you're my father."_

-Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anneliese Grievous

Though she'd used the Dark Side of the Force to defeat Gethzerion on Dathomir, Anneliese soon went back to practicing the light side on a regular basis. Even in the presence of her fellow Sith. This disturbed her family a great deal and she was confronted about it various times, only Anneliese didn't see what the problem was. Occasionally she used the dark side for something, but mostly it was the light side she was practicing. She was different, and as such acted different. At times, it seemed that her character traits were reflecting that of a Jedi. Something needed to be done about that. Anneliese needed to see that the light and dark sides of the Force didn't mix.

So much time had been spent concerning Hapes, Death Star II, and Dathomir that the Empire really hadn't had any time to look for the Jedi since the Core battles. More and more over the past five weeks since the epic battles, the Sith felt the presences of numerous light side Force sensitives being trained. Despite their massive wipe out in the Core, the Jedi weren't giving up and continued to train more students, but perfected their training somewhat. If Zonama Sekot or the Core had taught them anything, it was to go harder and better on the training. They couldn't afford for their apprentices to continue being killed on a whim; they wouldn't continue wasting the lives of potential and that of their own time if it wasn't going to mount up to anything.

Upon sensing the disturbance on Dathomir concerning the Nightsisters, and once learning the Sith were involved, the Jedi moved their base from Dagabah to the Mid Rim world Haruun Kal. While still friendly with the Witches of Dathomir, Obi-Wan didn't want them to know where the Jedi were in the event that their location slipped during a persuasive conversation. Tenel Ka, though not happy at the thought of hiding from the only family she had left, agreed and continued having her great-grandmother think they were on Dagabah. She'd been the first to sense the disturbance on Dathomir and had wanted to abandon her search for new pupils to aide them. Obi-Wan met her before she could get too far and talked sense into her. She only would've gotten in the way.

When the Jedi moved to Haruun Kal, the natives of Zonama Sekot did not come with them, yet didn't stay on Dagabah either. They moved to the peaceful, farming world of Dantooine. Since rarely any activity of any kind took place on the world, Obi-Wan knew the natives would be safe there. And as a bonus, the Empire didn't often visit Dantooine because of its "uselessness."

One week after the Dathomir crisis, the emperor assigned his Order of Sith to split up in twos in the attempt of catching Jedi on the move as they hunted for new students. While he and the Empress remained on Coruscant, the others would go out to every region in the galaxy – River and Cole: the Core; Gabriella and Dylan: the Colonies; Troy and Philomena: the Inner Rim; Alexander and Elektra: the Expansion Region; Lacovia and Hilton: the Mid Rim; Antellica and Anneliese: the Outer Rim; and Luke and Leila: the Outer Regions of Imperial Space, the Unknown Regions – to find them. The seven teams left immediately after being assigned and began their quests.

Antellica was very pleased at being assigned with her daughter. It would be a good opportunity for them to reclaim that special bond they once shared. Anneliese was also happy at being with her mother. She'd missed her a lot over the past two years and was excited to be back in the Empire and with her family.

For five months, the two searched the Outer Rim, with the only pit stop along the way being a brief trip to Dathomir and Allana. Antellica was still a bit alarmed at being a grandmother at thirty-nine, but had made herself come to terms with it for the sake of the baby. They only stayed with the rebuilding Singing Mountain Clan a week before leaving again to resume their hunt. Antellica tried at convincing Anneliese to bring Allana with them, but her daughter wouldn't hear of it.

"Until the war ends, I can't take that risk of her being in constant danger. She's much safer on Dathomir."

And how right Anneliese was. Not a day after leaving the world, Antellica's longtime star cruiser, _Spiraled Avalanche_, was attacked by pirates. Apparently, they'd thought the Clone Wars-era ship was another they were tracking, but once discovering who was aboard the mistaken ship the pirates continued their fire, enjoying the prospect of taking down two members of the Royal Imperial Family. Under the perpetual fire, the ship lost its hyperdrive capability, disabling them from lightspeed. Distress signals were sent out to all nearby Imperial worlds, but not much could be done as the ship was quickly falling apart.

Foreseeing her longtime ship's destruction, Antellica grabbed Anneliese and raced them to the ship's escape pod bunker. It was than that she realized the pods were only big enough for one person. She didn't want to be separated from her daughter, but it's not like they had much of a choice.

Sensing her mother's worry, Anneliese assured her they'd be alright. "We'll stick together. It's going to be fine."

But it wasn't fine. No sooner had they fled _Spiraled Avalanche_ that it exploded behind them, rocketing their escape pods rapidly forward. And to make matters worse, Anneliese's plan for them to stick together failed when one of the pirate ships caught her mother's pod in its tractor beam. Antellica pulled the pod out, but than was caught a moment later in another one. And than another and another. Obviously, these pirates had heard about Antellica's expert trick of pulling ships out of tractor beams easily with the Force. They weren't taking any chances as they boxed her in. There was nothing Antellica could do but await capture. But when she was apprehended, she was going to teach these pirates a thing or two about not attacking an Imperial vessel without suffering the consequences.

Anneliese was worried and didn't know what to do. She wanted to help her mother with the pirates, but knew her mother could take care of herself. After all, this was Antellica Grievous she was talking about. But for some reason, it seemed like abandoning her if she just left while the pirates were occupied with her mother.

On cue, her mother's presence filled her mind, urging her on. "Don't worry about me Ani," she assured. "I'll be fine. I don't want to see you tangled up in something you can escape from. Go on, and I'll see you soon."

"But mom-"

"And when I see you again, I...I want to talk to you about your father. It's high time you know the truth."

And before Anneliese could ask any questions, Antellica broke the telepathic connection.

Ever since she found out about Allana, Antellica had been wanting to tell Anneliese about her father. She just didn't know how to come out and say it. She wanted to tell her right than and there during the telepathic connection, but knew that wasn't the right time or way to tell her. And though there was a part of her that was still hesitate on telling her the news, she knew she couldn't hold out forever. Anneliese was seventeen now, and a mother at that – even if it was through rape. She had a right to know about that other side of her heritage.

Anneliese was awe stroke and shocked, but also excited. Finally, after all these years, her mother was going to tell her about the man she'd craved to know about her entire life.

It was this happy thought that had Anneliese racing the pod away from the pirates. Interestingly enough, they didn't seem concerned with her anyone more. This could mean one of two things:

1) With the capture of the Imperial Navy's Supreme Commander, they could careless about her less famous daughter, or

2) Antellica had used the Force to make them forget about Anneliese.

Anneliese choose to go with the second one. But even so, it was only a matter of time before their memory came back to them. Unfortunately for them, she'd be long gone by the time they remembered. She was only able to push the pod but so far before she ran out of fuel. Yet by that time, she'd found somewhere to land.

Anneliese had just entered the Mid Rim and the last system in the region: Al'Har. This system included at least two gas giants and an asteroid field, but also the sole inhabited planet in the system: Haruun Kal, also known as Al'Har I.

The name, coined by its indigenous human population, translates into "Above the Clouds" in Basic. The apt description stems from the choking, heavier-than-air toxic gases that seep from the planet's innumerable active volcanoes. These gases that collected in pockets and valleys made the planet appear to be oceanic from space. Only in the highlands that pierce the poisonous cloud envelope, reaching into the atmosphere, could oxygen-breathing life survive.

The planet had a rotation rate of 25.5 standard hours and a year length of 383 local days. Its diameter was 10,120 kilometers, and had .98 standard gravity.

Though habitable, the world was hardly welcoming. The few landmasses that jutted from low clouds were covered with hostile jungle. The think foliage was thick with disease-carrying insects, parasites, and persistent fungi capable of crippling machinery and people alike. Nonetheless, people came to Haruun Kal.

The indigents were the Koruunai. It is uncertain how the humans came to call the jungles of Haruun Kal home. The Jedi Council had studied the Korun tribes, extrapolating that the tribes were perhaps the descendants of a crashed Jedi spacecraft during the Great Sith War. This theory helped answer a peculiar mystery: all Korun could touch the Force. They needed to; the jungle was so hostile, that a being not able to sense the dangers of the dark would surly perish. The Korun developed a respect for the jungle – the harsh ecology factored into their culture and definitions of justice. They developed a nomadic, tribal government, staying alive by following the traveling herds of grassers through the jungle, protected by their Force-bonded akk dogs.

Offworlders came to Haruun Kal for the lucrative secrets to be hacked from the jungle. Spice and exotic woods commanded attractive prices on the galactic market and Haruun Kal was the sole source in the galaxy for thyssel bark, portaak leaf, jinsol, tyruun and lammas wood. The outlanders came to the jungle seeking fortune; what they found, quite often, was death. The jungle prospectors – japs, as they were called – encroached into the Korun grounds, and hostilities would follow. The Korun grew to hate the offworlders, or Balawai, and grew to be hated in turn.

Korunnal Highland, where Anneliese was headed, was a continent-sized plateau that was the only habitable area of the planet that sat high above the cloud sea that encapsulated most of the lowland.

Grandfather's Shoulder, the base of which Anneliese landed, was a white-tipped active volcano, near the capital city of Pelek Baw, the Balawai – which consisted of mostly humans since the Alien War, though you'd see a few Togorians (feline warriors) and Wookies every now and again – controlled capital. Pelek Baw was the main metropolitan area on the planet, a stark contrast to its jungles where the prospectors and Korun roamed free. After the Clone Wars, it had a population of over 400,000 and spanned several kilometers; now it barely reached 100,000 and a single kilometer. It was located alongside the Great Downrush – a river that was a kilometer wide when it passed Pelek Baw – and just to the north of Downrush Falls – a huge waterfall, kilometers deep, that was formed when Great Downrush went off a cliff at the south end of Pelek Baw.

The city's locations included the Highland Green Washeteria, a laundromat-cum-eatery on the north side of the city. It had electrical signs, was made from white tiles with black grout, and its architecture included arched windows and had been modified with durastell blast shutters. It was once cover for New Republic Intelligence during the Clone Wars. The city also included a spaceport located next to its warehouse district.

The city was loyal to the planet's Representative Council, the ruling body of Haruun Kal, headquartered in the capital – which was largely the extent of its control. It was composed entirely of Balawai, and exclusively served Balawai interests. Much of its funding came from offworld supporters of the Thyssel bark trade – thyssel bark was a type of tree bark chewed as a drug.

Other points of interest on Haruun Kal included Grandmother's Tears, a river fed by the snow melt of Grandfather's Shoulder and led into the Great Downrush; Trundur War, a series of spectacular cliffs at the north of Korunnal Highland; Lorshan Pass, an area of volcanic caverns; and Death hollows, depressions of Haruun Kal's Koruunal Highlands where volcanic grasses could aggregate and produce toxic pockets deadly to animals. The gases stimulated planet growth, however, causing death hollows to become even more profuse with planet life then the rest of the surrounding jungle.

The planet's climate was warm and humid, which explained why Anneliese felt a pool of sweat running along her face. She put her long ginger red hair into a high ponytail and wiped her sweat-covered face on her black Sith cloak once taking it off her shoulders. She was donned in a black tube top and same color pants with a golden cuff on her forearm. Throwing the cloak back into the pod, she proceeded away from it and around the side of the volcano. There was a dirt road that ran about a kilometer in length before you came to the entrance of the city. It was surrounded by a forest of trees, and Anneliese could hear the waters of Grandmother's Tears flowing behind them.

Strolling along the road, Anneliese entered the city with her presence cloaked. It could take awhile for Lacovia and Hilton to get here, so why not keep the Jedi hunt going while she waited. Even if this wasn't her planet to search.

The everyday lives of Pelek Baw buzzed around her as she walked the city's streets. It was about mid-day and civilians could be seen reprimanding their young for playing in the roads, darting in and out of traffic, begging for credits as people walked by them, chatting about the price of thyssel bark going up, and placing bets among other things.

Anneliese suddenly found herself growing hungry at the aroma of food coming from a nearby cafe. Deciding to put her Jedi hunt on hold for the time being, she went to the place she'd smelt the food from: the famous Highland Green Washeteria. She uncloaked her presence upon arriving inside, yet the place was so crowded no one gave anyone little more than a moment's glance anyway. Anneliese was only bothered by one person besides the waitress during her meal. A smuggler who was sitting next to her at the counter table. He was eying the gold cuff she was wearing. It was a gift from Augwynne during her last visit to Dathomir. Anneliese gave him a level stare and snarled, "Looking at something?"

He quickly put his head down, returning to his glass of vodka and left soon after.

Anneliese had heard many things concerning the native Koruns of the planet and knew that if the Jedi were here, that would be her best place to look. She had a good amount of food left to eat and wasn't about to throw it away. But once finishing, she would leave the Washeteria and the city to visit among the natives.

* * *

When the Jedi arrived on Haruun Kal five months ago, they'd based themselves with the native Koruns in the jungles of the planet. Settling in with the tribe had been easy. They were more than happy to have a friend of the late Mace Windu in their mist. The deceased Jedi Master had not only been a native of their tribe, but returned to it during the Clone Wars to help them fight in one of their own wars that'd only been made worse with the Separatists crisis. 

The younger Jedi had collected all their pupils during the five month period between the Core battles to now, and the number of students had accumulated to fifty with everyone having anywhere from three to four apprentices.

Around mid-day, after most of the Jedi had been on the planet about a week, the Jedi and Koruns alike felt an intriguing presence arrive on Haruun Kal. It was Force sensitive; not Sith, yet not Jedi either. Strangely enough, there seemed to be a mixture of both the light and dark side in them. This was highly confusing. Who would want to wield both sides of the Force?

They weren't entirely sure what to do. The Koruns felt it was a trap, and practically everyone else agreed. But Obi-Wan felt something about this presence and knew it wasn't anyone they'd ever met before.

The group of sixty-five Jedi left the Korun village and jungle, and spread themselves out in Pelek Baw. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, but did sense that the presence was about. Meeting in a back alley, after an hour of searching, Tenel Ka insisted upon readying _Star Home_. And before even waiting for a reply from Obi-Wan, left to do so with Jaina and their apprentices. Obi-Wan couldn't have stopped them even if he wanted to. Besides, it might not be a bad idea to have the ship standing by. They could end up needing it.

The remaining fifty-six Jedi continued to search the city, making sure to stay apart and in the shadows.

When they reached the north base of the city, the Jedi came across a dirt road that led to Grandfather's Shoulder. At the distant side of the volcano laid what looked to be a spacecraft of some kind. By looking it at, one could tell it'd landed there recently. Proceeding along the forest surrounded road, and keeping together, they made their way towards the silver sleek spacecraft. Upon arrival, the Jedi discovered that it wasn't a ship like they'd thought, but an escape pod. One touch on the entrance panel opened the door. Inside, they found the usual techniques one might see in an escape pod. Though some of it, Aaron was intrigued to discover, was dated back to the Clone Wars. Before he could investigate any further, however, the sight of a black Sith cloak caught his eye. The way it was positioned looked like someone may have been under it, but one lift off the chair showed there wasn't.

They heard the sound of a ship approaching outside and looked to see one of the most unique and luxurious spaceships in the galaxy – quite literally, a castle set among the stars, equipped with the military capabilities of a fleet cruiser. It was _Star Home_, the only piece of Hapes Tenel Ka had left. It landed a good ways away from them, near the center of the road. The boarding ramp lowered and the Jedi on board rushed out, lightsabers lit. The Jedi near the escape pod rushed to meet them.

"What's going on?" Jacen wanted to know.

"I saw someone in the forest," his twin answered. "We think it's the-"

But before Jaina could say "Sith", Anneliese jumped out of a tree above them and landed in front of _Star Home's_ boarding ramp.

Anneliese had sensed the Jedi leave the Korun village and deliberately left the city to wait for them near Grandmother's Tears. Upon their entrance on the road and _Star Home's_ arrival, she knew it was the time to strike.

"Going somewhere Jedi?" she sneered. "Not if I can help it you're not."

Standing before them was indeed someone they'd never encountered before. With all the run ins the Jedi had with the Grievous-Skywalker House, it was amazing they _hadn't_ met her before.

A long mane of hair fell beneath her shoulders that had, oddly enough, changed from auburn to ginger red. By far, she looked a lot different than anyone of them had ever seen her before in the various holopics that were released to the public over the years. This did not look like the young fifteen year old who abruptly vanished from the Empire two and a half years ago, just prior to the Third Battle of Zonama Sekot. But they knew without a doubt who it was, for it was a person they knew one of their members always thought about meeting someday. Anneliese Grievous, the youngest child and only daughter of Antellica Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Anneliese ignored the other Jedi and brought her attention to Kenobi, who was gazing at her with interest.

"Ah, the famous Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi," she said in what sounded close to sarcasm. "I'm somewhat of an admirer of yours. No, really," she added at the raised eyebrows of he and a few others. "My mother doesn't approve of it of course..."

"That's not surprising," Obi-Wan said before he could stop himself.

Anneliese was slightly puzzled by his bitter tone. "I'm sorry?"

"Nothing," he dismissed with a waved hand.

"Of course." She eyed the other Jedi in distaste and turned back to Obi-Wan. "Naturally, you know it's my job as an Imperial agent to apprehend you all. But I think there's a way we can do this in a civilized manner."

"If you mean having us come quietly..." Obi-Wan started.

"Not exactly," she said. "More of an equal, level contest of lightsabers slashing about in a duel. You yourself proposed something of the sort to the Emperor eighteen years ago concerning Luke."

"I didn't realize it'd been that long," he commented dryly.

"My uncle keeps track."

"I'm sure he does."

After a moment of Anneliese gazing at him expectantly, he decided to reason with her. "So I suppose the plan is we duel to the death and whoever turns out the victor has custody of the Jedi. In short, if it's you, they're turned over to the Imperials without fight, and if it's me, we can continue our little cat and mouse game with the Empire."

Anneliese gave a slight smile. "I see you haven't lost your touch in that aspect, Master Kenobi." She abruptly activated her yellow bladed lightsaber and stroke a ready pose. "But how about in lightsaber skills? Still think you're as competent as you were in the Clone Wars? Probably not. But not to worry. I'll go easy on you."

And without another word, Anneliese threw herself at Kenobi in attack. But he was ready. Lightsaber lit, he pared her attacks with ease.

Some of the apprentices wanted to help Obi-Wan in his duel, but the masters held them back.

"This is his battle," Aaron reminded. "He's better off on his own."

Anneliese was an amazing fighter, Obi-Wan observed. He was just confused as to why she continued to allow both the dark and light sides of the Force swirl around her. But despite that, he was impressed with her. She was holding back for his benefit, he knew. She could do better than this and he wanted to see just how well of a fighter his daughter really was. Increasing his pace, he began to quickly swirl his blade around, striking and paring Anneliese's attacks with more force.

Anneliese smirked at Kenobi's increase in fighting and decided to play along by increasing her own pace. But this almost playful duel between admirers soon changed to that a fierce duel between enemies.

Obi-Wan had increasingly pushed Anneliese so much that the light she'd been using in the duel turned to utter darkness and she was full out striking at him with the dark side only. Her attacks were so strong and pars so sharp that Obi-Wan found himself wishing he hadn't pushed her so much. He was close to the edge, and wouldn't be able to take it much longer. He needed to think of an alternate. And than it came to him. It should have been obvious since the first words she spoke to him.

"Antellica never told you what happened to your father," he stated as he blocked another attack.

Anneliese was mildly surprised, but did not slow down her pace in the duel. "You're trying to distract me. It's not working."

"No, I'm trying to tell you about your father," Obi-Wan countered.

Anneliese ignored him and continued the fight, but Obi-Wan wasn't giving up.

"Don't you think it's strange that she's never told you so much as one thing about him?" he asked.

Anneliese rolled her eyes. "Since you won't shut up about it, I'm taking it you knew him."

Obi-Wan allowed a wry smile. He was getting somewhere. "As I matter of fact, I did."

Again, Anneliese rolled her eyes. "Next you'll be saying you are my father."

The comment was said in sarcasm, but Anneliese didn't realize how right it sounded until it came out of her mouth.

The duel ceased and Anneliese looked back at the smiling face of Obi-Wan in shock. She was floored. He was her...She was his...She refused to believe it, yet there was apart of her that seemed to have always known this to be true. Still, she refused to believe it.

"Liar! How dare you claim such hypocrisy!"

"You're simply fooling yourself if you refuse to believe it Anneliese."

"I want proof!" she demanded. "If you're really who you say you are, you'll have memories. Memories of being with my mother and helping her raise Alexander. I want to see them!"

Obi-Wan didn't believe what he was hearing. "You can't possibly mean that Anneliese! The proof is right in front of you."

"I want to see those memories!" she demanded. She didn't add an emotional "I need to see them" aloud, but Obi-Wan, nevertheless, heard it.

Antellica and her leaving him was something he liked to keep in the past. But how could he be successful in doing this when he had two grown children with her?

The memories of before she left him he kept stored away in a back corner of his mind, never to be gone over again. Yet here he was about to do what he'd promised himself not to ever do again – relive the wonderful times he had with his former wife. But the more he thought about it, the more he knew Anneliese had a right to know. She'd been lied to about this subject her entire life. It was only natural for her to be skeptical despite what her feelings said. So in spite of how painful it was, he went back to that deep, dark corner and began to show Anneliese the happy memories of being Antellica:

Their playful friendship during the Clone Wars; confessing their love for one another for the first time despite its obvious wrongness, what with the birth of the Empire and Jedi being outlawed; their reunion on Tatooine nine months later; Obi-Wan's proposal to her; their wedding; Alexander's birth; their years together on Tatooine raising him; Anneliese's conception; their happiness at being parents again; Alexander saying how he wanted to be just like his father when he grew up and calling him his hero...

Obi-Wan couldn't bear it any longer and neither could Anneliese, but for different reasons. The happiness her parents had shared...it was beautiful. They were beautiful together and the love they'd shared made them glow. But it hadn't lasted. It didn't go on forever as it should have. Why did it have to end?

The old fury Anneliese had felt at being pushed to the limit by Obi-Wan came back, full force. And for no reason at all, she was throwing herself at him again, only this time it was fueled with rage and hatred directed at him.

She'd lost control and continued to do so as she stroke at him. Her anger and frustration at the situation was coming out in powerful strikes. She was getting more and more violent and Obi-Wan feared that if he didn't stop her soon, she'd end up really killing him. But maybe that was her intention.

"Stop now Anneliese," he begged within pars. "You don't have to do this."

Her only response was more pokes and jabs.

He tried again. "I don't want to hurt you child. But if I have to, I will."

In an act that surprised him, Anneliese abruptly deactivated her lightsaber and walked away. Obi-Wan sighed in relief. But there was a small bit of regret that she was walking away. After a moment, he began to follow her. "Anneliese-"

She whipped around. "Stop it, all right! Just-just piss off! And stop following me." She began to walk off again, but stopped at Obi-Wan's question. "Why are you letting me live?"

Anneliese turned back around and gave him a look of disgust. "You're not stupid."

Her mother was a lier. A lying bitch. How dare she lie to her all these years about her father. And they were all in on it. She was disgusted with them all. But there was a tiny part of her that was also hurt. All these years she'd been mourning for the father she never had, only to discover that she had a father and he was very much alive.

The Jedi had seen everything from where they stood at the base of _Star Home_, and felt sorry for Obi-Wan. Thus having a few of them venture over to him.

"We're so sorry Obi-Wan," Tahiri said beside him. "That must've been so hard for you."

"Yeah," Jacen agreed. "And not to be any less sympathetic, but don't you think we should be leaving now?"

With Anneliese landing on Haruun Kal in an escape pod, it was only a matter of time before a slew of Imperial troops arrived. And while any other time they'd have no problem with this, now wasn't the right time being that each of the fifty apprentices had little to no training whatsoever. And they didn't want any repeats of Zonama Sekot to ever happen again.

Obi-Wan knew Jacen was right, yet he didn't know if they should just leave Anneliese or not. He didn't want to; he wanted her to come with him. But he couldn't force her. That was a decision she'd have to make on her own. She was standing off at a distance at the other side of of Grandfather's Shoulder with her back to them. Motioning to the others to go ahead, Obi-Wan slowly approached her. He felt sadness, grief, and confusion admitting from her and it nearly made his heart break.

"Anneliese?" he asked hesitantly.

She didn't respond, but Obi-Wan heard her give a sniff to signify she was crying. It was heart shattering.

"Oh Anneliese." He placed a hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away. "Don't touch me," she hissed.

Obi-Wan was deeply wounded by this, but simply gave a nod and walked away. He returned to the base of the ship to find Tahiri and Danni looking at him hopefully. The looks vanished, however, when they saw his face. He sadly shook his head and walked up the boarding ramp. Tahiri and Danni soon followed.

As the ship was about to take off though, Aaron and Jaina noticed Anneliese coming towards it with her Sith cloak on and hood up. They weren't entirely sure what to do, what with Obi-Wan being in the back. So while Aaron went back to get him, Jaina lowered the boarding ramp and told the Jedi who asked what was going on.

Obi-Wan emerged with Aaron a moment later and made for the boarding ramp, waving off the offers to be accompanied. Anneliese was standing a few paces from the ramp's base with her head down. Obi-Wan strolled down the ramp towards her and upon arriving before her, awaited her to speak.

But when the silence continued and she kept her gaze fixed on the ground, Obi-Wan spoke. "Obviously you wanted something Anneliese."

"I'm coming with you and you're not stopping me."

She stalked past him onto the ramp and pushed aside the Jedi that stood at the ship's entrance ("Hey!), proceeding into the back cabin and slamming the door behind her.

The Jedi all exchanged glances and turned to Obi-Wan as he closed the ramp hatch behind him.

"Is she coming with us than?" Alema asked.

Obi-Wan allowed a slight smile. "It would seem that way, wouldn't it? Make for Dantooine. I will be in the back meditating."


	94. Another Chance at Redemption

Author's Note: Not that long of a chapter. But it's made up for next time. Also, being as there's only five chapters left to this episode (counting this) and an epilogue, I thought I'd announce now that there will be a week and a half to two-week hiatus before Episode IX starts. I know that priorly I've said there would hiatuses and than I'd cancel them soon after, but this time I'm serious. I have the entirety of IX on my PC, but it needs editing. And in addition, I'd also like to dedicate some time to typing up Episode X solely, with that being my only priority. With a combination of that and doing my Senior High School 2,500 word report on John F. Kennedy by the month's end, I may want to finish up this episode quickly for the sake of what's listed above. Hopefully, you guys will understand.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks. Only time will tell.

MissNaye: Yet again, only time will tell.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Tsubasa no Michi: Yeah, it kinda was inevitable. But with her joining the Jedi, that leaves one to wonder which one of them will join the Sith.

Twisted Words: That's revealed in this chapter.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 35: Another Chance at Redemption

No one bothered Anneliese on the two-day journey to Dantooine. However, upon arriving, Danni and Tahiri went to the back of _Star Home_ to inform her. She thanked them, but said nothing more as she left the back cabin. Prior to deboarding, Jacen, Jaina, and Alema each presented their objections and fears to Obi-Wan concerning his daughter. Yet overhearing them, Anneliese stalked into the hallway and down the boarding ramp angrily.

"If it's any cancellation," she hollered up at them before continuing on with her stalk, "I don't like any of you either."

Dantooine was a tranquil world whose inhabitants remained largely unaware of the isolated incidents when the planet drew any sort of galactic attention. The planet was almost entirely undeveloped, an unspoiled world wrapped in clean oceans, with its exposed land covered by olive-hued steppes and open savannas of lavender grasses. Two moons orbited the world.

The planet was rich with life, filled with pleasant grasslands, rivers and lakes. It was an end point of Myto's Arrow – a hyperspace route that was located in the outer rim, the other endpoint of which was in Obtrexta Sector. The planet hosted a small population spread amongst single-family settlements and small communities with large land holdings. Its sentient population consisted primarily of simple human farmers, though Dantooine was also home to the primitive Dantarirace, a species of near-humans that originated on the planet. Native wildlife included the Kath hound, the iriaz, and the fabool. A normal day on Dantooine lasted 25 standard hours, and a local year, 378 days.

Dantooine had several continents. There was an equatorial one that was connected to a larger northern one and a south polar one by slender land bridges, as well as a disconnected northeastern continent. It was on this continent that the Jedi and natives of Zonama Sekot had based themselves. Luxurious grasslands of lush green inhabited the continent's entirety, and Anneliese wasn't about to miss out on strolling amongst its beauty.

Leaving _Star Home_ behind, she walked through the high grasses that occupied the field. For how long she walked, she did not know. She just needed to get away from those goody-two-shoes, I'm better than you, Jedi. She still didn't know why she'd come with them – why she'd come with him. Was it because she was angry at her mother and wanted to get back at her by leaving again, but for good this time? Or was it that she really wanted to get to know her father and build a relationship with him?

She didn't know, though would have to figure it out eventually. Yet for now, she wouldn't think about it. She didn't feel like dealing with her emotions just than.

Obi-Wan left _Star Home_ with a fleeting glance at Anneliese's retreating form before leading the Jedi onwards to the Zonama Sekotan natives' tepee surrounded village. On the way through the high fields, the Solo twins and Alema continued to argue their point about Anneliese.

"She's an Imperial. She tried to kill you. And she's Antellica Grievous' daughter."

"But she's also _my_ daughter, Jaina," Obi-Wan stressed. "Remember that."

A moment of silence commenced until Alema spoke up. "I can't believe you were actually married to that evil woman."

Obi-Wan sighed. At times he felt the same. "Antellica, though she isn't anymore, was once a kind-hearted person full of love who turned to the dark side, twice betraying both the Sith and Jedi. The dark side can do many things to you in the sense of change. Which is why we, as Jedi, stress the importance of staying with the light."

"But Anneliese wields both the light and the dark," Jacen pointed out. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I'm not sure," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. "But I intend to find out."

Nothing more was said as they continued their way to the village. The Jedi were greeted warmly by the Ferroans and Langhesies as they arrived and told to make themselves comfortable, which they did. But as the happiness of the tribe went on around him, Obi-Wan felt something was missing to it all: Anneliese. Excusing himself, he left the gathering to find his daughter. She was in the same grassy field from earlier and crying softly.

Though Anneliese wanted to escape her emotions, in the long run she couldn't. She'd eventually found herself collapsing to the ground and crying with grief.

The sight of Anneliese crying filled Obi-Wan's own heart with dolor. He was hesitate to offer any comfort however, for fear that she'd simply dismiss him. Taking a swallow, he reached out his hand and placed it onto her shoulder. As half expected, she jerked away from his touch.

"Stop touching me!" she yelled. "What have I told you about _not_ touching me?!"

Anneliese gave another yell and threw herself onto her back, still crying.

"I'm sorry Anneliese," he said softly, the hurt evident in his tone. "I was just trying to offer you my comfort...but I can see you don't want it. I'll leave you in peace."

He turned to leave, sadly, but Anneliese stopped him with her voice. "Wait!" He turned back to see her standing before him, her eyes locked with his. They simply looked at one another a moment before she flung herself into his arms, crying. Obi-Wan caught her with a sigh and gently held her.

"Oh Obi-Wan," she sobbed. "I'm just so confused. I don't know what to do with myself or where I belong. I feel so lost."

"There, there child," he soothed. "It's alright. I'm here. Just as I always will be."

Obi-Wan continued to comfort Anneliese as she got a hold of her emotions and they returned to the tribe gathering together.

While most of the Jedi looked at her suspiciously, some even coldly, Alema in particular, Danni and Tahiri got up to warmly greet her and introduced themselves, causing Anneliese to seat herself next to them with Obi-Wan and join in the eating.

Much discussion was done. At first, it was mainly with Danni and Tahiri trying to break the ice with everyone else to get them to talk to Anneliese. When that didn't work, they told her about themselves and their lives before and after being a Jedi. Likewise, Anneliese did the same. Tenel Ka recognized the gold cuff on Anneliese's arm as a symbol of the most respected of the Dathomiri Witches and asked about it. This led to Anneliese telling them about her time on Dathomir, the conception of Allana, and the war with the Nightsisters. Everyone was floored upon learning she was a mother, but none more than Obi-Wan. She expressed her need to keep Allana safe from the war among other things, and as time went by, the other Jedi began to warm up to her as well. Tenel Ka expressed wanting to meet her baby cousin sometime, and Anneliese didn't mind. In fact, Obi-Wan decided they could stop by Dathomir before going to the Jedi's new base on Hoth the next day. Only thing was, when they got there, five-month-old Allana was gone.

The distress signals that had been sent out from _Spiraled Avalanche_ before it exploded under heavy pirate attacks were received by all seven Sith teams, the entire Imperial navy, and various Imperial bases on nearby worlds. Anneliese's escape pod had also been traced to Haruun Kal. But since Hilton and Lacovia were closer to last Mid Rim world, and Luke and Leila to Antellica and the pirates, they and the surrounding Imperial forces were the only ones who did anything concerning them. The rest of the Sith went on to complete their hunts.

With the help of the Skywalker twins and their troops, Antellica took care of the pirates just fine, with each of their ships being blasted out of the sky.

Upon the oldest Grievous-Skywalker twins arrival on Haruun Kal, however, they discovered that Anneliese wasn't there. The escape pod was, but she wasn't. They went to see the Korun tribe about the matter and nearly died at the massive show of force the Force sensitive natives brought to them. The only info the two could get out of them was that a few days before a presence with the mixtures of both the light and the dark sides of the Force had come to the planet, but they were no longer here. It wasn't until Hilton reached into the mind of the chief that they discovered what exactly happened that day. He and his older twin were chased out of the jungles as consequence, but were able to escape the planet fine under the cover of the Balawai's rage against the Korun for coming into their city. The Imperials left the two rivaling cultures to fight their own battle.

Lacovia and Hilton took it as it was. They called out to Anneliese; she ignored them. Their cousin was lost. Antellica took her daughter's betrayal worst of everyone and went to Dathomir to retrieve her granddaughter. Augwynne urged Antellica to let go of her daughter and let her follow her own path. But that had only enraged Antellica to no end, and the two of them got wrapped in a vicious duel.

Augwynne almost killed Antellica, however, stopped herself at the last minute. She allowed Antellica to take Allana notwithstanding her better judgment, but with a message.

"Take care of her. And be a better mother figure to her than you were your own daughter."

Antellica than returned to Coruscant with Allana and began to raise her while grieving for her own daughter.

Anneliese was furious when she learned this and began to get overcome with rage. Seeing as this was one of her dark side flaws, the Jedi and Augwynne attempted to calm her.

"Calm yourself Anneliese," Augwynne commanded.

"You just let her take my child!" she screamed. "How could you?!"

In the height of her fury, Anneliese screamed about going to Coruscant and taking her daughter back. But Obi-Wan stopped her before she could even attempt to try.

"This is probably what she wanted: for you to go charging back to Coruscant to take her back, only to have a trap ready for you. It's better to just leave things the way they are until the time is right. Yet know this Anneliese: you'll see her again someday soon. Never doubt that."


	95. Ambush at Hoth and Across the Stars

Author's Note: Only three chapters till the end! _The Empire Strikes Back_ makes a cameo in this chapter. That, of course, is owned by George Lucas, which everyone knows.

MissNaye: The war will end in Ch. 39 a lot differently then most think.

Twisterblake: The conclusion will shock you. Seriously.

Twisted Words: Well, actually she kinda did. How it was figured out was when Lacovia and Hilton didn't find her on Haruun Kal and then called out to her after escaping the Koruns and discovering what happened in the Anneliese/Jedi confrontation. She didn't answer so they assumed she was gone.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks, but aren't you supposed to sleep every night?

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 36: Ambush at Hoth and Across the Stars

25.0 Imperial Era

Hoth was the sixth planet in the remote system of the same name. It was a world of snow and ice, surrounded by three moons. The five planets closest to the system's sun were lifeless, and a wide, chaotic asteroid belt occupied the only remaining orbit in the system.

Located in the Granita Cluster, in the Hoth Quadrant of the Anout Sector and along the Ison Corridor, Hoth orbited a same name blue-white star on a wide elliptical orbit. Beyond the planet was a large asteroid belt, known as the Hoth Asteroid Field, from which small asteroids regularly broke off, crashing into Hoth's surface as meteorites. The planet consisted of a molten metallic core with dichotomous crust. Its entire surface was covered with water, although most of it was frozen. But in various locations, volcanic fissures opened up steam vents, depositing rocks and minerals in darker patches on the glacier plains. A few mountain chains penetrated the permanent ice shelves, and some of these were geologically active. Massive oceanic movements beneath the southern hemisphere and tidal pull of Hoth's three moons caused regular seismic activity, resulting in a constantly shifting landscape of caves and tunnels.

Its orbit and axial tilt resulted in consistently icy weather patterns. Day time temperatures reached levels unbearable to most species and rarely rose above freezing, even in the planet's relatively mild equatorial regions. The gale force winds and intense storms that regularly wracked the wind swept tundra magnified the extreme cold of Hoth.

Along Hoth's equator was a deep fissure in the ice shelves, reaching hundreds of meters into what seems like another world. In this place, never exposed to Hoth's blue-white sun, is a cache of lumni-spice, a rare fungal grow valued by the galaxy's criminal element.

Rarely seen creatures in Hoth's wilderness include land scavengers known colloquially as Hoth dogs, a creature known as a dragon-slug, and small rodents such as snowmice and ice scrabblers. Other indigenous lifeforms included the wampa ice creature and the tauntaun.

In Hoth's southern hemisphere, a massive ocean chums underneath the pressure of ice. The tidal pull of Hoth's three moons cause fissures in the ice-layers, sending jets of ocean water into the freezing Hoth air. The intense cold freezes these jets into spires of ice, suspending primitive ocean algae in these tall columns. A species of annelids called ice worms carved their way through the ice to feed on the algae, leaving behind odd tiny holes.

It was on the northern edge of the only livable temperate band near the equator, under the mountains of Clabburn Ranger and just south of the Nev Ice Flow, that the the Jedi's Echo Base was built. Originally constructed for the Second Rebel Alliance, production had began on it immediately following the destruction of Death Star I. An old smuggler by the name of Kem Monnon, in addition he was the chief of Rebel Alliance Corps of Engineers and a Major, had been dispatched to Hoth to plan and oversee the construction. It was ready in two years, by which time the rebels had been eliminated.

Two large bay doors provided main entrances at the north and south ends of the mountain range. The hanger was one of the first segments built to allow for the steady in flow of resources. The facility included perimeter defense trenches, static anti-infantry and vehicle emplacements, the V-150 Planet Defender Ion Cannon, orcta planetary com-scan unit, theater shield, medical wing, and command center. At its height, the base could house close to 10,000 personnel and the hanger was large enough to simultaneously contain at least 100 ships. But nowhere near that amount based themselves within these walls presently. A total of 121 Jedi and 4 star cruisers – _Jedi Wind_, _Solo Fire_, _Star Home_, and the _Millennium Falcon_ – were all it held.

The Jedi patrolled the terrain surrounding Echo Base with mounted tauntaun riders and regularly warded off wampa attacks. The perimeter of the base was dotted with scout posts labeled "Echo Stations."

Two male tauntaun riders were currently circling the southeast side of the base for their daily run; the younger of these scouts lost in thought about the events that had led up to them being here.

It'd been one and a half standard years exactly since Anneliese Grievous, or Kenobi as she now preferred, joined the ranks of the Jedi. And though she still wielded a mixture of the light _and_ dark sides, she was pure Jedi in character. Aaron had to admit that while at first he wasn't so sure about her, now he couldn't believe he'd ever doubted her. She and all of the Jedi – even Alema – were good friends, and it was actually nice to see Obi-Wan be happy and smile for a change instead of being serious all the time. She'd definitely brought back the lighthearted and witty Obi-Wan that was famous during the Clone Wars. Indeed, Anneliese had brought many changes for the better to the New Jedi Order. As a former Sith, she was able to give them insight into the hearts and minds of how a dark sider thought and acted in any situation. She was quite the devious butterfly when she wanted to be.

"You're thinking about that particular red-haired beauty again, aren't you Aaron?" Jacen half-teased, half-reproved as he rode up beside him on his own tauntaun. "In spite of the fact that your mind should be on what you're doing, not your romance-filled fantasies."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Shut up Jacen. It's not like you don't think about her that way too."

"Anneliese and I share a wonderful friendship," Jacen said plainly.

"That you wish could be more," Aaron added.

Jacen allowed a sly grin. "I think you're talking more of yourself in that aspect Aaron. You and I both know about your little thing for redheads. Does the name Tenel Ka ring a bell in your overheated romantic mind?"

Aaron blushed somewhat, but quickly lowered his head to hide it. When he was younger, he'd had a crush on the ex-Hapan Queen for some time after they met. However, those feelings had long passed.

Jacen flashed him a triumphant grin worthy enough of their father. "You see little brother, two can play the same game."

Aaron took the bait. "Oh yeah? Than what about Callista?"

He realized his mistake all too late and quickly put his head down apologizing. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

A trace of sadness had come to Jacen's eyes at the mention of his murdered Jedi friend, but his face remained neutral. "As she's dead that doesn't really count."

A moment of awkward silence went by before Aaron spoke again. "Well, I still think you like Anneliese."

Jacen now looked amused. "You can think whatever you want little brother. That doesn't, however, mean what you think is true."

With a wink, Jacen rode off on his tauntaun and Aaron rolled his eyes at his brother's departing form.

It was a running joke among the Jedi about Jacen and Aaron's infatuation of Anneliese. Yet it was always spoken of in jest. No one thought any ill will of it, not even Anneliese herself. There was nothing wrong with a good healthy crush, or so Obi-Wan said.

Finishing his circle of the area, Aaron followed Jacen's distant form back to Echo Base. Upon arriving it was to find the hanger empty all of life. This was odd, being as there was usually always at least a small group of Padawans inside coming, going, or waiting for a flying lesson. The hanger didn't look right dead. Something was obviously wrong.

Returning their tauntauns where the creatures were strapped when not in use, the Solo brothers reached out with the Force to discover the location of everyone.

It was the command center. Definitely not good.

Quickening their pace, Aaron and Jacen made for the CC at a run. Inside, they found a large crowd of Jedi – apprentices, knights, masters – all bunched up together in the moderately large room. A mixture of disconcert, upset, and fear is what was coming from everyone. The brothers had to maneuver their way through to make it to the front of the crowd. There, they found the Senior members of the Order, plus Anneliese, looking over computer screens and tactical readouts.

"Hey, what's going on?" Aaron asked. "What's with all the chaos?"

His questions weren't immediately answered, but it wasn't from the sense of being ignored. The Senior Jedi six-some and Anneliese were simply to engrossed in what they were doing.

"Definitely checks out," Anneliese abruptly said, taking off a pair of headsets she'd been wearing. "It's an Imperial code all right."

"What's an Imperial code?" Jacen asked, ignoring the fearful whispers of some nearby Padawans.

"It's a good bet the empire knows we're here than," Danni said to Anneliese.

"Especially with the way that probe droid was eying the base," Alema added.

"What probe droid?" Aaron practically demanded.

Obi-Wan sighed. "We better start the evacuation..."

* * *

After the events of Haruun Kal, the Sith hunt for the Jedi ceased. Instead, thousands of Imperial probe droids were scattered across the galaxy to look for them, and the military presence in all sections of space increased. They would not allow the Jedi to strike on a whim again; this time it would be the other way around. The Korun culture on Haruun Kal had been massacred when they refused to tell the Sith anymore information about the Jedi that had been hiding therein and Imperial control was directly taken over the planet, causing most of the Balawai to flee. An Imperial base and prison was recently built on Dathomir, giving the semi-retired Antellica Grievous something to do in between raising her nearly two-year-old granddaughter during its construction. Upon Antellica's relinquishing from the position of the Navy's Supreme Commander, she was succeeded by Luke. 

A few light years south of the Granita Cluster in the outer rim, the Super Star Destroyer _Darkness_ and the empire's dreaded space station Death Star II were slowly continuing their sweep of the region side by side. The squadron of _Darkness_, belonging to Supreme Commander Skywalker, were flanked all about them; the single piloted TIE fighters swarming this way and that among the stars of space. The Supreme Commander himself was standing on the bridge of his Star Destroyer, gazing out at these very same stars. He was donned entirely in black with a cloak over his head that left some of his face in shadow. It was obvious to anyone who this was even if you couldn't recognize the obscured face under the cloak. His characteristics and traits were so like the emperor's that you had to know it was his first son.

The reason why the Supreme Commander's squadron and the Death Star II were together in this part of space was because of the massive probe droid reports that were coming from this area. Most of the reports were less than fragments, but necessary to be followed up. So far they hadn't had much success with any of them, but Luke knew it was only a matter of time before this changed.

* * *

This was getting quite repugnant, Lacovia thought irritably from where she sat, throwing down a report sheet from the last planet the probes had found suspicious activity on. It turns out it was nothing more than a secret drug house. 

The Second Imperial Princess was aboard _Darkness_ with her older half-brother in another part of the bridge, going over the probe droid readouts with the ship's Captain, Maximilian Veers. She, meanwhile, was acting as General in conjunction to her job as Emperor's Hand.

Balling up the useless sheet of paper, she threw it at a nearby guard to throw in the trash. She'd just about had enough of this – they'd been going at this forever – and was just considering going back to the royal quarters to meditate when another report came in. Only this one was different. It was coming from the Hoth system, and though this also was little more than a fragment, it was the best deem they had thus far. The visuals indicated humans patrolling the entrance of a building. A closer look showed that these scouts had lightsabers clipped to their belts.

Lacovia grinned evilly and gave a nod to Captain Veers. They had them.

With a reaffirming nod of his own, he called out to Admiral Kendal Ozzel who just happened to be walking by at that very moment with some other personnel.

He stopped at being called and made towards them. "Yes Captain. Princess," he added after a moment. She gave a nod in reply.

"We have something sir," Veers reported. "The report is only fragment, but from a probe droid in the Hoth system. And the best deem we've have."

Ozzel didn't seem impressed. "We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy. I want proof not leads."

"The visuals indicate lifeforms patrolling the entrance of what appears to be a base of some sort," Veers argued.

"With lightsabers on their belts," Lacovia added.

"It could mean anything," Ozzel dismissed. "If we followed up every lead-"

"But sir, the Hoth system is very desolate and remote," Veers pointed out. "Why else would lifeforms with lightsabers be there if not to hide?"

"Why indeed."

Everyone in the vicinity whipped around except Lacovia. She'd both seen and sensed Luke walk over while Veers and Ozzel were arguing.

"I take it since you're sniping with one another you've found something."

"Yes Supreme Commander." Veers hastily showed Luke a visual of the building.

The young Sith smiled beneath his hooded cloak. "That's it. The Jedi are there."

Ozzel wasn't going to let down so easily though. "Supreme Commander: there are so many uncharted settlements," he explained the way one might speak to a toddler. Luke's eyes blazed beneath the obscurity the hood provided. Ozzel had been one of the many displeased about Antellica's early retirement, only to be replaced by someone half her age who didn't have as much experience in the field as some. "It could be smugglers," he continued. "It could be-"

"That is the system," Luke cut across sharply. "And I'm sure Anneliese is with them. Set all courses for the Hoth system. Princess General," Lacovia rose, "prepare your men."

* * *

Since the Imperials were right outside the cluster that contained the Hoth system, it didn't take long to get there. Upon arriving, Emperor Skywalker was alerted on board the Death Star II and Luke in the royal quarters of _Darkness_, only there was a bit of a problem. 

"Com-scan has detected an energy shield on the sixth planet of the Hoth system," Lacovia reported. "The shield is strong enough to deflect any bombardments."

Father and son both growled, though it was the emperor who spoke. "The Jedi are alert to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of light speed too close to the system. But it is no matter. They will not escape. General: Prepare your troops for a surface attack. And Supreme Commander: Be ready to fire at any escaping ships."

"Yes, my lord." Lacovia and Luke bowed themselves out of the transmission, leaving the emperor to deal with Ozzel.

The Admiral promptly answered the call from Emperor Skywalker. "Your Majesty. The fleet has moved out of lightspeed and is preparing to-" He suddenly stopped speaking at Vader's Force grip on his throat and began to claw at it to try and give himself air. The Dark Lord only tightened the hold and the bridge of _Darkness_ began to vibrate with his fury. Luke smirked as he watched nearby in passing.

"You have failed me for the last time admiral," Vader growled. "Captain Veers."

The Captain stepped forward. "Yes, my lord."

"Make ready to land your troops beyond their energy shield," the emperor commanded, "and deploy the fleet so that nothing gets off the system. You are in command now Admiral Veers."

"Thank you emperor," the newly stated admiral said as Ozzel crumpled to the floor in death.

* * *

Collecting the few necessities that were needed, the Jedi began evacuating the planet one by one in the only four cruisers the Order possessed in Echo Base's hanger. It was enough though. Since _Jedi Wind_ was the largest, sixty-three apprentices plus seven masters were able to fit on that. Next came _Star Home_, which was able to hold forty-two apprentices plus Tenel Ka, Obi-Wan, and Tahiri. After that came _Solo Fire_, holding Jaina, Alema, and Danni. And finally, the _Millennium Falcon_, holding Jacen, Aaron, and Anneliese. 

To ensure evacuating the planet without any of the ships being destroyed, for the Jedi sensed when the Imperials arrived outside the system, someone would have to stay behind to keep the planet's energy shield activated, while another fired cover shots with the Planet Defender Ion Cannon. Anneliese volunteered to keep the shield up while Aaron would fire the cannon shots. That left Jacen and the _Millennium Falcon_ to remain behind with them.

With the combination of the energy shield and the Ion Cannon, _Jedi Wind_ and _Star Home_ were successfully able to flee the planet and quickly make the jump to lightspeed. _Solo Fire_ soon followed, yet not before taking down one of the fleet's smaller Star Destroyers on the way. This left behind Anneliese, Jacen, and Aaron. With the energy shield deactivated and the ion cannon ceasing fire, the planet was being bombarded with heavy fire. Lacovia's Imperial ground force, Blizzard Force – consisting of AT-TAs, HAVw A5 Juggernauts, AT-STs, AT-ARs, and a legion of snowtroopers – was able to reach and destroy, with relative ease, the base's shield generator. Soon after, the AT-AT walkers secured the frozen plains, the snowtrooper task force began deploying troops via airmobile tactics.

The base was being overwhelmed by the Blizzard Force team as Anneliese and Aaron quickly made for the _Millennium Falcon_. Jacen was already waiting for them, with the ship fired up and shooting at snowtroopers as they poured out gun fire from their rifles. Lacovia, meanwhile, was deflecting the ships' fire back at its source, bringing some damage to the _Falcon_. Anneliese and Aaron entered the hanger at a run, lightsabers lit and deflecting the bolts that were suddenly coming at them upon entrance. Lacovia and Anneliese's eyes locked briefly before Anneliese ran up and jumped onto the _Falcon's_ rising boarding ramp with Aaron right behind. The last sight they saw before the ramp closed and they began to rise in the air was Lacovia's eyes, cold with hatred, spitting out the word "traitor".

Picking themselves off the floor, Anneliese and Aaron ran into the cockpit to find Jacen at the pilot's controls, while the Solo's protocol droid, C-3PO (earlier owned by the Skywalkers, but eventually gotten rid of on Corellia because of its whinny personality that was deemed as too annoying to remain in the Royal Imperial Court; the droid was found, battered and broken, in a Coronet junk pile by Aaron and Jaina soon after, but they fixed and then made it something of an assistant to the still-together mother, father, Wookie, and children family; this occurrence was in 12 IE with the Solo kids being ages 7 and 5) manned the copilot's. Aaron was soon pushing the droid, nicknamed 3PO, out of the way however, and taking its place at the copilot controls. Anneliese sat down in the passenger's seat behind the pilot.

As they flew out of the conquered Echo Base, it was to find a slew of AT-ATs outside the building. Upon seeing the ship, the Imperial walkers opened fire. The Solo brothers were able to have the _Falcon_ evade most of the shots, but not all. They were hit a few times, nevertheless, it didn't seem like any major damage had come to the ship...until they fled the planet and attempted to jump into hyperspace that is. It turned out that one of the shots Aaron had said "not to worry about" had damaged the hyperdrive generator. It was currently impossible to go to lightspeed.

While Aaron and Jacen went in the back to work on the hyperdrive, Anneliese was left in control of the ship, dodging laser blasts from the pursuing Imperial forces. She was too occupied trying not to get the ship damaged anymore than it was already that she didn't even realize she was leading the ship into Hoth's asteroid field until it was abruptly stroke on the hull by a large one. The brothers quickly ran back to the cockpit to see what was going on. Upon discovering, Aaron announced that this was the perfect opportunity to lose the Imperials. They wouldn't dare follow them into an asteroid field.

How wrong Aaron was. Not only did the Imperials follow them into the asteroid field, but tracked them once they found a large one to briefly hide in.

The _Millennium Falcon_ was eventually chased out of the field with the Imperials hot in pursuit. The continued fire from Star Destroyers and TIE fighters was not doing the ship any good. It was getting so bad, that if they didn't pull out of the line of fire, one more direct hit would destroy the ship. Seeing as they had no other alternative, Jacen turned the ship around to make it seem to the Star Destroyer that was pursuing them, _Avenger II,_ that they were moving to attack them. The Imperials bought it and put up their shields. But the ship vanished from all Imperial scopes a moment later, much to their confusion. No ship that small had a cloaking device. But the _Millennium Falcon_ hadn't cloaked itself, merely attached onto the Star Destroyer's rear side.

The Imperials continued their scan of the area and found nothing, much to the Emperor and Supreme Commander's fury. Assuming that the ship had jumped to lightspeed, all commands were alerted and the fleet deployed.

For their next move, the Jedi decided to use the standard Imperial procedure of the Star Destroyers dumping their garbage before they jumped into hyperspace to their advantage. Detaching the ship the moment this took place, they floated away with the garbage and made for Bespin, a planet in the outer rim that was run by an old friend of the Solo family.


	96. Suspicions

Author's Note: Not that long of a chapter, but actually this is the longest that's left of the chapters and epilogue. Enjoy!

MissNaye: Thanks. Piett will be back briefly next episode if I remember correctly, but with a bigger role in X.

Twisted Words: Your teacher seems pretty cool. To the question: Yes, Drake and his triplet siblings will return with a bang next episode.

Jakiray Axmiris: Yup, it's Lando. Thanks for the review. As for Anneliese, I'll only say that this episode ends a lot differently then most probably assume it will.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 37: Suspicions

Secluded from galactic turmoil by its location in a little-visited sector of space, Bespin was an astrophysical rarity. An immense gas giant surrounded by a number of moons, the planet contained a band of habitable atmosphere among its endless clouds.

Bespin was the principle planet in the system of the same name, located in the Ison Corridor. Among the other worlds orbiting Bespin's star were Miser, Orin, and the Velser's Ring asteroid belt.

The Bespin planet was about 118,000 kilometers in diameter. Like most gas giants, it had a solid core made of metal – in this case rethin – followed by layers of metallic gases. Most of the layers of gas were poisonous, and the pressure and temperature were far above what a human could tolerate. But approximately 150 kilometers down from space, and 30 kilometers deep, was Bespin's Life Zone, where temperature, oxygen, and pressure were perfect for the existence of human life. It was in this level that Cloud City, a Tibanna gas-mining colony, was built. The main hazard of Bespin's bio-zone came from its intense storms that built up and traveled across the surface.

The clouds of Bespin held many treasures. The rarified gases were known to produce rare and valuable gems. Bespin was also a natural factory for spin-sealed Tibaana gas. Though Tibanna could be found elsewhere, the industrial process of spin-sealing it for certain applications was very costly. The dynamics of Bespin's atmosphere naturally spin-sealed the Tibanna at an atomic level, making prospecting for gas on Bespin an often-lucrative venture.

The planet completed a day every 12 standard hours and its year was equivalent to that of 14 standard years. Bespin was home to a number of native lifeforms, none of them intelligent. Among these were beldons, velkers, glowers, and pinks.

Besides Cloud City, Bespin was also home to two other, not as successful cities: Tibannopolis and Urnorgrad. But though it wasn't officially said as such, Cloud City was considered the capital of the planet. Receiving its name from the fact that it was suspended high above the actual planet, it consisted of 392 levels, in addition to a top-side surface-level concourse. The level arrangements were as follows:

Levels 1-50: Luxury hotels and casinos, which made the city famous throughout the Outer Rim

Levels 51-100: Upscale housing areas

Levels 101-120: Administrative offices

Levels 121-160: Port Town, an area which held an infamous reputation

Levels 161-220: General housing of the facility's workers

Levels 221-280: Factories

Levels 281-370: Gas refineries and miner's quarters

Levels 371-392: Contained the 36,000 repulsorlift engines and tractor beam that kept the city afloat and in position.

The last official counting placed Cloud City's population at 5,427,080 – not counting droids. With Bespin's total population somewhere around 6 million, this made the city the decidedly largest of all colonies on Bespin.

Points of interest on the planet included the BesGas Three, a tibanna gas refinery, built shortly before the Clone Wars, on the left of Cloud City; and Floating health spas. These stations were shaped like hot-air balloons and floated gently in the Bespin sky, servicing visitors with several relaxing activities, one of which was breathing cloud vapor – it was said to have some sort of therapeutic value. Most of the floating spas hung around Cloud City, from where they could be accessed.

Anneliese gazed out the cockpit viewport of the _Millennium Falcon_ out at them in mild fascination, before tiredly turning her eyes back to the Solo brothers. They were having a bit of a problem landing at the city. Aaron had said it would be a piece of cake getting a hold of their dad's old friend, Lando Calrissian, the Baron Administrator of Bespin, but as Anneliese was now seeing, that was easier said than done.

"No, I don't have a landing permit," Aaron was saying into the ship's comm to a personnel at Bespin's Security Force league. He and Jacen had switched place in piloting. "I'm trying to reach Lando Calrissian."

At that moment, Aaron began to move the _Falcon_ out of its flanked position from the two ships that had begun flying them escort when he started conversing with the security personnel. They opened fire in response.

Aaron yelled desperately into the comm. "No, no wait a minute! Let me explain!"

"You will not deviate from your present course," the voice over the comm said in a hard tone.

Anneliese had grown quite frustrated with their difficulty to land. "I thought you knew this person?" she reprimanded of the two.

Jacen looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Well, he and dad did have a little bit of a falling out a few years ago over..."

"That was more than a few years ago!" Aaron cut across, his tone crisp. "It's been a long time since that. I'm sure he's forgotten about it by now."

"And if he hasn't?" Jacen pressed.

Aaron was saved the choice of responding by the personnel speaker coming back online over the comm. "Permission granted to land on platform 324."

Aaron grinned. "Thank you." After turning off the comm, he turned back to Jacen and Anneliese. "See what'd I tell you? Nothing to worry about."

"Whose worried?" Anneliese asked sarcastically.

Continuing to be flanked by the two ships, the _Millennium Falcon_ touched down on the specified landing platform and deboarded. No was there to meet them, which instantly had Anneliese suspicious.

"I don't like this," she stated.

Aaron let out a frustrated sigh, though it was Jacen who spoke. "What would you like?" he asked with somewhat of an edge.

"Well they did let us land," 3P0 said beside her, obviously trying to make light of the situation.

"No 3PO, you stay on board," Aaron instructed, turning to the droid. "You too R2," he added, for the astromech droid (another prior possession of the Skywalkers, dumped along with C-3PO on Corellia at the same time) was trying to sneak its way around Aaron's other side to avoid being seen. It gave a disappointed beep at being caught. Aaron offered the droid an apologetic smile. "Sorry guys. But I don't want the two of you getting in the way. And you have a knack for doing that."

"Actually, I think it's better that R2 and I stay on board," 3PO said, suddenly cheerful. "We'll be safe there. Come along R2."

R2 gave another disappointed beep, but the two droids went back up the ship ramp as ordered.

At the sight of Anneliese's still suspicious face, Jacen sighed. "Look, don't worry. I'm sure everything is going to be just fine. You trust us, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she said with a smile.

"Than trust that nothing bad is going to happen," Jacen urged.

"And besides," Aaron added from the other side of her, "even if it does, we have our lightsabers."

Anneliese returned his quip with a sly smile. "That we do."

Their dry laughter was broken by the sound of a blast door opening. The three young people turned to see a nicely dressed, dark-skinned man of his early forties approaching them with a smile.

"Well if it isn't my two favorite nephews!" he exclaimed good-heartedly. "Come here you two! You've grown up since last I saw you."

Aaron and Jacen both smiled and beckoned Anneliese to follow them. "Hey Lando!" Aaron greeted. The brothers each gave the man a large hug and Lando continued to appraise their appearances. "Yeah, it doesn't take long, does it? For kids to grow up. Of course, I don't speak from experience..."

It was than that he came to notice Anneliese. She was hanging back a bit.

"Ah, what's this boys? Brought yourselves a lady friend with you? To which does this lovely lady belong to?"

Jacen and Aaron both laughed. "She's just a friend Lando," Jacen assured. "Nothing more."

A light gleamed in Lando's eyes. "Ah, but for how long will that last?"

Jacen lowed his head in what seemed to be embarrassment while Aaron looked at Anneliese thoughtfully. Lando had stuck out a hand for Anneliese to shake. She took it with a smile.

"Welcome! I'm Lando Calrissian, the Baron Administrator of this facility. And who might you be?"

"Anneliese," she answered simply.

"Welcome Anneliese." He took the hand that she'd shaken his with and gently kissed it. Jacen and Aaron moved as one towards her in jealously. Aaron took her right hand while Jacen took her left out of Lando's.

That same gleam came back to his eyes. "There, you see? You're already fighting over her. Let me know when any big duke outs happen," he added to Anneliese. "I'm a big fan of those."

Anneliese laughed at his wit. "I'll do that."

The brothers looked slightly embarrassed over their behavior and let go of Anneliese's hands. With a playful pout, she reached out and took Lando's and stuck out her tongue at the boys. Lando grinned. "I like this girl!"

Lando informed them that he'd just been on his way to a Sabacc Tournament at the Holiday Towers Hotel and Casino when they arrived and invited them to come along.

"But we're not of age to be in a casino," Anneliese pointed out.

Lando winked. "You are if I say you are."

Lando lied the underage trio into the casino by saying they'd all just turned twenty-one a few days ago and were here to celebrate their new legal status. No one questioned the Baron Administrator so no ID was needed. After all, why would he lie?

While Jacen and Aaron drank glasses of alcohol to their hearts content and played various games of cards and sabacc, winning and losing money left and right, Anneliese idly strolled the casino, sipping a glass of non intoxicated water. She'd had to use various mind tricks to accomplish this, for whenever she'd asked for the requested, the waiters would just snort and spike it anyway. She shared the same disdain for alcohol her mother did.

She was mainly scooping out the place for anything suspicious. Despite how nice Lando had been to them, Anneliese still couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right. She wished she could share these concerns with Jacen and Aaron, but they were too busy getting wasted, and Lando, what did he know of the Force?

So she continued her stroll of the casino, steering the men who wanted to buy her drinks away with mind tricks and continuing to look for something, anything out of place here. And than she spotted it. A young woman with short black hair and a beautiful face was throwing back shots of alcohol like it was nothing while she played pool with a bunch of rough neck guys. They seemed to be impressed with her, and kept buying her more drinks, which she continued to down perpetually. The shocking thing was that they didn't seem to have any effect on her whatsoever. The men kept buying the drinks and she kept downing them. Eventually, they grew tired of this, so she moved onto the next pool table where she was welcomed with much applause. The woman looked in Anneliese's direction briefly before yelling at the guys to get her some more shots.

The woman looked strangely familiar to Anneliese for some reason, but she wasn't sure why. Dismissing this as her imagination wanting to recognize someone here, she walked off and joined Lando at his table of friends.

The foursome finally left the casino in the early hours of the morning and returned to Lando's house. In the time they were gone, he'd had his maids set up rooms for each of them and promised to have the _Falcon_ looked at later that day.

Anneliese collapsed down onto the bed in her chosen room in exhaustion. It had been a long day. Hopefully, the next wouldn't be as eventful.


	97. Wielder of the Light and the Dark

Author's Note: Though short, this is the most important chapter of the episode. You'll see why as you read.

arzum: It'll be revealed in this chapter.

Twisterblake: Thanks for both reviews.

Twisted Words: Read arzum's response concerning the woman.

Jakiray Axmiris: Okay, Jakiray. From now on, I'll just call you that.

G-Anakin 13: No, that won't be in this; the reason I had a carbon frozen man in Garduelle the Hutt's palace.

* * *

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 38: Wielder of the Light and the Dark

Anneliese woke a few hours later with the feeling that something wasn't right. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a brightly lit room she didn't recognize. She sighed. Why did this not surprise her?

Abruptly sitting up on the bed, she turned to her left to see Lacovia sitting on a bed beside hers. Donned in a light green knot-tied top and black capris with sandal heels that showed off her manicured toes, her cousin's long dirty blonde hair was pulled back with an equally green headband and face a lit with a sarcastic smirk.

"A little young to be at a casino, don't you think?"

Anneliese felt like she was being hit with a ton of bricks as she realized the recognition. "That was you I saw at the casino!"

Lacovia's smirk became more pronounced. "Well I am twenty-one after all; something you and your friends aren't."

At the mention of Aaron and Jacen, Anneliese glared. "Where are they? What have you done with them? If you've hurt them-"

"They're safe..."

Anneliese turned to see her uncle standing in the room's, a sleeping chamber of some sort, entrance.

"...for the moment."

He proceeded into the room with a flank of stormtroopers in tow. Anneliese was on her feet instantly, glaring at him.

"Whatever beef you have, it's with me uncle; not them. So keep them out of this!"

"They're Jedi," he said plainly. "They're every part of this. But strangely enough, you aren't. Not fully anyway. You continue to wield both the light and the dark sides of the Force. Why?"

"The Force is a tool given to those capable of using it for the good of the galaxy," she explained. "This whole _light side, dark side_ thing is simply something that's been created over the years between two rivaling Force users who feel they're superior to each other and clash continually, feeling the Force will never be in balance until one or the other side is eliminated, and that's not true. In my recent studies of the Force, I've discovered that it will never be in balance entirely until all its users begin using it the way it was meant to be from the beginning – in all its aspects."

Interestingly enough, Anakin and Lacovia seemed impressed with her explanation and he motioned for the troopers inside the room to leave.

"So am I to understand," he said, seating himself by Anneliese's still standing form on her bed's white blanketed edge, "that you can only reach the Force's full extent by wielding both the dark and the light sides of it?"

"That's right," Anneliese confirmed, seating herself beside him. "It's the true meaning of the whole 'Chosen One' prophecy. This 'Chosen One' would unite the light and dark sides of the Force to create an entire new order of Force users. It has nothing to do with eliminating the Sith."

"Really?" Lacovia asked in intrigue. "That's very interesting. But I take it your father and the other Jedi don't share this belief."

Anneliese lowered her head. "It's not something that's discussed often. But whenever it is, it simply leads to a physiological debate. So to avoid any of those, I'm allowed to believe what I want, and they're allowed to believe what they want. Everyone's happy."

"Except you," Anakin pointed out. She simply kept her head downcast, but he crouched down before her and lifted her face. "Child, you possess within you a great knowledge. Knowledge that can be used and accepted rather than dismissed and rejected."

"What are you trying to say?" she asked, suddenly suspicious.

"What do you think I'm saying?" he asked.

"That you're actually interested in considering what I have to say about the Force's full extent?" she asked, almost hopefully.

"We all, as Force users, have much to learn on the subject," he said. "I'm not going to reject the opportunity to learn if it presents itself to me. So, Anneliese...would you consider becoming my teacher on the matter...?

* * *

Anneliese was so overjoyed that someone was finally accepting what she had to say about the Force that she completely forgot about Jacen and Aaron. She explained all she'd learned over the past four years concerning the light and the dark sides of the Force, and the much stronger effect received upon combining them. Anakin, Lacovia, and Luke all listened in earnest and asked many questions about any and everything on the subject. She answered them in a combination of explanations and Force demonstrations. 

Anakin had always known there was more to the Chosen One prophecy than the Jedi and Sith liked to think. This knowledge Anneliese was passing onto he and the others would be useful in concerns of ending the war with the Jedi, something he didn't hesitate to mention to Anneliese. This reminded her of Jacen and Aaron, and she requested to be allowed to see them. Instead of her going to them, they were brought to her. Upon seeing her with the Sith, Aaron proclaimed her a traitor, but Jacen urged him to calm down and let Anneliese explain herself. With a thankful smile at Jacen, she did so. She explained the day's events to their entirety, leaving out not one detail and made them a proposal. If the brothers joined into their New Order of the Force, their lives would be spared. If not, they would die with the rest of the Jedi.

Though he never said anything of it, Jacen had always found Anneliese's beliefs on the Force to be intriguing and had always wanted to know more about them. This was his chance. He knew that there was a good percentage of the Jedi who wouldn't agree with this look on the Force, but he wasn't going to allow their opinion make his. Aaron, he knew, would be one of these, and though he loved his brother, he wasn't going to deny himself this opportunity. So with a final nod to Aaron, he stepped away from his brother and joined Anneliese.

"Thank you Jacen," she said. "I knew I could count on you."

"So that's it, is it Jacen?" Aaron's tone was spiked with venom. "You're just going to throw away everything you believe in and become a Sith."

Anneliese was quick to come to her friend's defense. "You can't turn to the dark side or return to the light if you wield both."

"How long do you think they're going to go on about this nonsense before they reveal their plan of luring you into being a Sith, Jacen?" Aaron said, ignoring Anneliese. "You don't have to do this. You can stay on the right side, and we'll continue to fight until-"

"Until what Aaron?" Jacen asked. "Until the Jedi rid the galaxy of their rivaling Force users? That's all this war we've been fighting for the past four years has been about: ending a rivalry between two sides. This isn't about justice; it was never about justice! It was simply about revenge; Obi-Wan and Yoda using us to avenge their dead Jedi Order."

"That's not true Jacen, and you know it!" Aaron argued. "The Jedi create light; the Sith, darkness. There is no middle ground."

"Than I'm afraid you're not one of us, Aaron." Anneliese handed over Jacen his lightsaber and activated her own yellow blade. Jacen did the same with his green blade beside her. "I'm sorry, but if the Jedi are allowed to continue living, it'll only cost the lives of countless innocents and more blood spill. We don't need that."

Aaron died that day after achieving complete oneness with the Force, one of the few Jedi to do so. The intense Force energy that he drew upon as his body was overwhelmed by the attacks of Anneliese and Jacen's lightsabers enabled him to die a beacon of light for the other Jedi.


	98. The Final Fight of the LOTF War

Author's Note: This is it! The last chapter of the episode and than a short epilogue before we move on to Episode IX. Check back for info as to when I'll start posting that with the next update.

MissNaye: Well said, my friend. It's good to know at least one person understands this story fully.

arzum: Nope. He's serious. That's the surprise ending. From now onward, the Sith are no longer Sith, but Force activists that wield its entirety. However, they won't be officially referred to as such until the next episode.

alfonso: Thanks for the review and welcome to the story. But could you please stick to English in your reviews. The first part I got; the second, which included something about darkvampirewitch, not so much.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Chapter 39: The Final Fight of the Legacy of the Force War

The death of Aaron Solo ended up leading up to the end of the four-year long Legacy of the Force War. His death was felt across the galaxy to the Jedi on the Outer Rim world of Ossus, where their new base was set, and caused multiple reactions. The death of her younger brother and semi-darkness that had consumed her twin was the final straw for Jaina. She resigned from the New Jedi Order and was soon followed by Tahiri. Obi-Wan had always considered Aaron to be the second best Jedi in the Order under his sister, and in time felt that his powers would become greater than even hers. With his death, the old Jedi finally realized that no matter how hard they tried, they would never win the war against the Sith. He'd failed so many people and would not continue to do so. This led him to also resign from the Order and suggested that the rest do the same. While Danni followed his example, saying she could go back to her old life as a scientist in the Colonies, Alema was enraged by their decisions and called them cowards. She refused to leave the Order and would not rest until the Sith were dead.

"We outnumber them ten to one!" she exclaimed. "If ever we have a chance against them, it's now! And you're just going to throw that all away?!"

Obi-Wan told her she was feeding off her anger, and if she didn't stop she'd end up getting herself killed.

"You'll be walking into a trap if you go," he said. "Don't give into your hate Alema. It leads to the-"

"Foolish old man, shut up!" she roared. "That's all you do is go on about how bad the dark side is. Well I'm sick of it! The Sith have ruled over the galaxy for the past twenty-five years now. It can't be that bad, and I want some of it. I want to feel what it's like to rule an empire, to take away life whenever it pleases me, and to bask in the feeling of dark power. You wanna stop me?! You wanna deny me that?! Take your best shot!"

Activating her lightsaber, she came at Obi-Wan with the intent of slicing him down. However, Jaina jumped in at the last minute and swung her newly activated blade twice, cutting the Twi'lek in half.

Shock was the emotion that came to Alema's eyes at her defeat before crumpling to the ground, dead.

Jaina leveled her sword at the other Jedi. "Would anyone else like to step forward and be killed?" she asked in a deadly whisper.

No one moved. They were too shocked by what had just happened. She smirked, satisfied with the example she'd just made. "I thought not."

Eventually, Tenel Ka stepped forward. "The four of you may want to resign and simply go back to the way things were before, but some of us don't have an old life to go back to."

"Are you asking me to kill you, Tenel Ka?" Jaina growled.

"I'm not asking anything of you Jaina." She met the glare that was coming back at her with a level stare. "All I'm saying is that we came into this war as Jedi, and that's the way we're going to exit it. Like it or not. And no Obi-Wan, nothing you say is going to change my mind. Farewell to you four, and may the Force be with you."

The remaining Jedi true to the Order followed Tenel Ka off the planet on _Jedi Wind_ and _Star Home_. Obi-Wan and the others knew they would never see them again.

The Jedi arrived on Bespin to find that a trap had been set for them. All fifteen Sith, plus Anneliese and Jacen, were waiting for them. The battle that followed was the ultimate manslaughter. Death was everywhere. The Jedi weren't stroke down as quickly as they'd been in previous battles, but were killed eventually nonetheless; all one hundred and fourteen of them. They did not have the advantage because of their large numbers as one might think, for the simple reason that they were only using one side, or part of the Force. While the Sith used the light and the dark, the Jedi stubbornly remained true to the light only, thus leading them to their destruction. The end of the Legacy of the Force war was the starting of a new era in the Galactic Empire. One in which its leaders, as well as its citizens, looked forward to greatly.


	99. Episode VIII Epilogue

Author's Note: Hey guys! This is it! The end of Episode VIII. I haven't exactly figured a date yet, but I estimate it'll take about a week and a half to edit Episode IX: Shadow to my standards of readiness. I hate having you guys wait though. However, it was recently typed up, and I haven't really had a chance to edit much yet. I won't make you guys wait that long, nonetheless. I promise. Oh and anyone who hasn't already, make sure you check out Spider-Man 3 (unless of course you're not a fan of spidy or superheroes for that matter). I saw it last night and it rocked! The best of the trilogy. I definitely intend on seeing it again sometime.

MissNaye: Sorry. I knew at least one person was going to ask for a full length version of the previous chapter, but really it would just be a repeat of such chapter happenings as Zonama Sekot and the Battles in the Core. Maybe I'll do it someday, but for now, I think I'm happy with the way it is.  
Question #1: The answer would reveal too much of the occurrences in Shadow.  
Question #2: The four Jedi that quit did so because they knew that was the only way they'd be able to survive. However, that doesn't mean they'll disappear from the story altogether. Oh no! All of them will be in Shadow. But as to what they're doing in it, you'll just have to wait and see.

Fallen Senshi: Thanks.

G-Anakin 13: Sorry. Tenel Ka's really dead. Originally, I wasn't going to kill her off, but then another plot idea came to me. I'm not sure if you remember or not how it was mentioned in the second part of the Hapes Conflict about Ta'a Chume's three sisters being banished from the Consortium to the Unknown Regions because they tried to assassinate her not long after she was crowned. Anyway, it'll be awhile, but they and their descendants will be major players in second part of Episode X.

Jedi Master Sabbath: Thanks. Welcome to the story. I'll glad you like it. No actually, the next episode doesn't feature the Yuuzhan Vong. They will be in this, however, but not until about the halfway point of Episode X. It was a little difficult writing about them. I only stayed about 70 percent true to the New Jedi Order storyline, but enjoyed adding my own bits to it. I'd say I brought a good approach to it, not to toot my own horn too much.

Sebastoian: First off, welcome. And thank you for both reviews, even if they both said the same thing (probably a mistake). As for the whole grayness of the Force, obviously, yes, it'll take sometime for the Sith to fully adjust from being dark siders to wielding both parts of the Force as a whole. In the beginning, they're going to keep acting as they always have, but as time progresses, they will begin to change, especially with the happenings that occur on the next episode. As for Tenel Ka, read the response I gave to G-Anakin13. I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "DUNE WHICH I THINK YOU ARE TRYING TO COPY LETO 11 SOUND fFAMILIAR". Whose Leto 11? It certainly isn't anyone I've ever heard of. I don't dislike Darkvampirewitch or Caroline for their comments. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions. I too am a Christian, however I don't let it dominate my life in every aspect (you might find that confusing but that's just the way I am). Actually, All the Stars Twinkle is among my favorite stories. It is really good. I just wish it was updated more frequently. Again, thank you for the review. I really do appreciate what my fans, or critics, have to say. It's why I post this.

Twisterblake: Thanks for your reviews.

_Episode VIII: The Twilight of War_

Epilogue

Tahiri Veila, Danni Quee, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jaina Solo all went their separate ways after the war's end. As planned, Danni returned to the Colonies to resume her former job as a Scientist; Obi-Wan resumed his life of exile on Dantooine with the Zonama Sekotians; Tahiri became a dancer at a club on Tatooine; and Jaina assumed the life of a bounty hunter/smuggler under the alias of Ulaha Cade. Jacen, meanwhile, fit into the Empire just fine, becoming fast friends with Hilton and Troy.

During the aftermath of war, Luke became a close friend of Anneliese's. He'd taken somewhat of a liking to her daughter, Allana, during the time Antellica had raised her and whenever he was on Coruscant made it a point to visit the toddler. Soon though, it seemed that these visits were getting more frequent, and Anneliese knew he was visiting more than Allana. But she never said anything though; she found herself enjoying his company. As time progressed, Anneliese found that she was falling for him, and was happy when she found out that he felt the same. They were intimate after their first date, and soon Luke was continuously spending the night on Anneliese's level of Skywalker Manor just to be with her. Eventually, they found that they were spending every waking hour together, but they were far from caring.

Three months after the war's end, Anneliese found that she was pregnant with Luke's child, but refused to know its gender because she wanted it to be a surprise. She was so happy. Funny enough, Luke proposed to her right before she told him the good news. He hadn't known until she told him due to the fact that she'd cloaked the pregnancy from him briefly to build up the suspense of telling him. He was over the moon with excitement upon finding out and an announcement of their engagement and impending offspring was released the next day. They married not long afterwards and their child, a son, was named Ben Grievous Skywalker.

With all the excitement surrounding the Empire's new Prince, little did anyone know that soon a new menace would arise to take away everything the Imperial Royal Family, the Grievous-Skywalker House, held dear to them.


	100. Episode IX: Prelude

Author's Note: Hey, y'all. What's up? Welcome back to _The Domination of the Sith_ with Episode IX: Shadow. What can I promise you from this episode? As quoted from my profile page:  
Status: 20 chapters plus a prelude and an epilogue. Extends over a period of five months, and is the darkest episode under its sequel. It probably featuring the most tragedy of the series, once again, under its sequel as three major characters from _The Turning of the Era_ are killed off among seventeen others. None of the _Return of the Jedi_ movie is included in this.  
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas. Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.  
As can be seen, the prelude isn't that long. However, I like to think you can guess what the plot of the episode is from reading the small paragraph.  
Reviews are always welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Chapter 99 responses only to those I couldn't respond to on the site:

arzum: Both will be answered later on in the episode. Thanks for the review.

Twisted Words: Ha, ha! Yeah, I knew there would be at least one person greatly surprised by the Luke and Anneliese hookup. Thanks for the review, and by the way, check out the Dramatis Personae. You'll find the names of people you've been asking about recently within it.

* * *

**_The Lure of the Dark Side: Chronicle 2-The Domination of the Sith_**

_Episode IX: Shadow_

* * *

Dramatis Personae

Allana Grievous Kenobi Djo-Skywalker; Imperial Royal Lady, child (Human female)

Alexander Grievous; Imperial Royal Lord, King of Alderaan, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Force Master (Human male)

Anakin Skywalker; Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human/cyborg male)

Anneliese Grievous Kenobi-Skywalker; Force Knight, Imperial Royal Lady (Human female)

Antellica Grievous; Former Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, Queen of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human female)

Arica Grievous-Skywalker; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human female)

Bellatrix Palpatine; Sith Apprentice (Human female)

Ben Skywalker; Second Generation First Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, child (Human male)

Blondelle Palpatine; Sith Apprentice (Human female)

Braxton Palpatine; Sith Apprentice (Human male)

Cole Grievous Skywalker; Fifth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Apprentice (Human male)

Drake Palpatine; Sith Apprentice (Human male)

Dylan Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Apprentice (Human male)

Elektra Grievous Skywalker; Fourth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human female)

Gabriella Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human female)

Hilton Grievous Skywalker; Second Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Force Master (Human male)

Jacen Solo; Force Knight (Human male)

Jaina Solo; Sith Apprentice (Human female)

Lacovia Grievous Skywalker; Second Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Emperor's Hand, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Force Master (Human female)

Leila Skywalker-Grievous; First Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the Imperial Navy, Force Knight, Queen of Alderaan (Human female)

Luke Skywalker; First Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy (Human male)

Philomena Grievous Skywalker; Sixth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Apprentice (Human female)

River Grievous Skywalker; Fifth Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human female)

Tahiri Veila; Sith Apprentice (Human female)

Troy Grievous Skywalker; Third Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human male)

* * *

Prelude

26.0 Imperial Era

Shadows are very much unique in the way they appear. Mostly, they stay in the dark with no one paying any attention to them, which in some cases can be a good thing.

It'd been twenty-one years since Palpatine was overthrown as Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Much had happened in that time, the Shadow mused. The Galaxy had seen two epic wars; the flourishing of the Imperial Royal Family, the Grievous-Skywalkers; peace, as well as destruction; and the entering of a new era at the defeat of the New Jedi Order.

And yet...the Shadow wasn't satisfied with the way the galaxy was going. It needed to be changed; to evolve into something more, better. For too long had it been under the control of someone as worthless as the Jedi's fabled Chosen One. It needed a new leader. Someone with much more experience in the nature of ruling an empire.

Fortunately, the Shadow was just the person for this job. Now, after twenty-one years of waiting, it would finally have its revenge...


	101. Under the Cover of Darkness

Author's Note: Wow! I didn't realize I'd get such a response from such a little paragraph. Not that I'm complaining of course. For that, I'm giving you guys another update today, as I may be too busy to do so tomorrow.

Chapter 99 responses:

arzum: That, my dear fan, would reveal too much. Only after sometime is it revealed whom the Shadow is.

MissNaye: Obi-Wan is mentioned briefly in Chapter 3. As is Danni Quee. They don't exactly star in this episode, however. But they are in it.

Jakiray: It'll later be revealed what made Jaina turn and how. As for redemption, you can't ever rule that out for anyone.

Twisted Words: You will be informed of this as the episode progresses. What's cool about this episode is that it has a bit of a mystery twist to it. You don't know what's going happen next and whose doing it. It took the shortest time to write, but is definitely a favorite.

Jedi Master Sabbath: No. This episode is purely original. Though I do like the scenario made. I've used some familiar worlds that some of you Expanded Universe fans might recognize, but I've mostly kept this as original as possible. No film or book references will be in this with the exception of planets and characters. And maybe a few memorable lines.

G-Anakin 13: Surprised much, huh? Or confused? Don't worry. You'll catch on.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 1: Under the Cover of Darkness

The sun was shining brightly over the capital planet of Coruscant, and fourteen-year-old Dylan Grievous Skywalker, Fifth Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, was just getting up to greet the day. He was never much of a morning person, which explained the current time of 1200. Dylan hated mornings. And if he didn't have to get up, he always slept in late, much to his mother's displeasure. He couldn't stay in bed forever though, which is why he was pulling himself out now.

Getting himself together, he went up to the level directly above his own in Skywalker Manor – Level 65. Located on sixty-six were the quarters of that of his younger twin brother, Cole.

He found his twin, near shoulder-length blond haired and blue-eyed like himself, and their younger twelve-year-old sister, Philomena, dark auburn haired and brown eyed with fair skin, on the floor's central sitting chambers, appearing to be pouring over a large stack of books. Obviously, they were studying for some type of test. Dylan never quite got that about his younger siblings. Their perpetual thrust for knowledge was really getting on his nerves.

He was about to announce his presence into the room with a simple "Hey!", when Philomena abruptly looked up from the book she was reading and gave him a disapproving stare.

"I see you're up late again as usual," she said in a tone that matched her stare.

Dylan merely rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the reminder mom," he said sarcastically.

Tossing aside a few of the books that were sprawled on the couch, Dylan seated himself on it. "Where is she anyway?"

"Business meeting," Cole announced.

Besides themselves and their mother, they were the only members of the First Imperial Family – the Grievous-Skywalker House – on Coruscant at the present. Leila and Alexander were at home on Alderaan; Luke and Anneliese, at their new home on the pleasant, hilly Core world Abridon, with their children Allana, 3, and Ben, 2 weeks; Hilton and Troy had convinced their Emperor father and Jacen to come along with them on a camping trip to the Outer Rim forest moon of Endor; and Antellica was treating her nieces (Lacovia, Gabriella, Elektra, and River) to a vacation of girl time in the Inner Rim. Philomena had originally been scheduled to go with them, but opted to stay at home and take a few more classes at the University of Coruscant during a brief hiatus from regular school. Cole soon followed to do the same. And while Dylan had wanted to go with his older brothers, their dad and Jacen on their camping trip, Hilton and Troy said no point blank, explaining that this trip was for "civilized adults", in spite of the fact that Troy had yet to turn twenty-one, "not young teenyboppers". This led his mother to suggest he stay and spend time with her. But as she was an extremely busy woman (being Empress of the Galactic Empire would do that to you), he rarely saw her half the time.

"She was going to take you with her," Cole said, picking up on his twin's thoughts. "But you were still in bed so..."

Dylan shrugged, trying not to show his disappointment. "It's okay. I'll see her later on."

Cole and Philomena returned to their books without another word. Dylan grew tired of just sitting there, watching them, and called the HV remote to himself, flipping it on a moment later. A sports marathon proceeded to blare from the screen directly in front of them.

Philomena angrily snapped her book shut and turned to glare at her brother. "There are some of us here who are trying to use our time in a valuable way."

"Yeah," Cole complained in agreement. "If you wanted to watch HV, you could've done it on your own level."

"Lighten up!" Dylan retorted. "Every time I see you two, your noses are in books. Doesn't it get old?"

"Not really," Cole replied. "I'm usually too preoccupied with the knowledge I'm learning."

"Maybe if you'd spend as much time on your education as you did eating, sleeping, and playing video games all day, you'd be able to boast about having a high intelligence," Philomena said superiorly.

Dylan looked at her in disgust. "Shut up Phila." He than went back to the screen.

As the HV continued to blare with a Sling race (a galactic sport that gained popularity after the obsoleteness of Podracing; it involved lightweight, modified airspeeders navigating through mountains and canyons at breakneck speeds), Cole closed his Physic Ethics book with a sigh. "I suppose maybe we could take a brief break. If you promise to leave us alone afterwards."

"I can do that," Dylan affirmed, flicking off the HV and rising from the couch. "I was thinking we could go to the park and play dodge ball or something. The sun's out, why not use it?"

"The sun's out everyday you bonehead," Philomena mocked.

"Come on Philomena," Cole said. "Lighten up and have some fun for a change. Stop acting so superior to everyone. You're only twelve after all."

Philomena, still seated, placed her hands on her hips. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Cole looked a bit uncomfortable, so Dylan spoke for him. "It means that you're always acting like an adult when you never take anytime to be a kid anymore. What happened to you Phila? You used to be the most liveliest of us all."

Philomena looked almost thoughtful. "I don't know. Maybe the war changed me."

Dylan burst out laughing. "That has to be the most stupid excuse in the history of excuses!"

Philomena smirked. "I know. And that's why I love you brats so much. Because you never take anything I say too seriously."

"Hey!" Cole exclaimed. "We're not brats!"

"You are if I say you are," Philomena insisted teasingly.

"Come on kids," Dylan said, "let's go outside."

"Kids?" Philomena asked. "Who are you calling a kid?"

"We have to leave mom a note first, though," Cole reminded, "before we leave."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Leave it to practical Cole to spoil the mood."

"Well, she has a right to know where we are if she comes home early," Cole pressed.

"She can use the Force," Dylan argued.

"I don't think we'll be gone that long," Philomena said, "but I think we should leave one anyway. Just in case."

Shrugging, Dylan retrieved a pen while Cole tore a piece of paper from out of his notebook. Accepting these two things from her brothers, Philomena wrote out a note for their mother:

_Dear mom,_

_We'll probably be back by the time you see this, but in the case we're not, you can find us at the park downtown playing dodge ball or being our regular goof ball selves._

_Love ya and will see you soon,_

_Philomena, Dylan, and Cole_

"Why does my name always have to be last?" Cole asked in irritation.

"And why does yours always have to be first?" Dylan asked in the same tone. "I'm the oldest here."

"It doesn't matter whose name is first or last," Philomena dismissed irritably. "Let's take this down where she'll see it; on the main level."

With the note in hand, the trio took the main manor elevator down to the fifty-fourth level and placed the note on the coffee table in front of the main room's couch.

"Well, let's go."

But right at that moment, the light of the sun vanished behind them, causing the lights in the room to turn on, thus creating shadows around them.

While Dylan and Philomena squinted at the darkness outside the windows, Cole's eyes lit up.

"Oh cool, a solar eclipse!" he exclaimed. "I always wanted to see one of those! Though I'm a little surprised to see it come so early this year."

"Yeah," Philomena agreed. "My estimations stated that the annual, every twenty-five years eclipse wouldn't occur for another eight months."

Dylan rolled his eyes at his siblings' need to boast about their intelligence every chance they got. "Am I the only one here who doesn't care about a solar eclipse?"

"You're so pathetic, Dylan," Philomena said in disgust. "All you care about is yourself!"

"How dare you?!" Dylan exclaimed in outrage.

"Let's just go already," Cole said eagerly. "I wanna see this from the outside. I think there's some sunglasses down here."

"What do we need sunglasses for?" Dylan asked.

"You never look at a solar eclipse with the naked eye," Philomena informed. "You could go blind."

Cole returned with three sunglasses a few moments later and handed two of them to his siblings.

Putting them on, the trio made to leave the room, only the lights inside, and entire building for that matter, abruptly went out. What was surprising about this was that the eclipse had yet to end. If anything, it seemed darker then ever.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" Dylan called into the darkness.

"Maybe it's a power outage," Philomena suggested.

"Not likely," Cole said. "Dad installed a backup system if ever something like that were to occur. Unless of course-"

Cole abruptly stopped speaking upon hearing a noise in the darkness that hadn't come from he or his siblings.

"Cole, are you-"

"_Hush Phila, please," _he sent to her telepathically._ "You too Dylan," _he added to his twin. _"I heard something. Listen!"_

A moment of silence went by, yet no sounds were made and neither of the three were picking up anything unusual about the room within the Force.

Dylan was getting annoyed with his brother's fright and said so. "I don't hear anything. Now let me find a flashlight."

But before Dylan could go two steps, from out of no where, a hand suddenly slapped over his mouth while another grabbed around his waist. He tried to scream, only he couldn't. His voice was gone.

Cole and Philomena sensed their brother's shocked fear and attempted to help him, only the same thing was happening to them an instant later.

None of the three children knew what was gong on, but a moment later, they didn't need to. They were struck into unconsciousness and taken far from Coruscant.


	102. Missing

Author's Note: This chapter isn't that long but necessary before we move onto the next, which is fairly interesting as it introduces the episode's title character.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

MissNaye: Nope.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 2: Missing

"With a planet-wide archaeological amusement park on the Outer Rim world of Ossus in the Adega system, I feel we can bring back the traffic of tourists and the wealthy to not only Auril Sector, but the entire Outer Rim region as a whole."

"Of course, we don't have to have Ossus. There are plenty of other uninhabited planets in the Outer Rim. It merely seemed like that was the most logical choice because of its semi-deepness in the region. Yet also for its fantastical terrain of hills, mountains, gorges, forests, and caves."

"So Empress...what do you think of our pitch?"

"Oh!" A pause followed. "I thought it was very well done and explained," the person in question said a bit distantly, her eyes not on the two thirtyish human male speakers in front of her in her Royal Office chambers in the Old Imperial Palace's refashioned former throne room of the Empress prior, Padme Amidala, but gazing out the majestic cut-glass window to the right of her golden, exotic plant-surrounded desk that was previously a throne.

Empress of the Galactic Empire, Arica Grievous-Skywalker, 41, was mildly interested with what was going on outside it in the Coruscanti city-spanning capital. The day's sunlight had suddenly, and abruptly, vanished to be replaced by utter darkness. For a moment, she thought that perhaps Coruscant was getting one of its rare, every ten year thunderstorms, but remembered that the capital world had gotten it last year. And it only occurred once every ten years. Thus saith her youngest son, Cole, who'd gone on for about an hour concerning the reasons why when it took place the year prior. Then she remembered Philomena telling her about how the annual twenty-five year solar eclipse was taking place this year, and realized that it must've came early this time, for her daughter had told her it wouldn't occur until this year's eighth month.

Arica wondered if her youngest children knew about the eclipse, and if they were now, even as she thought it, urging Dylan to get out of bed and join them in watching it.

Troy would be highly disappointed he wasn't here to see it, she mused. For like Cole and Philomena, he was also a science whiz and looking forward to seeing the eclipse. Oh well, this way the two would have something to gloat to him about.

Life only seemed to stop for a brief second on the planet: the moment after the eclipse took over it when all lights came on around the city. Surprisingly, it didn't last that long. Approximately fifteen seconds later, the sun was shining again and the city lights went out.

Arica wrapped up her meeting with the Expansion Region based business agents of Amusement Inc. by leasing them both Ossus and another nearby world in the sector, Bal'demnic (a planet of vast oceans and rocky tropical islands), for their use of two archaeological and physiological amusement parks. Afterwards, she returned home, to Skywalker Manor, looking for Dylan, Cole, and Philomena, and ready to hear their excitement over the eclipse. But they weren't home. Arica found a note saying as much laying on the coffee table in front of the couch on the fifty-fourth level. Since she didn't have anything else to do that day besides going over a slew of reports concerning all known unoccupied planets in the Outer Rim, she decided to do this later and join her children at the park.

Oddly, though, they weren't there, and when she asked some of the park regulars about when they'd left, they told her the royal trio had never came to begin with.

"You always know when they're here," one of the kids said with some scorn. "There's always a bunch of paparazzi hiding out in bushes."

Thanking the civilian children for their help, Arica returned home angry. How dare they lie and say they're going to the park when they know they're not? It just didn't seem like them however. But then, they were practically teenagers now, with Philomena's big 1-3 landmark coming up in a few months. Kids changed when they became teens, yet all the same...

Arica nestled herself down behind the front desk on the first floor of the building (one of its fifty business levels) and proceeded to go over her reports alongside two mostly silent and awed receptionists. However, her mind was on anything but. Mainly on how she was going to punish those three for lying. Various scenarios came to mind: making them do a hundred laps around the entire hundred-plus acres of property surrounding Skywalker Manor; depriving them of books, video games, and HV for a month. The second option made Arica mentally chortle. Philomena and Cole couldn't survive without books the way Dylan couldn't survive without video games and HV. That punishment would be a hoot. Choosing to go with that one, Arica officially returned to her reports, making sure to have herself in full sight of the front door. She wasn't going to give them the chance of sneaking in unseen.

Hours went by, and still they didn't return.

By 1600, Arica was still ticked, but trying to make an effort of keeping her mind on the Outer Rim reports.

When 2000 came, Arica was angrier, figuring they decided to make a day out of their little adventure. Another month without the obsessions of books, video games, and HV.

But by 2400, twelve hours after they'd left, Arica was livid with rage, but also a slight bit worried.

Growing tired of waiting for them to turn up, she tapped into the Force to find their location only to be met by a surprise. Their presences in the Force were gone; nonexistent as if they never had. This was also worrying, but she brushed it off as them cloaking their presences because they didn't want her to know where they were.

Well, we shall see about that.

The ability of uncloaking a cloaked Force-signature was a lot harder then just cloaking one. But for an accomplished Force activist like Arica, it was a piece of pie.

Yet, she was met with the same problem. Their presences in the Force were nonexistent. They weren't there. They couldn't be found anywhere. It was...odd, strange, and kind of creepy. It was as if they'd-

Blah! What nonsense was she thinking? They were fine. Probably just playing a practical joke on her, that's all. They'd be back within a few days.

But they weren't back within a few days. Two weeks went by and still they hadn't returned.

Something was wrong, Arica knew. If they'd been playing a joke on her, they would've been back by now. Plus, she couldn't shake how odd it was that their presences in the Force remained...

Missing.

Gone.

Nonexistent.

She didn't want to say anything to upset or worry everyone when nothing was wrong, but their disappearance had gone on long enough. It was time to take action.

The first person she contacted was her husband on Endor. He was a little mad that she'd waited two weeks before deciding to say anything – they'd spoken everyday the kids were gone and she never once said a word about it; always saying they were out whenever he'd ask – and equally frustrated that he couldn't reach out and touch Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's presences either. There was just emptiness where their signatures should have been. It was hard to tell rather they were alive or not, but Anakin didn't dare say that to Arica. He didn't want to scare her. Unfortunately, she picked up on it anyway just as he was trying to hide it from her. And though she was scared and worried, she didn't go into nearly as much of a frenzy as he thought she might.

"What can this mean?" she asked. "And how could this have happened?"

"I don't know," he replied. "But I intend to find out."

Within the next few days, search parties had been sent out all across the galaxy and everyone in the Royal Grievous-Skywalker House returned to Coruscant.

Shock was the main emotion felt concerning the disappearance of the youngest royal heirs, soon followed by confusion.

In a disturbing discovery, Arica learned of the events that led up to her youngest children's disappearance by viewing the surveillance tapes of that day at the manor. It was obvious by watching them that the kids were taken from the building when the power was turned off inside, because it didn't go off on its own. This meant they were dealing with more than one person. But who could it be? The war with the Jedi was over. What other menace could be out there?


	103. The Revenge Filled Heart of a Shadow

Author's Note: As promised, the Shadow is introduced in this chapter and also the reintroduction of another character from the past. Plus, a shocking revelation is discovered concerning the fate of Obi-Wan and Danni Quee. Enjoy!

MissNaye: Definitely. And it only progresses as the episode perpetuates.

arzum: As previously said, the Shadow's identity won't be revealed until later on in the episode. I'm glad you're thrilled with the story though (or was that a mistype since a question mark was at the end of the sentence)?

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Twisted Words: She probably waited so long because of their headstrong attitudes, in between being so busy with her Empress duties.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 3: The Revenge-Filled Heart of a Shadow

26.1 Imperial Era

Philomena awoke to the feeling of a throbbing head and aching back. Opening her eyes, the Sixth Imperial Princess found herself in what appeared to be a dark cave of some kind. This slightly confused her for a moment, until the memories of the solar eclipse and someone capturing her in the dark came back to mind. Her first thought was for the safety of her brothers. She hoped upon hope that somehow they'd got away. However, this thought was followed by a cough from beside her, and Philomena knew they were still with her. And though part of her was, to a certain extent, disappointed that the twins hadn't found a way of escape, another part was relieved that she wasn't alone.

"Rise and shine little children," a cold, female voice derided around the room.

Philomena was instantly on her feet, fists raised before her and ready to defend herself if needed. Dylan and Cole did the same beside her.

The female voice only laughed. "Now, now little ones," it said in the same tone of voice as before. "That's no way to greet an old friend."

The click of a switch was heard and the dark cave was instantly bathed in light. The three royals had to shield their eyes to accommodate themselves with the brightness.

The voice that had spoken sounded strangely familiar for some reason. And when the trio dropped their hands from their line of vision, they saw why. It was...Blondelle Jovovich, the daughter of late Grand Moff and one-time Imperial Queen, in addition to Senator of the Mid Rim world Naboo – Charlotte Jovovich. Only she looked...different now from the last time they saw her, before she and her three siblings (older brother Drake and fellow triplets Braxton and Bellatrix) mysteriously vanished during the happenings of Muunilinst almost six years ago. Older, more mature. Her shoulder length blonde hair had grown to be very long and it seemed like she'd lost some weight. Her once medium build was slender and trim. She looked good. But the bubbly, happy-go-lucky personality she once had didn't seem to remain. She was looking at them in a sardonic, almost leering way that told the trio this was not the same Blondelle they once knew.

"I prefer to be referred to as Blondelle Palpatine these days," she said, picking up on their thoughts. "Either that or Darth Lady Nefertiri."

"Darth Lady?" Cole repeated. "Since when are you a Sith? If I recall correctly, you weren't into any of that, as you called it, 'Force nonsense'."

"Yeah," Dylan agreed. "And since when did you decide to go by your father's last name? I thought you said you wanted nothing to do with his dynasty?"

Blondelle allowed a slow smile. "Time can offer many changes," she said simply.

"I see," Philomena said shortly. "Then are we to expect this same cold attitude from the rest of your siblings?"

Blondelle gave her a sly look. "What makes you think the rest of them are here?"

"Because unlike some, I've been training in the ways of the Force since infancy," she answered smugly. "At my age of twelve, you wouldn't have been able to sense another presence about various kilometers away if it hit you across the face."

"If you're expecting an angered retort or method of me proving to you that I'm a Sith presently, you're talking to a dead comlink," Blondelle said smoothly.

Philomena only offered her a triumphant smirk. "Indeed."

"What I'm still trying to figure out is where you've been the past five years," Cole said. "Where we are, and what we're doing here."

"Yeah, why were we kidnapped from our home?" Dylan wanted to know. "And who did it? You!" He gave a dry laugh. "Somehow I don't see you being able to pull that off."

Blondelle's eyes flashed dangerously while the kids laughed, but she did not strike them down as she may have wanted to. Her master would not be pleased about that.

"And who pray tell is your master?" Philomena asked.

"You Skywalkers have the continuous tendency to read other people's minds, don't you?" Blondelle asked in semi-disgust.

"Well, if you don't want your mind read, all you have to do is put a shield on it," Cole said. "It's not hard to do. Giving you know how to wield the Force, which remains to be seen."

As Philomena, Cole, and Dylan continued their mockery of Blondelle through chuckles of laughter, she merely smirked. "You may not find me threatening because of past experience, but when my master gets through with you-"

"Spare us the threats Blondelle," Dylan said. "We really don't care. If your master's so big and bad, then take us to him."

Blondelle gave him a superior stare. "I'm afraid to inform you that my master is indeed a she."

"Oh, now I'm really shaking," Dylan said sarcastically.

"Shut up with your pitiful threats and just take us to her," Philomena commanded.

Blondelle thinned her mouth into a thin line and nodded. "Very well. Keep behind me and no tricks."

"Not that you'd be able to do anything about it if we did," Cole jeered.

Blondelle acted as though she hadn't heard him as she typed an activation code into a control panel that lay next to the metal door in the cave wall. Obviously, they were in a cell. It slid open vertically.

In the dim passageway outside the rock encased cell, the young royals saw that another one laid directly across from the one they'd been in, only the Force told them it was unoccupied. As Blondelle led them along the passageway that seemed to get darker the further they went, the trio kept their eyes open and senses alert. They wanted to be ready for anything.

Not far ahead from the cell block was a shuttle hanger that was currently being used to house only one starship. Dylan smirked at the stupidity of the hanger's location. "You think it wise to have a hanger bay so close to your cell block?" he sneered. "One might think you actually _want _your prisoners to escape."

Blondelle ignored him.

"So tell us of this secret Sith organization you have here," Philomena requested. "Because clearly that's what's going on here, right?"

Blondelle considered Philomena's words a moment before replying. "In a way."

"How many members do you have?" she asked.

Again, Blondelle thought over the words of Philomena's request. "Seven."

"That's not very many," Dylan drawled.

No one responded to him.

"So besides your master, yourself, Braxton, Bellatrix, and Drake, who are the other two?" Cole wanted to know.

"Two people I'm sure you'll recognize my name as well as appearance," Blondelle answered. "Jaina Solo and Tahiri Veila."

The jaws of all three Imperial heirs dropped. "But-but they were Jedi," Philomena pointed out.

"_Were_ is a good way of putting it," Blondelle said, "because they are no longer."

"Then what of the other Jedi?" Dylan asked.

"Oh, you mean Kenobi and Danni Quee?"

Dylan nodded.

"They're dead."

All three children stopped dead in shock. "Dead?!"

"But they survived the Legacy of the Force War," Cole argued. "They resigned from the Order, just like Jaina and Tahiri."

"How do you know that?" Blondelle asked in interest.

"Tenel Ka Djo told us before the final battle on Bespin," Philomena answered.

"Pathetic Hapan Princess," Blondelle muttered.

"But how did they die?" Dylan queried.

"Quite simply. Tahiri and Jaina betrayed their hidden locations to our master, and she went to deal with them," Blondelle explained. "While Kenobi was killed outright – he was no match against her in his old age – Quee was offered the chance to join us. When she declined, she was killed."

"And who is your master?" Cole asked. "What's her name?"

"You may call me...Shadow."

By now Blondelle had led the royal threesome into what appeared to be a throne room. It was very large in size, though most of it, like everywhere else here, was left in shadow. Only two small candles laid on opposite sides of the throne. Sitting on the throne itself was the person who'd spoken.

Though much of her face was kept in shadow, a stream of long dark hair could be seen flowing down on either side of it and on past her shoulders. She was donned entirely in black like Blondelle and seemed to be studying the three children standing before her.

Blondelle gave a quick bow and positioned herself on the other side of the room, yet it really couldn't be seen if "Shadow" acknowledged her or not. It didn't seem like she did however, at least not aloud or by any kind of hand movement.

The royal trio felt oddly uncomfortable under the Dark Lady's gaze, but Dylan refused to be intimidated by her. As the oldest, he felt it was his responsibility to stand tall for the sake of his younger siblings.

"What's with your face being secluded in shadow?" Dylan fleered out the question. "Afraid to show off it's ugliness?"

The Dark Lady's only reply was moving her face even deeper into the cloak that was shielding it from view.

Dylan smirked. "Yeah, that must be it. But your face can't be that bad looking compared to Mother Rell on Dathomir."

Cole and Philomena also smirked at the memory of the ancient woman.

Shadow seemed interested. "Whose Mother Rell? One of the witches of Dathomir?"

"Something like that," he replied. "She was well over three hundred years old the one and only time we met her."

"And that was three years ago," Shadow supplied.

"What makes you say that?" Cole bit out.

"I do keep up with Imperial events, you know," she answered plainly. "It gives me something to do in my exile."

"Besides creating a secret Sith organization and kidnapping Imperial Royalty, you mean?" Philomena's tone was that of venom.

The smirk could be heard in Shadow's voice. "You could say that."

"And what are we to you then?" Cole demanded. "Merely playthings for you to entertain yourself with? We have a family, you know, that is probably worried sick about us."

"Then by all means, reach out into the Force and tell them you're alright," Shadow said calmly.

The three heirs looked at the Dark Lady suspiciously, not believing her but tried anyway. Only to have their suspicions confirmed when they sensed their presences were being blocked from the access of other Force-sensitives. And when they tried to unblock it, the dark force merely increased its hold on them to the extent that their presences were nonexistent even to them.

"Impressive," Philomena mocked, "but not at all amusing. Clearly, you want something from us. I can see it in that twisted, revenge-filled heart of yours. So you can stop beating around the bush with us and just come out and say whatever it is you have to say, because I grow tired of not knowing the reason we're here."

Shadow smirked beneath her cloak. "Direct. Just like your mother. I can respect that."

"You want our respect?" Philomena snarled. "Then you'll take off that pathetic cloak. Because I know you're hiding more then just your face under there."

"You're a smart girl Philomena," the Dark Lady appraised. "Which is why I feel slightly regretful about my plan for you and your brothers."

Shadow rose from her throne and proceeded towards the three at a slow pace. "You're right Princess. I am hiding more then my face from you; I'm hiding my identity. One that I'm sure the three of you are quite familiar with in the matter of appearance, even if you've never met me. So...let's put the cards on the table, shall we?" She planted herself in front of them and looked into their young faces. "You wanna know who I am and what I want? Then take a good look at my face."

She threw aside the cloak that covered her body's upper half and the three children gasped at the recognition.

"Now then, Dylan, Cole, Philomena: allow me to explain to you why I want you and your entire family dead..."


	104. A Tragedy of Death

Author's Note: Originally, I wasn't going to post this till tomorrow but changed my mind at the number of reviews. Thanks for that. I was very interested in how some of you would respond to the chapter prior. This chapter isn't that long, but obviously necessary. It can be guessed what occurs within at the title.

Chapter 103 responses:

Jakiray: Nope. We're still a ways off from that discovery.

G-Anakin 13: In light of the episode's mystery, I will neither confirm nor deny that question.

MissNaye: Hmm.

arzum: Read G-Anakin 13's response.

Tsubasa no Michi: No comment.

Twisted Words: Only time will tell.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 4: A Tragedy of Death

It'd been a week, but the search parties that were flooding just about every known planet of the galaxy had not come up with anything thus far. Security measures were being added at Skywalker Manor with troops stationed around and inside the building at every angle. The maids and servants that served the royal family were replaced, as were the workers in the medical and business levels of the manor. The Emperor wasn't taking any chances at a repeat of his youngest children's kidnapping. He was still raking his brain to begin with over who could've taken them. Yet it was as Gabriella said when he shared this with her, "The Royal House is bound to have thousands, maybe even millions, of enemies across the galaxy. It could be anyone."

Three weeks and a day after Philomena, Dylan, and Cole's kidnapping, the royals were alerted to an unknown transmission that was being sent to the palace. Only thing was, no one knew where it was coming from, as it couldn't be traced or tracked, and the person on the line wasn't giving out any information. They were cloaked in shadow and had only demanded to speak to the Emperor concerning the wellbeing of his youngest children. Anakin chose to accept the transmission in the sitting room on the fifty-fourth level with all fifteen other members of the Grievous-Skywalker House, plus Jacen, present.

Hitting the 'accept' key on the specialized communicable HV, the screen lit up with the inside of a deep, dark cavern; the only light coming from four candles set up on the north, south, east, and west quarters of the room.

Bound and gagged before what appeared to be a throne were the fearful and scared forms of Dylan, Cole, and Philomena. Everyone gave a sigh of relief at the sight of them that soon turned to an icy glare when the person in shadow stepped forward.

Emperor Skywalker spoke before the shadow could. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I will not stand for you holding my children hostage-"

"Oh, this goes far beyond that _Your Highness_," the shadow cut across him, her feminine tone sarcastic at the last two words. "I'm not holding your children as a means to get something from you. Oh no! This is my first strike against the Imperial Royal family's imminent destruction."

Anakin rose an eyebrow beneath the mask. "Is that so? And tell me shadow, what would you intend on doing after that? Taking over the Empire as your own?"

"I see you're not as pathetic in stupidity as some might think," the shadow sneered, "but since you asked, yes that is my intention. Now then-"

"What are they doing to them?" Arica demanded upon seeing two other shadows hovering around her children, partly blocking them from view.

The Shadow Lady turned to give a brief glance over her shoulder before looking back to her assembled audience. "Surrounding them with ysalamiri: Force-blocking furry, lizard-like tree dwellers that weaken even the most powerful Force-sensitives and disallows them access to the Force."

"Do you actually expect us to believe such a thing exists?" Hilton sniped.

"Take a look at your siblings then Hilton," the shadow instructed. "If what I'm saying about ysalamiri isn't true, then why do they look so weak all of a sudden?"

The Shadow Lady brought the children closer to the communications screen, untied and removed their gags and pushed them forward. All three collapsed to the ground drunkenly and didn't seem like they wanted to get up despite the encouragements their older siblings were yelling at them through the screen.

"How do we know you didn't drug them before making the call here?" Alexander demanded.

"Because ysalamir is a real Force-blocking non-sentient," Troy explained, causing everyone to turn and look at him. "And while the side effects vary, it does have a stronger impact on you the younger and less experienced you are in the Force. Plus, the creature's quite recognizable. Once you see it, you're not bound to forget what it looks like real quick. If you're Force-sensitive anyway."

"And you know this how...?" River asked.

"That biological school trip I took to the Inner Rim nine years ago," he explained. "I came across the creature on Myrkr, the planet it originates on."

"There you see!" the shadow said. "At least there's one person of intelligence in your family of pretty faces."

She and the other two shadows picked Dylan, Cole, and Philomena up off the ground and presented them to the screen.

"So Emperor...which is it going to be first? This is why I contacted you before merely killing your children outright. You decide, in whatever order, which one you want to die first to last. It's entirely up to you."

"You can't possibly think I'd go along with something like this," Anakin replied. "They're my children. I love them equally. They'll eventually die in whatever order they're supposed to. But I won't be here to see it."

"Really?"

At that moment a crimson lightsaber activated on the screen and was impaling through Philomena's chest. Her face showed a brief moment of pain before she fell to the ground dead.

Arica clutched at her heart as tears began to fall from her eyes and she let out a few whimpers, but as for everyone else, they were mainly too stunned to speak, let alone cry. The sight of Philomena's death refused to register in their minds.

The shadow cackled. "Never underestimate the power of the Dark Side." She gave Philomena's lifeless form a slight kick and turned back to the screen, grabbing Cole and Dylan by their long blonde hair.

"So Skywalker, who's next? Cole or Dylan?"

Both boys were crying as they sadly looked down at the dead form of their sister. The thought that either of them could be next scared and frightened them to no end. They didn't want to die so young. There was so much more they wanted to do with their lives.

"Dad, please help us!"

Anakin had been too stunned to speak until the twins cried for his help. He wanted to help them. He really did. He wanted to help Philomena too. Yet unless he knew where they were, his hands were tied. It's not like he could simply reach through the screen and grab them. That thought caused him to reach out his hand and attempt Force-choking the shadow through transmission line. It didn't work. All the shadow did was cackle.

"You're dealing with someone much more advanced in Force powers, Skywalker," she boasted. "You're no match for me. And since you didn't answer my question concerning Cole and Dylan, I'll decide for you."

Just as Anakin and everyone else in the room was yelling "No!", Cole was joining his sister dead on the floor with a decapitated head.

By now, everyone was letting out cries of anguish. Arica was on the floor howling with grief while Antellica tried to comfort her, but she was practically grief-stricken herself. Anneliese quickly exited the room with a screaming Allana and confused Ben. It was not her wish for them to see anymore death then was necessary. As mostly all the other females in the room were sobbing loudly, the males tried to stay strong for their sakes, but soon found themselves losing it also.

All who remained left was Dylan. He was scared, yes; terrified, no question. Yet his family had no idea who they were now dealing with. And because of this, he began to feel more afraid for them then for himself. But there was still a chance. Before he died, he could tell them who the shadow was, and they could prepare themselves for her treachery, and that of her followers. He needed to take that chance. Looking into the screen at his grieving family that would only become worse at his own death, he spoke to his father.

"Dad, you have to listen to me-"

"I'm sorry my son," he said in despair, "I've failed you."

"No dad. You don't understand who she is. She's-"

But before Dylan was able to reveal the identity of the shadow, he was joining his siblings in death as Shadow struck him down with her crimson blade.

Arica was beyond toiled with grief; she was going crazy in it. Screaming and hollering in anguish. She threw her sister from her and ran at the screen, attacking it with every single emotion she was feeling. Hilton and Luke were quick to pull her away from it, but she yanked herself out of their grasp, yelling at the Shadow Lady on the screen.

"Who are you?! And why are you doing this?!"

"Until we meet again," the shadow dismissed with a wave.

The transmission went dead and Arica simply lost it. They were gone. Her daring little angels were dead, and there was nothing she could've done to stop it.

Anakin collected his grief-stricken wife into his arms and held her tightly as he came to terms with his own grief. She clung to him as she continued to let out moans of sorrow and despair.


	105. Investigations of an Eclipse

Author's Note: I guess this is what you would call a filler chapter. The action is coming, though, in Chapter 7 after another discovery is made next go-round.

MissNaye: Oh yes. There are plenty of more deaths to come, on both sides. This conflict is far from over.

arzum: It is. When I wrote each of the Grievous-Skywalker deaths, I literally had tears in my eyes.

Tsubasa no Michi: Definitely.

Twisted Words: I mostly think it was shock. But a calmed shock.

Twisterblake: Question#1: You could say that. Question#2: Keep reading to find out.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 5: Investigations of an Eclipse

The aftermath of Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's murder consisted of the Emperor making an official announcement to the press and public concerning the matter, and his urgings that the Royal House stay together and be on their guard at all times.

As time passed, and the realization of the murder set in more, the grief soon vanished and turned to rage. Anakin swore revenge upon the shadow for taking away his youngest children and turning his wife into a walking corpse of grief. Because unlike everyone else, who eventually got over the grief as time went on, it seemed that with Arica the more time went on without them, the more laden in sorrow she became. She'd lock herself in either of the three's former quarters in the manor for hours on end, crying or simply wishing to be alone.

Though the older Grievous-Skywalker heir ensemble had handled the death of their siblings as well as could be expected, the six of them, plus Jacen, could be found on Lacovia's level at night, all bunked together in the same room.

A public memorial service in honor of the late Royal heirs was held a few days after their death at the downtown Galactic City park they were fond of hanging in. Little graves of stone were set up next to the oak tree the trio liked sitting by with tiny holopics of each above the lettering that spoke briefly of their all-too-short lives. Each member of the Royal family stepped forward individually away from the crowds of people, who turned up for the somber occasion, to place a single rose before each grave and returned to the semicircle they'd formed around them. Everyone cried as they said their final farewells, but none so more then Arica. She was an absolute wreak, and had to be supported during the entire ceremony by her husband and sister.

Upon returning home afterwards, everyone gathered on the main level to merely sit, eat, and mourn. Arica slipped away unnoticed, though, to be alone and mourn in peace. She was soon noticed being gone and everyone split up to look for her since she was cloaking her presence. Hilton and Troy found her sitting on the bed in Philomena's old sleeping chambers on her former level clutching a teddy bear to her chest as she sobbed with anguish.

The sight of their mother surrounded by the late Philomena's old stuffed toy collection laying on the bed would've been comical in any other circumstance, but not now. Entering within the room, they sat themselves down on either side of her and began sending waves of comfort to her through the Force. She accepted them with a cry of sadness and fell into Hilton's arms while Troy comforted her from the side.

Eventually, everyone else made their way up and convinced Arica to come back down onto the main level with them to mourn together.

Silence and tears is what dominated the atmosphere surrounding the Royal family for the next hour or so. But while everyone else mourned over a painful loss, Troy was lost in thought about the eclipse that preceded his sibling's kidnapping.

Naturally, he was bummed to have missed it, but hadn't really given it much thought what with everything else going on. Though now that he did, he began to see how convenient it was that an eclipse _just happened_ to occur right before the kidnapping. Yet it still didn't make much sense. Something didn't add up. Why would it come so early this time? It was erratic for an eclipse to occur eight months before it was supposed to. It didn't happen. And even though the last eclipse was linked to the Elderin crystal, it still would've occurred with or without the crystal's help.

"I think the eclipse and kidnapping were somehow connected," Troy abruptly said into the silence of the room.

Everyone turned to look at him in confusion, and he took that as his cue to explain all he'd been thinking about on the matter for the past few minutes. While mostly all appeared thoughtful at his words, Leila and Elektra didn't seem to buy it.

"I don't see how something like that could be possible," Leila said doubtfully.

"Me either," Elektra agreed. "You're trying to say that this shadow person conducted the eclipse to occur as cover for the kidnapping." She scoffed. "No one's that powerful."

Troy wasn't giving up. "Just think about it a minute: The eclipse occurs, resulting in the lights turning on everywhere around the planet, only for them to go out some seconds later at Skywalker Manor solely. When the lights turn back on, the kids are gone. On the surveillance footage, Dylan said something about not hearing anything after Cole stopped speaking. I think a telepathic conversation was going on in-between that space of silence. Plus, eclipses don't occur for few brief seconds of time and that's the end of it. They last at least seventy seconds; the longest being seven minutes."

"I think you have a very sound argument there son," Anakin said appraisingly. "Is there any way you can find out if the eclipse was fake or not?"

Troy sighed. "It could take awhile. And it'll be hard to prove. But I have no doubt it was fake. This is the only one lead we have. And while it may not seem like much, I know it'll tell us something concerning how they pulled it off. Give me a few days. I'll have it figured out by than. And no one pester me while I'm working..."

* * *

Troy began research on the eclipse right away. Along with Hilton, Lacovia, Gabriella, Elektra, River, and Jacen, he pulled up studies on galaxy-wide eclipses of the past; studied each surveillance disc of every level in Skywalker Manor on that day; and went to various news studios to view holopics and clips of the event. Yet the result was the same each time. They came up with nothing. 

Troy was beyond frustrated and tired. They'd been going on like this for a week now. He'd expected to come up with at least something – anything – by now. Yet it was as though they were merely banging their heads against a wall with no real purpose.

The girls were tired, he knew. Everyone probably was. The group of seven had been going over stacks of data today like there was no tomorrow, starting at the rise of sun and continuing on into the wee hours of night. It was getting late in the morning, only a few hours till sunrise. Troy checked out his reflection in his ever-present pocket-sized mirror and grimaced. He looked horrible, beat, and exhausted. He was just about to announce to the others to call it a day when he caught sight of a clip playing on River's computer screen. His sixteen-year-old sister wasn't watching it, as she'd fallen asleep and the volume was down low, but he didn't much care about that. What was being shown on the screen caused him to sit up in his chair and stare. It was a showing of the eclipse in the process of happening. Something, but not the moon, had moved in front of the Core sun at an angle. A shadow that appeared and then disappeared out of what seemed nowhere.

The sudden movement of him getting up to take a closer look had the others swiftly rising from their seats and activating their lightsabers; River among them. Clearly, she wasn't as sound asleep as he thought she was.

"It's alright guys," he assured. "Nothing to get too excited over. But if you don't mind River, would you start over that clip that's playing on your screen from the beginning?"

River, flowing long blonde haired and green eyed, looked over at the screen a moment before deactivating her cyan blade. "Yeah, sure."

As asked, the clip was started over and everyone gathered around the screen to view it.

The sun was shining brightly in the Coruscanti sky when abruptly it was being cast into shadow by an unknown blackness that clearly wasn't an eclipse.

Freezing the image of the "eclipse" halfway through, Troy pressed 'print' on the computer keypad and retrieved the printed copy once it had done so. After which, they resumed watching the clip, which only lasted another seven seconds.

The same way the darkness had come down at the sun from the northwest, it disappeared and seemed to evaporate into nothing.

This was no eclipse. Seeing the process of it happening, and than examining the frozen image of it halfway through told Troy all he needed to know. Yet he wanted to be absolutely certain before saying anything to his father.

Leaving the HoloNet News Studio behind, the team of seven paid the planetary Imperial base with a visit. The officers inside were mildly surprised to find them up so late, but once they were told of Troy's plan to prove last week's eclipse as fake, they set to work immediately.

Controlled directly from the capital's Imperial base and the Super Star Destroyer _Nightsaber_ in orbit of the planet was the Orbital Nightcloak, a chain of thousands of satellites linked in a single network.

During the aftermath of the Legacy of the Force War, the Emperor went to even more lengths to make sure all planets in his empire stayed in line. These Orbital Nightcloak satellites were installed in the orbit of every Imperial world, their purpose being to distort light and bend it towards itself. When activated, the satellite would prevent all light from reaching the planet's surface, creating utter darkness. Eventually, the world would be turned to solid ice, killing everything inside it. Besides Death Star II, this was the Emperor's pride and glory at keeping his empire under _his_ control.

What Troy wanted to prove was how the satellite would work if pointed at an angle towards the sun. This took a surprisingly short time to do. He'd naturally assumed it would take a while to get everything up and running. Thus because of the short amount of time it took, the sun wasn't ready for them when they were ready for it.

Reaching out with the Force, Troy, with the help of his teammates, made the sun ready for them. Moving it on its axis towards the planet, the sun rose at as unseemly hour and the satellite was activated to the lowest setting it featured.

It happened exactly the way Troy thought it would, and the way the clip showed the happening of the "eclipse": a shadow of darkness moved in front of the sun at a northwest angle, making it seem as though it was an eclipse. But it wasn't.

Though happy to officially discover the mystery behind the fake eclipse, Troy was somewhat disturbed by it. How could've the Shadow, or any of her henchmen, gotten a hold of Coruscant's Orbital Nightcloak satellite controls if not through _Nightsaber_ or the base on-world?

Troy sighed in frustration. The Force naturally.

This Shadow must've been awfully powerful to gain access to an assembly of satellite controls without even being present for it. He wasn't entirely sure what he thought of this, other then to keep the control of the galaxy-wide satellite network under constant watch. Who knew what this Shadow would do with it next?


	106. The Call from Dathomir

Author's Note: Just so you know, Anneliese's nickname is pronounced _Ah-na_, not _Ann-na_. So when you see Anna in the chapter, think _Ah-na_. No _An-na_.

MissNaye: Indeed it does.

Twisted Words: Sorry about the late update today and yesterday. It's just that I've been so busy finishing up my end of the year report on J.F.K. that's due the 25th.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 6: The Call from Dathomir

Anneliese abruptly awoke in she and Luke's bedroom in formerly his, currently their completely remodeled quarters at Skywalker Manor on the sixty-eighth floor at the call of distress. Someone was reaching out to her and needed her help. But who?

Her thoughts of this were briefly distracted upon seeing the rush of sunlight coming in through the nearby curtained window to her right. It was only 0400. Since when did the sun shine at this hour?

But then her mind was going back to the calls she continued to hear inside her head. The voice was familiar and the presence likewise. She just couldn't place her finger on who it could be. Her first thought was her father, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

During the time after she met him on Haruun Kal and before the Legacy of the Force war's end, she and he had developed a strong, loving bond that went further than any relationship the two of them had ever experienced before. They were the light in each other's world, the thing they looked forward to the most each day. They were best friends and cared for one another deeply. Anneliese had never known you could feel that way about a person without it being in a romantic sense, and neither had he.

It was because of this that Anneliese had demanded of her uncle to be allowed to stay in contact with him upon rejoining the Empire. Either that or she was going into hiding again, and this time, they would never see her or Allana again. None of the family had liked being blackmailed, most particularly her mother, but Anneliese wasn't really on speaking terms with her anyway. She was still mad about Antellica lying to her about Ob-Wan and then later kidnapping Allana. And while Anneliese allowed her mother to see her grandchild, besides a brisk, "Here's your granddaughter. Now go," she had nothing to say to her. It was the same with Alexander. The only difference was while her mother repeatedly apologized to her, Alexander didn't feel he'd done anything wrong and placed the blame all on their mother.

"Mom's the lier here," he'd said. "Not me."

"And that trash you made up about being so sad at our father's death that you had to sleep with mom for months on end," she'd reminded. "What was that than?"

Again, he'd placed the blame on their mother, saying she'd told him to say that.

Anneliese got her way in staying in touch with her father, but made sure that only she knew where he was. She enjoyed having the best of both worlds with a mother and a father, even if she wasn't speaking to one of them. And while her Imperial family didn't approve of it, if it meant keeping her in the Empire and not running away on a whim, they didn't really have a choice.

Him coming to her wedding with Luke was pushing it, but she made sure no one touched him during the ceremony. Besides a civilized chat between he and Luke, Obi-Wan and the Imperial family kept a long distance away from each other, even though he gave her away.

The wondrously close bond she shared with her father even went as far as Anneliese naming her son after him. But he had yet to meet Ben. Oddly enough, Anneliese had lost contact with him over six months ago. She didn't understand why, but hadn't been able to go to Dantooine to see what was up because of Luke and everyone else's firmness to not worry herself too much over him.

"I'm sure he's just fine," her mother said tersely.

Yet Anneliese didn't think so. With everything going on after she had Ben, she really didn't have a chance to go and check up on him. And she utterly refused to let anyone, not even Jacen, learn of his location out of fear of what they'd do to him. Notwithstanding the fact that Luke said he wouldn't harm Obi-Wan if they crossed paths alone, Anneliese didn't want to give him the chance to find out.

As the calls in her mind persisted, however, it was easy for her to tell that they weren't from her father. This thought disappointed her until she discovered whom it was that was calling her: Augwynne Djo, the War Leader of the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri Witches Anneliese was once apart of and the great-grandmother of her daughter.

When she and Luke had married, Anneliese was going to drop the 'Djo' last name after Allana Grievous Kenobi and replace it with 'Skywalker', only Luke urged her to keep Allana's name the way it was.

"It's apart of her identity," he'd explained. "Even if she was born out of rape, let her keep the last name out of respect of her other family." Thus her daughter's name remained Allana Grievous Kenobi Djo with 'Skywalker' simply added onto it.

Anneliese was a little confused over why the woman she considered to be a grandmother would be calling out to her in a distressful cry. She realized that something must've been wrong. The clan needed her help.

Luke than sat up beside her in bed and wrapped her into his arms. Anneliese sighed. She didn't mean for her troubled spirit to wake up her husband.

The last year had been the most exhilarating year in her entire two decades of living, because in that time she found the love of another, whom also loved her daughter in turn.

Anneliese had pretty much been turned off from the whole romantic life she assumed she would eventually lead out after being raped. And though she shared a small crush with Jacen not long after meeting him, she really didn't see him in that light and made sure to usually steer clear of the male gender.

Enter Luke Skywalker. Anneliese and Luke had first met over six years ago when he and Leila joined the Empire during the Galactic Civil War's second year. They'd met on occasion and one could say they were friends. But had one told the two of them they'd end up getting married someday, both probably would've laughed outright. Because until recently, there had been no attraction between them whatsoever. But young Allana, unbeknown to her, had saw to change this. Now they were soul mates, sharing an unbreakable bond of love. Something that their son Ben had only made even stronger.

Luke ran his hands along the bare skin of her arms, and Anneliese found herself shivering in delight at the touch.

"Your spirit's so toiled in fear Anna," he said softly. "What's wrong?"

Anneliese sighed again and leaned back, getting lost in the feeling of her husband's bare chest at her back and muscular arms circling her waist.

"Oh Luke," she purred, turning to look to him.

They gazed at each other a moment before their lips met in a warm kiss. Each moaned into the other's mouth and Luke ran his hands along the slender form of his wife that was only being covered by that of a nightgown.

Not wanting Luke to get the wrong idea, Anneliese stopped it before it could get out of hand.

"Enough," she playfully reprimanded upon ending the kiss.

Luke simply grinned before tackling her to the bed. She laughed and fought against him playfully before they stopped and simply held each other.

After a moment of silence, Luke spoke again. "You wanna tell me what's wrong Anna?"

Anneliese sighed. How was she supposed to tell him this?

"You could try starting from the beginning?" he suggested. "That might help."

She gave him an annoyed stare. "What is it with you Skywalkers and your inability to keep out of other people's minds?"

Luke looked playfully affronted. "Hey! I resent that! Especially since you're a Skywalker now too."

"True, but that hasn't given me the urge to start reading people's minds."

Luke looked more humored then affronted this time. "Again, I resent that!"

Anneliese merely shrugged. "To each his own my friend. But seriously, I'm not sure how to say this to you other than to just come out with it – I'm leaving for Dathomir. I don't know what it is, but they need my help. I can't tell you how startled I was to hear Augwynne calling out to me in distress. It has to be something major for a woman like her to need help. I'm not asking you if I can go. I'm telling you that I'm going rather you approve or not. They're practically my family Luke, and I-"

"Anneliese, you don't have to explain yourself to me," Luke said with understanding and a warm smile. "If you need to go, I'm not going to try and stop you. I'll simply make the offer that I come with you. Yet if you don't want me to, I respect that."

"But who'll look after the kids?" she asked.

"I'll talk to Gabby or Elektra," he offered. "One, if not both, of them will do it."

Anneliese gave him a slow smile. "Then, I guess it's settled then."

"I guess so."

Anneliese and Luke were about to bring their lips together for another kiss when the door to their room flew open and in ran three-year-old Allana.

"Mommy! Luke! Get up! Get up! The sun's out early!"

Allana pounced onto the bed with a pillow she was clutching and started a fight with it, all the while laughing delightfully. Anneliese also laughed as she and Luke joined in.

Her daughter was beautiful with her long, flowing hair and adorable little face. She had the pure looks of both her mother and maternal grandmother with Anneliese's ginger hair, but Antellica's brown eyes and almost medium skin. Oddly enough, she looked a lot like Philomena did at her age. Only Allana's hair was a lighter reddish-brown then Philomena's near-black auburn.

Picking Allana up off the bed, Luke went to ready some bathwater for her while Anneliese went to check on Ben.

It seemed like it was only yesterday to Anneliese that she was giving birth to her presently almost seven-week-old son. He was growing so fast. Going into the adjoining room that contained Ben's nursery showed Anneliese that he was still sound asleep, just the way she liked it. He was quite the noisemaker when he wanted to be. Knowing this peace and quiet wouldn't last forever, Anneliese took some fresh clothes for him to wear, prepared his bottle, and had a diaper ready. Not long afterwards, Ben announced he was awake with a whining cry and Anneliese rushed into the nursery to tend to him.

With two kids under the age of four, it could take a little while to get up and greet the day, but eventually it could be pulled off.

It seemed like everyone else in the manor had been awoken by the early morning sun. But like Anneliese and Luke, no one knew what was going on until Troy and the others arrived home and explained.

The news of the Shadow somehow getting a hold of the Orbital Nightcloak satellites to make a fake eclipse enraged, yet disturbed the Emperor, and he was more insistent then ever that everyone stay put together on Coruscant. This put something of a cramp in Anneliese wanting to go to Dathomir, but she figured what her uncle didn't know wouldn't hurt him. She and Luke pulled aside Gabriella, as everyone was gathered on the manor's royal main level, concerning the matter of the kids, but it just so happened that Hilton was close by and overheard them.

"Dathomir? What do you need to go there for?"

This caught everyone's attention and Anneliese sighed irritably, though Luke was the one who did the reprimanding. "Nice Hilton. Just great."

Hilton looked unaffected. "Well, I think everyone has a right to know. Surely you weren't thinking about sneaking away unnoticed."

At the couple's averted gaze, Hilton looked at them strangely. "You mean you were going to sneak away unnoticed?"

"No one's going anywhere," Anakin said, dismissing the subject.

"Uncle please," Anneliese begged, "Augwynne is in some type of trouble; I just know it."

"And that's your problem how?" Alexander asked.

Anneliese looked at her brother in disbelief. "How can you be so insensitive?" She then turned to the room as a whole. "Please, everyone helped before. You can do the same now."

"The only reason we helped last time is because you were in the middle of danger," Anakin justified. "I will not put my family at risk because of some petty squabbles between a couple of witches. No, Anneliese. You are staying right where you belong, here on Coruscant."

"But they need me," Anneliese started.

"What you need is to do as you're told," Antellica said sharply.

Anneliese's eyes flashed. "You shut your mouth Antellica," she spat. "All you care about is yourself."

Antellica wasn't the only person who looked taken aback by Anneliese's use of her mother's first name – practically everyone did – but no one got a chance to say anything about it because Anakin spoke up, dismissing the matter once more.

"You're not going Anneliese, and that's final."

"I'd like to think that the only reason you're holding me back is because of your concern," she said in a level tone, "but this goes beyond that. You're just like Antellica. You don't care about anyone but yourself and what you think is right. Well, now I'm going to do what I think is right and you're not stopping me." She turned to Gabriella. "I know you never got a chance to agree upon looking after the kids-"

"I don't mind," Gabriella said with a smile. "It'll be fun." She glanced over at Allana, who was sitting in the middle on the living room floor between the HV and a circular couch with her toy rancor, Princess Lula, and said, "Right Allana?"

The little girl looked up and gave her the thumbs up with a giggly grin. "Totally!"

Gabriella flashed Anneliese a smile. "There, you see."

"And I'm help," River added with a raised hand.

"Me too," Elektra seconded.

"Me...three I guess," Hilton added.

"Me four," Lacovia shrugged.

"I think another way of putting it," Jacen finalized, "is that we'll all help."

"Yeah." Everyone gave their nods of agreement.

"There's nothing to agree upon because no one's going anywhere," Antellica said exasperatedly.

Anneliese chose to ignore her. "We'll be off then. Come here Allana."

Allana came over and gave her mother a hug and kiss before doing the same with Luke.

"I'm going to go with you," Leila abruptly said, handing little Ben to a confused Alexander.

"We don't need to be babysat Leila," Luke said with some irritation.

"I'm not going to babysit you," she explained calmly. "I just need to get off Coruscant. I'm getting tired of it here."

"You're not going anywhere," Alexander and Anakin said at the same time.

"What is it with males that they feel they must control the females they care about?" Leila asked to no one in particular.

"I demand that you take those words back," Troy said in exasperation.

"I've been trying to figure that out for years," Arica said in response to Leila with a glance at her husband, and ignoring Troy.

"Haven't we all," Lacovia added, also glancing at her father.

"I'd like to think that I'm not apart of this conversation," Troy said, "but I will not stand for the degrading of the male gender in my own presence."

"There's many things I won't stand for," Alexander added, "and one of them includes-"

"I'll take that as our exit cue."

While Anakin, Alexander, and Antellica were held back by everyone else in the room, Anneliese, Luke, and Leila made their hasty exit out of the building and off the planet in Luke's ship, _Dark Sabre_.

Eventually, Anakin, Alexander, and Antellica were able to fend off their captors. The overprotected father/uncle and husband/brother both announced they were going after the trio to Dathomir to bring them back. And while Antellica also wanted to come, she was urged by both to stay on Coruscant to make sure no one else left the planet or else shoot them.

"Having the gun set for stun of course," Anakin clarified at their looks of horror.

When Arica voiced that this wasn't necessary, the Emperor made her, Antellica, and the rest swear that they wouldn't leave the capital under any circumstance. Once this was done, he and Alexander left with a squadron of the fleet to bring back the twins and Anneliese.


	107. Chaos and the Second Kidnapping

Author's Note: Finally, a long, action-filled chapter. Let the choir of angels rejoice!

Twisterblake: I'll just say that the Shadow isn't going anywhere anytime soon. However, you can expect some action from Luke in this.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

Twisted Words: He was, wasn't he? But he's just concerned, that's all. Don't worry. He doesn't screw up their mission too much, actually helping in the end. But that's to be left for next time.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 7: Chaos and the Second Kidnapping

When it came to the safety of Allana and Ben, no one in the Royal House was taking any chances. Despite the fact that Gabriella was the one whom was asked to watch over them, everyone pitched in. The young children were watched over at all times, with the ones watching them always being on their guard. Being under constant supervision wasn't that bad for the kids though; they were kept well entertained and enjoyed all the attention. During the night, the family watched over Allana and Ben in shifts of two for two hours each during the kids' 2000-0600 sleeping hours in this order:

2000-2200: Jacen and Gabriella

2200-2400: Troy and Antellica

2400-0200: Lacovia and River

0200-0400: Elektra and Hilton

0400-0600: Arica and Gabriella

It seemed like the perfect plan. There wasn't anyway whatsoever the children could be taken without someone knowing about it, and subsequently preventing it. Little did anyone know, however, this analogy was about to be proven wrong.

At exactly 0300, during Elektra and Hilton's shift, an unknown presence secretly entered Skywalker Manor with one small task on the agenda: Kidnap Allana and Ben Skywalker, and anyone who stands in their way.

Keeping their presence safely cloaked, to the length of nonexistence in the Force, the individual slowly made their way up to the royal residence's sixty-eighth level.

* * *

Hilton Grievous Skywalker, 22, was doing a rare activity to pass by the time as he helped watched over his second cousin and half nephew/second cousin. He was reading a graphic novel that Troy was letting him borrow. It was slightly intriguing to say the least, but not so much that he wouldn't pick up on something if anything happened. With the book being about a man who develops a rare skin disease that gave him superhuman powers to control wind, waves, and cosmic storms in space, Hilton found some of it to be a little far fetched. Yet all in all, it wasn't that bad of a tale. 

His eighteen-year-old sister, shoulder-length curly blonde haired Elektra, meanwhile, was helping the time go by with giving herself a manicure on the off-white carpeted floor beneath the edge of Ben's crib. Hilton was laying on Allana's bed, as its owner had wanted to sleep beside Ben in his crib to be near him.

Glancing down at Elektra, though, showed him that she was just finishing up. Closing the lid of one of the polish bottles, she began to blow on her nails to dry them. Hilton returned to his book and Elektra continued with her nails, unbeknown that the supposed sleeping Allana was about to pull a prank on them.

"Roar!"

Both Hilton and Elektra were on their feet instantly; Hilton with his navy blue lightsaber activated, Elektra with her blaster raised at the entrance of the room.

An outburst of giggles whipped them around to see Allana standing up in the crib and looking at them in the most zaniest way. With a scowl, both put down their weapons and looked at the toddler reprovingly. She merely continued to giggle.

"Lighten up!" she urged. "And laugh a little."

At their perpetual scowls, she pouted. "I have to go potty, so one of you can pick me up and take me to the fresher. I choose Hilton."

She opened her arms towards him, giving him that adorable, irresistible smile that he always found cute about her. Slowly, surely, the scowl disappeared and was replaced by a smile.

"Come here you!"

Allana squealed with delight as Hilton picked her up out of the crib and Elektra laughed, but urged them to keep their voices down for Ben's sake.

Hilton turned to his sister, slightly concerned for her well being during his time of absence. Sensing this from him, she gave an assuring smile.

"I'll be fine Hilton. I promise you that."

With a nod, he and Allana left the room, chattering softly – "You're getting heavy." "I know! It's because I'm growing!" "Well, of course you are. You can't stay little forever. I remember when I was your age..." – and leaving Elektra behind to guard Ben.

Notwithstanding the semi-noise that had been made with Allana pranking them, the small baby slept on in peace. Elektra smiled down at him in the crib and admired his little features. Though only almost two months, it was obvious what side of the family he was taking after: the Skywalkers.

He looked like he was going to be the perfect mixture of his father and paternal grandfather. Her only hope was that he lived long enough to grow out his looks to their full extent, unlike Dylan and Cole. She missed those little guys, but tried not to think of them too much. She didn't like reliving the pain of them being gone.

Giving little Ben one last pat on the head, she made to sit down on Allana's bed, only to stop herself upon hearing an abrupt noise in the room across from the nursery (Luke and Anneliese's). She didn't sense Hilton's presence come away from the fresher yet, and Allana was still inside.

Taking her blaster in one hand, and activating her gold bladed lightsaber in the other, Elektra circled towards Luke and Anneliese's room, senses all alert. She wasn't picking up on anything, but then, wasn't that to be expected?

A moment later, the lights abruptly went out, only for Elektra to turn them back on via the Force. She sneered, "Nice try. But I'm a little too old for the whole turning the lights out trick. If you want me, you'll just have to face me like a man." She paused for a moment. "Or woman."

"_Elektra, who are you talking to?"_ Hilton asked telepathically.

"_As of the present, I don't know. But make no mistake, someone's here who shouldn't be."_

Hilton was silent a moment, and Elektra knew he was reaching out into the Force. Finally, he spoke again, but in the native tongue of the Sith. These days, the language was so rare, only the most powerful of Force sensitives were able to speak it fluently. This consisted of the entire royal family. It was their way to commune telepathically in secret when they didn't want eavesdroppers knowing what they were saying. They'd developed this secret method following Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's murder.

_(I'll keep Allana in the fresher. Be careful.)_

_(I will.)_

Elektra positioned herself in front of Ben's crib and aimed her blaster into the seemingly empty adjacent room, her lightsaber ready in an arch to the floor.

Donned entirely in black, a shoulder-length blonde haired, green eyed girl of Elektra's exact age, give or take a few months, appeared at the threshold of the nursery, blue lightsaber activated, her face void of emotion.

Elektra found herself becoming surprised and confused. She knew this girl. No, they'd never met before, but she was quite popular during the Legacy of the Force war. One of the few Jedi who resigned before the final battle on Bespin as a matter of fact.

"Tahiri Veila!" she exclaimed. "This is a surprise. Did you come here to visit Jacen. Somehow, I get the feeling you didn't."

Tahiri smirked beneath her hooded cloak. "No. I didn't come here to visit Jacen actually. I'm under orders to retrieve Luke and Anneliese Skywalker's children, and all who get in my way."

Elektra offered her a mocking smile. "What a pity it'll be than for you to report back to your master empty handed. If you report back at all."

"A sense of humor," Tahiri said dryly. "The Grievous-Skywalker House is known for that."

"You know what else we're known for?" Elektra asked. "Our hobby of killing people whenever the opportunity presents itself."

Elektra took a shot at Tahiri, but it was quickly deflected back at her. Catching the bolt with her lightsaber, she threw it back at her opponent, all the while firing more shots. All were ducked and deflected back and forth, eventually ending up on either wall of the room. Ben woke up halfway through this and started to cry loudly.

Throwing away her blaster, Elektra placed both hands on her lightsaber hilt and began to strike at Tahiri violently, throwing in some high and low kicks for good measure. It was obvious who was the better fighter between the two, even if Tahiri wielded the dark side now. Elektra had been perfecting her Force skills all her life. Through using the Force to its full extent with the light and dark, Elektra was easily winning this battle.

The duel had led them into Anneliese and Luke's bedroom, leaving the nursery unattended. Elektra should have seen this as a trick beforehand, but never had it crossed her mind that there was more than one kidnapper present.

Crashing through the bedroom's only window was a black haired Human male who looked strangely familiar to Elektra for some reason. She didn't know why, but than she didn't get a chance to have a good look at him either.

Keeping up the fight with Tahiri, she directed it back into the nursery. Tahiri tried to prevent this, but with Elektra having the upper hand of the duel she really didn't have much of a choice.

Elektra roared as the black haired partner of Tahiri roughly yanked Ben out of his crib and made to strike at the kidnapper when she caught a look of his face. It was impossible!

"Drake!"

In that brief moment of shock, Tahiri kicked Elektra to the ground and made the deathblow over top her. Elektra blocked it in time to see her former friend go back out the crashed window with the screaming Ben and onto what looked to be a ship in orbit of the building.

* * *

Hilton had been watching Elektra's duel with Tahiri through his sister's eyes from the moment it began. He was hiding inside the fresher with Allana, their presences cloaked. As much as he wanted to join his sister in battle, he knew the protection of Allana was more important. 

By now, all the other House members in the building had been awoken and told of the situation. The only thing was, with he and Elektra on the sixty-eighth level, and everyone else from four (River) to thirteen (Arica) levels below, Tahiri's trick of snapping the main elevator cord in half right between levels sixty-five and sixty-six – Dylan and Cole's former quarters – caused quite the problem. Everyone had loaded onto the elevator one by one from their designated level, all bound for the same place when the lift abruptly began to lose traction. A moment later, it began to zoom down the shaft at an impossible speed. They didn't have time to slow it down; they simply had to get out.

Escaping through the emergency hatch on the ceiling of the lift, they threw tow cables at the shaft wall to attach themselves and prevent from falling to their doom. Each ended up somewhere between levels thirty and thirty-nine before the elevator hit the bottom of the shaft with a crashed explosion. The seven escapees jumped up higher from side to side with the aid of their tow cables, so they were nowhere near the explosive fire when it shot up the shaft a few levels. They were just about to continue this on their way up to the level sixty-eight when Jacen told them to look up.

Circling the top of the shaft above the building was a ship they all assumed was apart of the kidnapping attempt.

"Should we go up or down?" Lacovia asked.

In answer to this question, three proton torpedoes were shot down the shaft from the above ship. The group had no choice but to drop to the bottom of the still-smoking shaft and roll away from the wreckage of the elevator into a secret underground tunnel before it was struck by the torpedoes.

* * *

Hilton was in shock. The sight of the black haired young man who'd crashed his way into Anneliese and Luke's bedroom window baffled him upon the recognition. 

Though Drake Jovovich, along with his three younger triplet siblings, had vanished almost six years ago following the mysterious murder of their mother and that of many others on Muunilinist, Hilton always knew they would reappear eventually. It was only a matter of time. But not like this. Not crashing into the royal manor to aide a fallen Jedi's mission in kidnapping two innocent children.

The shock of seeing his one-time close friend soon turned to rage as he saw him taking Ben from his crib under the cover of Elektra and Tahiri's fight and escaping back onto what seemed to be a ship in orbit of the building.

Grabbing Allana, Hilton left the fresher at a run. He didn't want to bring her with him, but he wasn't about to leave her behind. Hilton charged into the room, lightsaber activated and Allana in his arms, and joined Elektra's duel against Tahiri.

Tahiri sighed in irritation as she blocked the new increase of attacks from the Grievous-Skywalker siblings. With the two of them here now, she knew she was no match against them. She was simply too weak a Sith. Even as a Jedi, she'd always been the "lesser experienced" one when it came to fighting other Force sensitives. And while she was a lot more experienced now, unlike them, she hadn't been training in the Force all her life.

Accepting her defeat, Tahiri disengaged herself from the duel and quickly lit a smoke grenade, throwing it towards the royal twosome as she put a gas mask over her face and ran back at them, ready to resume the duel.

Hilton and Elektra were both coughing through the toxic fumes of the bomb as they continued to fight Tahiri, and Allana looked like she was going to be sick. She passed out first, not long afterwards, falling limp in Hilton's arms.

The fumes were getting too much for them, despite their drawing into the Force to sustain themselves from it. Elektra fought it as best she could, but soon found herself feeling woozy and losing her balance. Hilton attempted to hold her up, but he was beginning to feel a little woozy himself, causing her to slip from his grasp.

Oddly enough, Tahiri had stopped attacking them, but he saw why a moment later. She lit two more of the smoke grenades and threw them in their direction.

It was beyond bearable now. Hilton was only able to deactivate his and Elektra's lightsabers before they both fell to the floor unconscious.

Tahiri let a triumphant smirk light her face before dragging all three captives out the destroyed window and onto the ship that was being used by she and Drake.

* * *

Barely escaping the elevator shaft unharmed, the group of seven raced out of Skywalker Manor and split up in two directions. While Arica, Lacovia, Troy, and Gabriella raced to the left side of the building and shot grappling hooks up at one of the window ledges on Level Sixty-Eight, Antellica, River and Jacen raced for the starship garage located northeast of the manor. Rather the kidnappers were successful in their mission or not, their ship would be trailed to wherever they came from and hence be eliminated. 

Upon arriving at the garage, however, Antellica sensed something amiss in the Force, and held River and Jacen back. And not a moment too soon! A millisecond later, the three of them were rocketed back by a massive explosion.

For a moment, River thought they were under fire, but looking up into the sky proved this thought wrong. Obviously, a bomb had been installed inside the garage to go off whenever someone came within a certain proximity of it.

The starship garage was gone. That structure had housed so many ships belonging to the royals, and now, they were all gone. Every single ship owned by the family had been within that building. How were they supposed to track the kidnappers now?

"Now, aren't you glad I never left the _Falcon_ in the royal garage?"

Antellica and River turned to a grinning Jacen and gasped. They'd forgotten all about his ship.

"Come on! We don't have much time!"

* * *

Reaching the Sixty-Eighth Level window ledge, Arica somersaulted over it and through the window with a crash. She landed inside the floor's kitchen with her children soon following. Picking themselves up off the floor, they headed for Anneliese and Luke's bedroom. By the time they reached it, Tahiri was just dragging her last captive, Elektra, onto the ship. Gabriella opened fire with her new laser ray gun, getting in a few good shots on the boarding ramp and one near miss of Tahiri. But the ship didn't stay long. Tahiri yelled for whoever was piloting it to take off and it blasted away from the destroyed window at rapid speed, yet not before Arica could shot her grappling gun at it and be rocketed along with it. She heard her kids' screams of shock behind her, but didn't really give much thought to it. With the historical background she had, they shouldn't have been too surprised by her sudden move. 

Pressing the lever that would allow her to go up, Arica spun through the air as the wind whipped rapidly around her and she felt herself rise on the cord. Looking down she saw that Skywalker Manor was nothing more then a small dot now. She must've been at least close to 10,000 feet up and still counting. And while they wouldn't be in space for a few hundred thousand feet, Arica needed to get herself onto that ship fast.

Averting her eyes from the nearing clouds of Coruscant, she turned them to one of the ship's viewports. Tahiri was looking down at her with that of utmost shock on her face. Taking one of her hands off the gun, Arica merely gave her a sarcastic wave in return.

The boarding ramp was lowered slightly a moment later and Tahiri began to open fire on her with Elektra's blaster pistol. Arica evaded all the shots, and with the hand that hadn't yet returned to holding the gun, she whipped out a knife from her pocket and threw it up at the girl. When the knife came into contact with Tahiri's right arm, the teen screamed in agony that soon turned to rage. Pulling the knife out of her arm with a yell, Tahiri used it to saw at the grappling hook cord Arica was rising up on.

She was so close. Just a few more feet and Arica could easily jump herself onto the boarding ramp.

Alas, that time never came. Just as Arica was about to jump, the grappling cord snapped in half and Tahiri threw a powerful Force-push that Arica didn't even think was possible from the girl, down at her.

Arica began to descend through the air, losing her grappling gun in the process. She was falling at a speed unnatural to the Human body and began to wonder how she was going to get herself out of this situation. But she needn't worry. The _Millennium Falcon_ had orbited itself not far from where she was falling and the boarding ramp was down. Troy and the others, besides Jacen and Antellica, whom were piloting the ship, were all bunched up onto it, calling onto the Force to slow their speeding mother out of the sky. She landed softly, yet abruptly, in her favorite son's waiting arms. He was grinning at her and she smirked back. "Ha, ha, Troy."

"Come on!" River laughed. "Let's get you on board."

With the help of the Force, the _Millennium Falcon_ was able to track Tahiri's ship before it jumped to lightspeed and trail it through hyperspace.

* * *

Elektra wasn't out long; couldn't have been anymore than an hour. In her unconscious state, she forced herself to reawaken. Upon doing so, she found herself in what appeared to be a starship cabin of some kind. She didn't give the room much of a look around, though, for two reasons: 1) she didn't care, and 2) she needed to find a weapon to slaughter Tahiri with. 

She didn't have to look far, for there was an elegant blade with a rhinestone encrusted handle laying atop a nearby table. Glancing around the room, Elektra didn't see anyone, yet she wasn't about to reach into the Force to determine where they were. She didn't want the ships' occupants to know she was awake yet.

Slowly, cautiously, she got up from her sprawled position on the floor with a brief glance at the still unconscious forms of Hilton and Allana laying the same way beside her. Moving as quiet as a cat towards the cabin table, Elektra quickly reached out her hand and gripped the rhinestone decorated handle. Taking a moderate look that didn't distract her from the situation she was in, she was slightly surprised to find that the blade was an exact replica of the one her mother owned.

Intrigued, Elektra gave it another look over. There was no mistaking it this time. This was the exact same blade Elektra gave her mother upon turning forty-one the previous year. She could tell because Elektra had had her mother's name engraved on the other side of the handle.

What her mother's dagger could be doing here of all places she didn't know, but merely thanked the stars she had a weapon to fight with.

Blade in hand, Elektra slowly and quietly left the cabin and proceeded down the only hallway that led out of the room on the right. It was dark and led into a small sitting chamber, also dark, she observed. Inside sat Tahiri on the room's only couch, gazing at what seemed to be a Sith holocron.

Elektra smirked at the fact that the former Jedi had yet to notice her arrival. "Too bad that knowledge you're reading isn't going to do you any good against my wrath."

Tahiri snapped to attention, dropping the holocron in the process. Her blue blade came to life with a _snap-hiss_, but Elektra called it away from her. Deactivating it, she tossed it aside.

"There'll be no need for that Veila," Elektra sneered, leveling her mother's dagger at her foe. "This isn't a rematch after all; it's a slaughter."

Reaching out with the Force, Elektra grabbed Tahiri by the throat and slammed her into the wall behind the couch. Somersaulting through the air, Elektra came at her with a swinging kick as Tahiri tried to pick herself up off the floor. Reaching down and pulling Tahiri to a stand, Elektra swiftly plunged her dagger into her enemies' throat. But Elektra didn't stop there. Throwing the screaming female from her, Elektra was there when she landed on the floor beneath the couch. Sharply yanking the blade out of the gash in her throat, Elektra created another, and another, and another. She was pretty much hacking her neck to pieces in a pool of blood. Finally, pulling the blood-coated dagger out of Tahiri's neck for the last time, Elektra wiped it off on the dead girl's black robes.

Giving her one last look of disgust, Elektra rose to find Drake standing in the entranceway of the room. He looked at her and than Tahiri a moment before letting a smirk play on his lips.

"Interesting Elektra," he said in a casual sounding tone, "but not at all tragic. I never liked Tahiri much." He sneered down at her dead corpse. "You simply did what I myself would've done eventually. She was much too annoying for my tastes."

Elektra simply stared at him. So many things were running through her mind concerning him, where he'd been the past six years, what he was doing helping kidnap the very family he was once apart of to an extent.

"Drake-why-how-"

"Ah yes, the questions." He looked at her in a cross between a smirk and sneer. "I wondered how long it might take for you to start asking. Sadly for you, I'm in no mood to answer them. Later perhaps."

"Drake-"

"And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to my meditating."

And before Elektra could say another word, Drake shot her down with a stun gun. She returned to her former state of unconsciousness.

* * *

Author's Note #2: For those of you who've been wondering when Jaina shows up, she's back in the next chapter alongside Braxton. 


	108. The Second Dathomir Crisis: Onslaught

Twisterblake: He died in the previous episode, remember. That's the only reason the _Falcon_ belongs to Jacen now. He inherited it from his father at death.

MissNaye: We shall see.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 8: The Second Dathomir Crisis: Onslaught

Jaina Solo, 21, and Braxton Jovovich, 20, had been sent to Dathomir by their master, the Shadow, to lead an assault on the planet's tribe of Force-sensitive witches. The Imperial prison and base on-world had swiftly been exterminated, and the troops killed to assure that the battle remained between the witches and the Shadow's servants. Besides the occupants on the planet fighting, no one else was to know or be apart of the attack, save Anneliese Grievous-Skywalker that is.

It was a well-known fact that the daughter of Antellica Grievous was a Dathomiri Witch, even having a daughter of her own through the slave son of a Nightsister. The Witches of Dathomir were like family to her. She'd do anything to ensure they were safe. Accordingly, the first part of the Shadow's plan – to split up the Royal House across the galaxy – fit perfectly with this. Anneliese would probably come with her husband and sister-in-law, the Skywalker twins. And that would be perfect. Jaina and Braxton were more then a match for the three of them combined. The Shadow had no doubt they would succeed in killing the trio. All would continue to go as planned.

* * *

Anneliese was on edge the entire two-day journey to Dathomir. She couldn't help but think somehow they would be too late, and she still didn't know what from. The calls of distress Anneliese had been receiving from Augwynne ceased not long after she, Luke, and Leila started on their journey to the planet. And to make matters worse, the elderly witch's presence in the Force had disappeared to nonexistent soon after. Thankfully, Anneliese had the twins to comfort her in distress and be there for her when she needed it. 

When _Dark Sabre_ landed on Dathomir at its scheduled time, it was for the ship's three occupants to find themselves in the middle of a vicious battle. Death was everywhere, blood was everywhere; it was nothing short of a massacre.

Countless witches were being sliced down before Anneliese's very eyes by a hooded figure whose presence felt oddly familiar to her. Dismissing this as a trap, Anneliese charged out of the ship, lightsaber blazing and ready to fight. Luke and Leila quickly followed her.

Noticing the new arrivals, Jaina abandoned the witches she was fighting and went to meet them in attack.

Jaina had always found, even as a Jedi, that the Force flowed within her better when she was using the Dark Side. There was just something attracting about that feel of dark energy swirling around you. It was seducing, powerful, and enhancing to the body who wielded it, yet passionate, cruel, and unnatural all at the same time. In a word, it was satisfying.

Not many witches remained of the Shadow Sith's attack on them. But really, there hadn't been much of a tribe to begin with. The uprising of Gethzerion and her Nightsisters three years ago had seen to that. All six clans of Dathomiri Witches had been slaughtered during her reign, save a large part of the Singing Mountain Clan due to Imperial aide. And though the surviving clan had flourished over the years, it had never reached its former glory of having over five hundred members in its assembly. And because of the attack that was now taking place against the clan, all hope of ever returning to this was lost.

Jaina engaged the Skywalker twins in battle while Anneliese rushed to aid Augwynne, who seemed to be in a losing battle with another familiar hooded figure.

How Braxton could've ever resisted the Force's call before, he had no idea. The way it swirled around him while he dueled the old War Leader of the Dathomiri Witch clan was breathtaking. With rapid precision, he felt no reason for holding back against the experienced witch's advances. They'd been going at it for a while now, and though at first they'd been of level standing, as time progressed, the elderly witch tired and Braxton gained the upper hand. It was by this time that Anneliese and the Skywalker twins arrived. Braxton smirked upon seeing them and took the opening that presented itself when Augwynne glanced at the newcomers. She realized her mistake all too late. Braxton's crimson blade pierced into her chest just as her eyes a lit with happiness upon seeing Anneliese again. The pleasant smile disappeared at the pain and turned to a grimace of agony.

Anneliese yelled Augwynne's name as the old warrior woman fell to the ground in death. Grief and loss briefly overtook her as she looked down at the dead form of her mentor. This was soon replaced with hatred and rage, however, as she looked up at the hooded figure that had taken away one of the most special people in her life. Her eyes turned Sith yellow and she ran at him striking violently.

The smirk that had come to Barxton's face at Anneliese's rage towards him quickly vanished when she threw herself at him. Her fury at him fueled such an attack that he didn't even think was possible and found it hard to keep up. But never once did she slow. If anything, she simply came with new found vigor at each strike.

Braxton was confused and terrified at being overwhelmed like this. How was this happening? He'd been skilled by simply the best for the past almost six years. Under Drake and Bellatrix, he was the best of his siblings when it came to swordplay. How could he be overtaken by a person who wielded both sides of the Force? Such beings that used the light and dark were pathetic, his master told him. Insolent scum who didn't deserve to use the Force at all if they couldn't decide on which side to use. He very much agreed to this analogy, but as Anneliese continued to strike at him, throwing him back, he began to wonder.

It happened quicker than Braxton realized. One moment he was deflecting a blow from Anneliese's blade, the next he was being knocked to the ground and having his stomach cut into. At the impact of falling to the ground, his hood fell back causing Anneliese to gasp.

"Braxton!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

Calling onto the midi-chlorains, he assayed to take her shock as an opening. But she wouldn't allow it. Despite the fact that they were old friends, he was still the murderer of her daughter's great-grandmother and she would not allow him to live.

He died a moment after with his head being cut off.

Jaina retreated upon Braxton's death. That was not supposed to have happened, and somehow she got the impression that her master would not be pleased about these turn of events.

Just as Jaina was escaping, the Imperial fleet arrived in orbit around the planet.

Sensing the escaping ship as an enemy, Anakin ordered the fleet to open fire. Jaina expertly maneuvered her ship to evade Imperial shots as she made the calculations to lightspeed.

Before she made the jump, however, unbeknown to her, Alexander was able to reach out with the Force to eavesdrop on her thoughts as she made these calculations. These same calculations were placed into the fleet's ships and, as such, were able to trail her in hyperspace as she made her getaway.


	109. The Unknown World of Wayland

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

arzum: Yup. Obi-Wan's really dead. His death is revealed in a flashback in a later chapter. I'm glad you're enjoying the episode. There's so much more to come.

MissNaye: Some of them are (overconfident in their abilities). But there's still some major twists and turns to come from this. We haven't even reached the chapter halfway point yet.

Special Agent Elf Lord: Thank you. I'm delighted to know you're loving it still.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 9: The Unknown World of Wayland

A simple clerical error in the Old Republic planetary registry lost the planet Wayland from all known charts during the government's second wave of expansion, and doomed the expeditionary vessel seeking to settle a colony there. Once on Wayland, the colonists were on their own, completely forgotten in the unfathomable bureaucracy of the Old Republic.

This was only the start of misfortune for the intrepid colonists. Their vessel crashed upon arrival. Though the colonists preserved, and for a time, developed a pleasant life in Wayland environs, the lack of resupply vessels meant that many modern innovations fell into disrepair. The human colonists regressed technology, discarding their blasters for bows and arrows, their modern fabrics for furs and hides.

The colonists clashed with the two native intelligence species on Wayland, the crystal-skinned Myneyrshi and the lumpy armor-plated Psadans. While the humans, at first, dominated the more primitive species, as the colonists regressed the struggle became more even-sided.

Millenniums later, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious discovered Wayland. He took special interest in the isolated world, and visited it himself. For security purposes, he commanded that its absence from official documentation continue. Wayland was to become one of the Sith Lord's trophy worlds, and a secret, safe repository for his rare treasures and prized pieces of technology.

After the rise of the Empire, Imperial engineers secretly hollowed out a storeroom within Mount Tantiss, and the Emperor installed a powerful Force-wielding Guardian to protect the trove.

The Shadow came across Wayland not long after Palpatine was overthrown and killed the Guardian, taking his place. The Guardian used their power to force the inhabitants of the world to live together peacefully. The Humans, Psadans, and Myneyrshis built a city to the southwest of Mount Tantiss, though their tensions never truly subsided.

Mount Tantiss was located in Wayland's northern hemisphere, near the edge of its main continent. Rediscovered by the Shadow, the Mount Tantiss storeroom contained the tools she needed in retaking the Empire from its pathetic Grievous-Skywalker House. In addition to a working prototype of a modern cloaking shield, Mount Tantiss hid thousands of Spaarti cloning cylinders.

The Spaarti cylinders – refinements of Kaminoan technology developed on Cartao during the Clone Wars – became a nearly inexhaustible source of new stormtroopers and Imperial troops from the ones she kidnapped six years ago during the mysterious vanishings and deaths surrounding Muunilinst.

With a Spaarti cloning cylinder, a fully grown adult human could be grown in a staggeringly quick twenty standard days. However, because of the extreme accelerated development, the clones would have "clone madness". To counter the side effects, the Shadow would use ysalamiri to keep stable clones. To create clones from Spaarti cloning cylinders was the fastest known form of cloning in the galaxy.

Kaminoan cloning had a single clone grown safely at maturity in ten years; Spaarti in one year. However, Kaminoan cloning was much more effective, creating perfect warriors despite the long wait.

The perpetual cloning the Shadow had done over the years brought a large number of subordinates for her uprising; high in the millions. Because of this, the native species of the planet were eventually slaughtered to make room for the new clones.

Presently, the Shadow, in the Mount Tantiss storeroom itself, sensed from her servant Jaina that she and Braxton's mission to kill Antellica Grievous' daughter and the Skywalker twins on Dathomir had failed, resulting in Braxton's death. Now, even as she thought it, Jaina was being trailed to Wayland by a vast Imperial fleet. A battle was sure to follow. The Shadow found herself smirking.

"_Well now, let us be ready for them when they arrive than..."_

* * *

Upon exiting hyperspace, Jaina was greatly startled to discover that the Imperial fleet had tracked her to Wayland. No matter, she didn't have much time to think this over, for a second later her ship, _Solo Fire_, was under fire. Hitting down hard on the accelerator, Jaina floored it as she raced onto the lush, semi-tropical world and landed at the emergency shuttle hanger located at the peak of the Mount Tantiss complex. 

The Mount Tantiss complex had only one entrance, located at the southwest side. Besides the shuttle hanger, the peak of the complex also held the royal chambers, a throne room with a twenty-meter wide hologram of the galaxy, a rocky prison block, and a few spare rooms that were currently being used as quarters for the Shadow's formerly six, presently four apprentices.

The Shadow was waiting for Jaina upon arrival, and the young woman prepared herself for the worst. Though a powerful Dark Sider who pushed her students to the full length of their potential, the Shadow was cold, cruel, and sadistic. And she did not take to failure lightly. Punishments under her tutelage included Force lightning attacks, Force-chokes, Force Whirlwind attacks, and mind probes of the worst experiences of their lives. The last of which seemed to be a favorite of the Shadow's, for she used it often. Jaina had no wish to relive the pain she felt at the deaths of her father, mother, and youngest brother, Aaron. Yet as she threw herself on the ground before her master, she knew she'd have to look into the faces of her family once more and experience the same agony she felt over and over again for not being able to save them.

Surprisingly, the expected didn't occur. Nor the other punishments Jaina prepared herself for either. Simply the sharp voice of the Shadow telling her to get up and prepare the fleet for battle.

"Yes master." Jaina rose to a stand and bowed.

She couldn't have been anymore than a several dozen meters away when the Shadow continued.

"You've already done enough damage for one day Solo," she hissed. "I would be sad to see you end up in an early grave because of another failure."

Jaina stopped briefly to listen to her master's reprimands before proceeding on to do her lady's bidding.

* * *

The Imperial fleet had followed _Solo Fire _into the unknown planet, but soon lost it upon reaching a large mountain located in the world's northern hemisphere. In exchange for what they did find, however, made every officer aboard each fleet ship gasp. At least two million Imperial troops and stormtroopers were surrounding the mountain at all angles and standing ready in a clearing starting at the base of the mountain and ending about a kilometer away from it in a patch of grass. 

Confusion.

The thought of hallucination.

Flabbergastation.

These are what the Imperials felt upon registering what they were seeing with their eyes. It was impossible, yet here it was. Where all the troops could've come from, and what they were doing here was beyond what anyone could imagine. It didn't add up or make any sense at all.

The Emperor ordered that while half the fleet blockade itself around the planet in space, the rest would land in the green jungle area of the clearing that wasn't occupied with enemy forces.

The Shadow was here; that much he knew for a fact. He and the others could sense her unusually strong dark presence in the Force. But only because she was letting them, they knew. Like her servants, she kept her presence cloaked to nonexistent at all times unless she had a reason for revealing it, like now.

Anakin, Luke, Leila, Alexander, and Anneliese deboarded _Executor III_ with a league of troops from their own ship, and that of many others that arrived alongside them. They stopped within several meters of their enemies and readied their weapons. Their opponents merely remained unmoving, giving them the impression that the Shadow had direct control over them.

A metal blast door on the southwest side of the mountain showed to be an entranceway of some sort, perhaps to inside the mountain itself. Standing in front of this semi-dark entrance was a long dark haired woman donned entirely in black and her face left in shadow. They knew instantly it was her.

"Welcome to Wayland, Your Imperial Majesties," she greeted in a loud ringing voice that could easily be heard anywhere in the clearing. "I am Shadow, the Guardian of this hidden world, also called Madison Lee, and in another light, the murderer of your precious young heirs, Dylan, Cole, and Philomena."

Anakin growled in rage at the mention of his deceased children while the others glared, seethed, or tightened their grips on their lightsabers.

The Shadow seemed not to notice this as she continued. "As tragic as their deaths were, I find the memory of it to be quite amusing."

"Just as your death will be," Alexander growled. "Tragic, yet amusing."

The Shadow laughed. "I doubt that. I've been living far longer than any of you, and will continue to do so after the entire Grievous-Skywalker House is dead and gone."

"Only thing is, the entire Grievous-Skywalker House will never become dead and gone," Leila countered. "You can't kill all of us. It's impossible."

They could hear the smirk in Shadow's voice. "Watch me."

The immobile enemy troops came to life and a large scale battle began with the Shadow watching silently in shadow. Both sides lost extreme amounts of members, but it was obvious the Shadow's troops had more of an advantage because of their great numbers.

The odds were pretty clear on who was going to win this battle, but the royal five didn't care or even believe in odds. They were slicing down the Shadow's troops left and right as they made their way towards her, and still all she did was just stand there.

They realized their mistake all too late. The Shadow had never been there to begin with. It was simply a lifelike holographic image of her projected form from the holo device to the rear of it.

From the peak of the mountain came a swarm of Star Destroyers; Star Destroyers the royals recognized as the ones that mysterious vanished from Muunilinst six years ago: the Night and Death Squadrons. Besides the old Imperial ships, there were hundreds of others they didn't recognize. It seemed that the Imperials weren't the only ones the Shadow had been stealing from over the years.

As the ships left the planet, Anakin knew the Shadow and Jaina were aboard his own former Command ship, _Executor_.

While some stayed to engage the Imperial fleet, most of the Shadow's navy forces vanished to the Outer Rim world of Korriban were Blondelle was waiting at their next secret base. To ensure that it remained secret, Blondelle had detonated the planet's Imperial establishment and killed all the remaining troops that survived.

The moment after the Shadow's fleet left Wayland, Mount Tantiss exploded, throwing back the royal five and their forces, killing some while only knocking others into unconsciousness.


	110. Life or Death

MissNaye: Too bad they couldn't have had that warning beforehand.

Tsubasa no Michi: Thanks.

Twisterblake: Thank you for the reviews. And yes, Obi-Wan really did die. His death will be later shown as a flashback in a later chapter.

Twisted Words: Officially, chapter 18; unofficially, chapter 16.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 10: Life or Death

Elektra didn't know how much time had passed between being shot unconscious and waking up to find herself strapped in the co-pilot's seat of the ship. Hilton and Allana were strapped in chairs behind her still unconscious, and the infant Ben was in a black open box between the pilot's and co-pilot's seats also unconscious. Her eyes were drawn away from her cousin/nephew to the pilot's seat where she found Drake intently watching her. She still didn't know what to say to him, but decided against asking him the questions she wanted to from earlier. She got the impression that even now he still wouldn't answer them. As such, she chose to ask something that would sound somewhat unexpected.

"What happened to you?"

Drake allowed a wry smirk, yet she sensed no hint of deception from him when he answered. "I met someone who showed me my full potential as a true Dark Lord of the Sith."

Elektra was silent a moment before speaking. "The Shadow?"

Drake returned the brief silent gesture. "That's what you know her as. Some know her as that, others...as someone else."

She wasn't even going to ask who the someone else was. What difference did it make? It wouldn't bring her little siblings back. It was just a name.

"Ah! But if you just knew who she was..." he trailed off and abruptly scowled. His eyes flashed as he glanced over at Elektra and suddenly pulled the hyperspace lever back.

"We're here...?" she asked with some hesitation.

"No," he snapped. "Your friends decided to track us-"

Cannon fire abruptly erupted from behind and onto their ship. The _Millennium Falcon_ had trailed the kidnappers' ship perfectly and opened fire the moment they exited hyperspace with Lacovia and River at the cannons.

Enraged by these turn of events, Drake whipped out the dagger Elektra had used earlier to kill Tahiri and yanked the infant Ben out of the box he was nestled in. He woke almost instantly and began to whine in confusion.

Using the Force to sustain control over the ship, Drake rose from his chair and roughly pulled Elektra out of her own, causing her to fall back against the wall. He gave no notice. Leveling the dagger at the screaming baby's throat, Drake turned his glaring eyes to the Fourth Imperial Princess.

"I'm going to make this as plain and simple as it can possibly be said." He spoke in a deadly calm tone. "If your friends don't stop firing and turn around, they'll have the death of this innocent baby on their conscious."

"And how are they supposed to know this?" she asked in an explosion of emotion. "They can't even touch my presence in the Force because it's gone!"

"You have a choice Elektra," he said in the same calm tone, angling the blade closer to Ben's throat. "Does he live or does he die?"

"Not that you wouldn't try and hurt him even if they did stop."

Elektra found herself being slapped hard across the face and slammed into the wall.

"I'm not joking with you girl!" he snarled dangerously. "Tell them to stop now!"

Elektra felt her presence in the Force coming back to her and the signatures of that of her family locking onto it; calling out to her and asking if she was okay.

"Now tell them to cease fire," Drake commanded in a calm tone.

Elektra recognized the Sith mind trick and cleared her mind of what he'd just said. If she was going to do this, she would do it herself. She didn't need anyone's influence.

"Now!" he harshly added.

Clearing her mind once more, Elektra touched her mother's signature and told her what Drake wanted. Despite her mild shock to learn that Drake was in on this, she firmly said no. It took a lot for Elektra to convince her mother, and it didn't help that Drake was growing more impatient by the second, loosely running the dagger blade along Ben's delicate features with the prospect of plunging it into his heart at any given moment.

Finally, the cannon fire stopped and Drake threw Ben away from himself in disgust, slipping the dagger back into his pocket and returning to the pilot's seat. Elektra caught the infant before he could land on the floor and tightly held him as Drake swung the ship around to face the _Falcon_. They could see Jacen and Antellica in the pilot's seats, while Arica, Troy, Gabriella, Lacovia, and River were bunched up behind them. Drake gave a brief look at the ship's occupants before turning to Elektra once more.

"Now tell me to turn around," he calmly commanded.

"You can't possibly expect them to-" Elektra halted her speech at Drake's risen blade and ducked as he swung it at her.

Than she felt cold metal cutting into hot skin and knew that he'd gotten a swipe on her face. Sure enough, she felt the sting of the cut along her right upper cheek and onto her nose. Blood was beginning to seep out of it.

Giving up to defeat for Ben's sake, Elektra told her mother to do as Drake ordered.

Now Jacen, like his father, was cunning and smooth with a roguish edge at everything he did. Concerning the matter of turning the ship around, he decided to be sly about it. There was a way he could make it seem like they were leaving, when actually they weren't. Simply jumping the ship to lightspeed briefly, only to come back out a moment later.

But Drake foresaw this and the ten Star Destroyers that no one had known were even following them the entire time from the capital to now uncloaked themselves and opened continuous fire on the Corellian freighter.

Jacen had no choice. They had to fall back. In the process of doing this, the ship was badly damaged, causing them to crash land onto a nearby world. The _Millennium Falcon_ was destroyed in the most unrepairable sense.

* * *

Drake's ship, _Longshot_, arrived on Korriban several hours after the Shadow and her forces did. Coming to a mountain on the far side of the continent they arrived on, Drake flew it to the base and waited. Miraculously, a stone rose vertically several meters and the ship was flown inside a dark cavern, lighten only by candles. 

Upon arriving, Drake bond his captives, but held Ben by the scrap of his neck. All of them were awake now; Hilton coming out of unconsciousness not long after their getaway from the _Falcon_, Allana waking up an hour before arriving here. The three-year-old made a few rude comments about Drake not hurting Ben, but was swiftly told to be silent by the ex-Empress' Hand.

At the cavern's exit, they were met by the Shadow in an equally dark, but candle-lit hallway. She ordered Drake to put Hilton and Elektra in a cell while she took Allana and Ben. The older pair was on the verge of protesting, but decided to stay silent, simply encouraging Allana to stay strong via telepathy.

The small mini-me of Anneliese kept her head held high and defiantly silent as the Shadow led she and her brother away.


	111. A Figure of the Past

Author's Note: Hey! I just got finished watching the finale of American Idol Season Six! The show was spectacular, wonderful, and so many other words of praise. I am so, _so_ happy for Jordin. She totally and completely deserved the win. I can't wait to see what becomes of her in the near future. In other news, Star Wars Celebration IV starts tomorrow in California. I'd love to hear all about it from anyone whose attending. The only happy news I have tomorrow is that it's my final day of high school! Anyway, enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks. However, the correct answer to your question would give away too much. All I can say is keep reading to find out.

Twisted Words: As I seem to be saying a lot lately, only time will tell.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 11: A Figure of the Past

The Ciutric Hegemony in the Outer Rim was roughly like the former Hapes Consortium of the Inner Rim. It was a group of worlds in a sector dominated by the Ciutric and controlled by the capital world of the same name. Worlds in this sector included the planets of the Corvis Minor System (Corvis III, Corvis IV, and Corvis V); the agriworlds of Cinade III, Vandyne, and Edusa; Vrosynti 8 and the ecumenopolis world of Axxila. It was on the last world that the _Millennium Falcon_ crash-landed.

"Turn Coruscant inside out and make it a jail where the inmates are in control." That was Jacen's description of the planet.

Axxila was a worldspanning metropolis with an urban terrain and societal of various species. Though Axxila, being under the Ciutric Hegemony, was a member planet of the Empire like the rest of the sector, there was no Imperial base on-world. It'd been built and destroyed so many times by the local gangs that the Emperor grew tired of it and simply left the planet to do its own thing. Filled with scum and villainy, it was by far one of the last places anyone could've crash landed.

Though slightly banged up, all seven occupants of the ship survived the crash in a back alleyway behind one of the central skyscrapers of the planet. What law enforcement Axxila did have arrived soon after, just as everyone was pulling themselves out of the wreckage.

Generally floored by who the crash survivors were, the officers rushed them to a medical facility to be looked over. After which, they were taken to the planet's Holiday Towers hotel and were urged to settle in.

* * *

The Battle of Wayland commenced long after Mount Tantiss' explosion. Only thing was, the five royals that priorly participated in it were not to have any part of it. They fled the planet on _Executor III_ with the fleet that hadn't been destroyed by the Shadow's space forces. A few Star Destroyers would stay behind to finish up the battle on-world and than do an extensive research on why Wayland had been hidden all these years. 

Anakin's intention had been to somehow track the Shadow's fleet, but being as her presence was no longer existent this was impossible. Their first thought was to return to the capital to check on the rest of the family, yet upon reaching out to them, it was to find they weren't there. Their first reaction was panic, but feeling this, the others quickly assured them they were fine and told them the situation. Anneliese was alarmed to learn of Allana and Ben's kidnapping, but also worried. She felt much better knowing that Hilton and Elektra had been taken with them, yet responsible that it was her fault they'd been taken at all. This was bashed, however, by Luke telling her the Shadow's servants would've probably tried to take Elektra and Hilton eventually.

"She intends on killing all of us, so we're all at risk. Not that it matters. She won't succeed. Of that I can assure you."

Both halves of the Imperial family met at the Axxila Holiday Towers where they discussed their next move.

The Shadow and her forces could only be somewhere in the Outer Rim. The Restricted Region beyond that was being heavily watched, as was the Mid Rim that preceded it. She won't dare go any further than the Inner Rim, where patrols were also being set up. It'd be harder for her to stay in secrecy the closer she got to the Core. Besides, she had Elektra, Hilton, Allana, and Ben kidnapped _from_ the Core. She most certainly wouldn't go back to where they were taken from. No, she was in the Outer Rim...somewhere. That much was certain. And because of that, that's what made it so much harder. The Outer Rim was the largest region in the galaxy, save Restricted space. It housed more systems than the Core and Inner Rim combined. Though it'd been swept many times before, the perpetual repeating of this was getting old. If there was one place to hide in the galaxy with a chance at remaining hidden, it was the Outer Rim. All they could do was wait, meditate, and hope that an answer came to them swiftly...or maybe not.

Alexander suggested that he and Leila do some undercover investigating among the scumish lowlife here on the planet.

"It'd be just like old times," he said.

By old times he meant the undercover work he and Leila had done during the happenings of Muunilinst six years ago. Anakin wasn't entirely sure about this idea. While most saw it as excellent, he presented the end result of last time: Leila being raped, during which she lost over a gallon of blood and her being in an unconscious state for days.

"Father," Leila reproved understandably, "I was twenty than. I'm twenty-five now, and much more mature. I assure you, I'm more than capable of handling whatever is out there."

Later that day, a few hours after sundown, Leila and Alexander donned scumish jumpsuits of tan that were retrieved from a dumpster and colored wigs of orange and black. If anyone asked, they were Ialei and Michael Alessandro of the Corellia system, here on Axxila for a business trip in entertainment.

The married royal couple went to the most sleaziest club of stature located downtown, not far from the _Falcon's_ crash sight. This place had all types, Alexander mused upon entrance. Barely clad women, disgusting aliens, drug dealers, hookers of both gender, scum so knocked up with alcohol they could barely walk. Oh yeah, they'd come to the right place all right.

Surprisingly enough, the club wasn't as dingy and dirty as expected. It had its areas of filth (a pole dancing vicinity and a pool of water that alcohol-filled minds and druggies were jumping into after stripping of their clothes) and dirt (some back tables looked to be splattered with alcohol and what looked to be vomit), but besides that, it wasn't that bad of a place. With its multicolor lava lights of the rainbow bouncing off the walls, one might think it to be quite the hip club, and not the rough neck joint it really was. Alexander and Leila were reminded of this as a brawl started at a nearby table where a Sabacc match had been taking place. Obviously, one of the players cheated and was now getting his head punched in as punishment. Yeah, this was definitely wild.

Alexander and Leila went to the bar to get drinks, and after which looked for a place to seat themselves. Only all the tables were full with occupants. Even if it was simply one person at a table of five. The duo decided to wing it when it came to where they sat, letting their instincts guild them to one. And then they found it. A circular table towards the back surrounded by a leather seat that went around it at a half circle. Six creatures of scum, five aliens and one human, were conversing in Basic about Leila and Alexander's topic of choice.

"I tell ya mates, things are getting mighty fishy with all these disappearances," the only human, a roguish middle aged man with graying black hair was saying. "After that last shipment of spice went missing last week, Jack's pretty much had it. No more pirating for him, and he's not the only one..."

Interested in the conversation, Alexander and Leila made for the table. There was just enough room for them to sit at the end of the right half circle seat. Drinks in hand, they squeezed in next to the male Rodian at the end and continued to listen into the conversation. "These disappearances are just like the ones that happened at Muunilinst," the human continued. "It ain't no coincidence."

It was than that the human and his alien pals seemed to notice the newcomers. Eying them in disdain, the human sneered, "Can I help you with something, kids?"

"All the other seats are full," Alexander drawled, throwing some credits on the table. The eyes of the scum lit up with delight and they began to greedily fight over the money.

"So we thought we'd come here," Leila added in a tone matching her husband's, throwing more credits on the table and causing more fighting.

"Well now," the Human scum said in delight, pocketing a great deal of the credits while his fellows continued their squabbling, "if ya got creds to simply toss out, you're okay in my book." He flashed them a wide grin that showed his decaying, yellow teeth. "What can I do for ya, mates?"

"Do continue with what you were saying about the disappearances," Alexander said with a slight wave of his hand beneath the table. "It's very intriguing."

"Especially since it recently affected the royals," Leila added.

"Yeah, I heard about that," the human scum drawled. "Tragic. Yet it just goes to show that even the fearless Grievous-Skywalkers aren't all that. Ah-Ha!"

His alien buddies joined in his laughter, aka mockery of the First Imperial Family, and Leila pursed her lips, but hid her disgust in her mug of alcohol that she had yet to touch since ordering it.

The human scum, whose name turned out to be Vicar, told them more about the disappearances and the growing fear people like himself, a smuggler, were getting upon their continuation. It interfered with business, and people were resigning left and right from their careers as bounty hunters, smugglers, and charter pilots, not wanting their lives to be at risk.

During all of Vicar's rattling, Alexander noticed a hooded figure hiding about in the shadows two tables away from them. He tried not to make it too obvious as he continued to glance over at it, all the while nodding to what Vicar was saying, but the figure eventually noticed his stare and saluted him with a lift of its mug. Downing its contents, the figure nodded at him with a two-figured salute before walking off and getting lost in the crowd. Alexander nudged Leila in the Force, but it turned out she'd already seen the hooded figure the same time he first did. They both sensed the figure exit the building.

Throwing some more credits on the table, Alexander told Vicar to buy them some more drinks. Greedily accepting the credits, and in the process telling his disappointed alien buddies to scat, Vicar got up to do as instructed, only to have a drink deliberately dumped on him by a fellow club goer. Alexander had in fact used the Force to make the clubber do this. But Vicar didn't know this, and as such, a huge brawl started. Fists flew, tables were upturned, foul language was shouted. Alexander and Leila took that as their exit cue and quickly evacuated the building with a large group of others.

Darting down a dark alley, the pair turned into another to find the hooded figure waiting for them.

"Was it really necessary to start a club brawl just for my benefit?" a feminine voice asked from under the cloak. "I will admit to you, Alexander, how touched I am."

The confusing thing was how familiar the voice sounded. They recognized it, yet it was slightly different from how they remembered it. Older, more mature. Leila remembered what Arica said about seeing Drake, and herself seeing Braxton on Dathomir. If the Shadow had the male Jovovichs as servants, she was bound to have the females also. It wasn't Blondelle's chipper voice, but a sarcastic, more superior one. That only left...

"Yes Leila," the hooded figure sneered, "it is I: Bellatrix, the heir of Palpatine himself. Though nowadays, I prefer to be called the Dark Princess. You can call it a piece of my identity. I'm dark and I'm Princess. Though I was never officially crowned one due in part of my father getting his empire stolen out from under him before I was born. By your parents no less. I had, and have, been searching for my true identity as Palpatine's daughter as long as I've been living, and thanks to the Shadow, I've finally found it. It's as a Dark Sith Princess and heir to the Imperial throne."

"You can't possibly think she'd let you rule or even be an heir to the throne," Alexander said. "She wants it for herself."

The couple saw Bellatrix's lips take on a smirk beneath her hood. "Ah! But if only you knew who she was..."

"Who cares who she is?!" Alexander exploded in disgust. "There are those of us who don't think it matters. All we, the Grievous-Skywalker House, care about is her death and that of her servants."

At that he ignited his crimson blade and assumed a ready position. Leila did the same beside him with her purple blade.

"I'm sorry Bellatrix," he said. "You were a nice person once. But if you're in league with the the Shadow, it's our obligation to kill you."

"What a pity," Bellatrix mocked. "Just when we were getting to understand each other." She reached into her robes to retrieve what they knew was a lightsaber. "But if you insist," she activated a purple blade that mirrored Leila's to the tie, "I'll gladly return the favor."

And it began. Bellatrix stroke at Alexander and Leila in an upward twirl. It was pared, but she kept coming.

Bellatrix held herself at the highest esteem when it came to her swordplay. She was unbeatable and fierce, the best of the Shadow's servants besides her only remaining brother and the Shadow herself. Her superiority at swordplay was easily proven as she dueled Leila and Alexander. She was mildly impressed with how well they fought, but they didn't come anywhere near her sense of self-satisfied domination in the duel.

Eventually, she found herself growing bored with the fight. In any other case she would've swiftly eliminated her opponents, but the Shadow had made it very clear what she wanted. Bellatrix was not to harm Leila in anyway. Since the discovery Jaina made about the First Imperial Princess on Dathomir, the Shadow wanted Leila's capture, not death. Alexander she didn't care about too much. But the idea of him knowing his wife was taken, yet not being able to do anything about it, especially in the condition she was in, would be torture enough for him. He could always be killed later.

Deciding to end it, Bellatrix disengaged herself from the duel and whipped out a blaster. A trait she had since acquired since being under the Shadow was her ability to wield a rifle just as well as a lightsaber. She was deadly with a lightsaber, but cunning as a shooter.

As she opened fire on Alexander, she wasn't surprised that all her shots were deflected. This was her intention. To make him think he had the advantage here, so when she suddenly grazed the side of his head with a blaster bolt, he was taken by surprise.

Leila screamed as her husband fell to the ground unconscious and turned to Bellatrix in rage. Yet before she could do anything, Bellatrix had switched her blaster's power to stun and shot her a total of five times. One after the other repeatedly.

Leila tried to fight against the sensation that was overtaking her without any success. All went black as she collapsed to the ground in unconsciousness.


	112. Impossible Spectulation

Author's Note: Hey guys. I am totally thrilled because today was my last day of school...forever. I am a high school graduate! Well not officially, as I haven't gotten my diploma yet but come on! I feel like "Finally!". I have been anticipating this day, like forever and it's finally here at last. I'm so happy. But who cares about me? This chapter here is dialogue mostly, but very interesting as something is discussed that I think a lot of people have been expecting for a while now. What exactly is this, you ask? Read on to find out!

MissNaye: As you definitely should. The episode's really starting to heat up.

arzum: It hasn't been revealed yet. And won't till the next chapter. However, there is something that Leila did, or shall I say, _didn't do_ in the chapter prior that may give you an idea of what's up with her.

Tsubasa no Michi: Indeed!

Twisterblake: Thanks!

G-Anakin 13: Thank you. I updated late yesterday because I was so busy with school. All day working on my research project on JFK, and then after that I was watching TV and finally, American Idol. That didn't go off at 10:00 like it was supposed to, but about ten minutes after. Sorry.

Twisted Words: Read arzum's response.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 12: Impossible Speculation

Alexander awoke to the feeling of laying in a soft bed and his head propped up on a pillow. He also felt a bandage wrapped around his forehead and the sense of various presences in the room. Softly opening his eyes, he found the sight of his mother standing beside him. She looked slightly worried, but upon seeing he was awake, gave a relived smile.

"Oh Alex," she sighed, gently running her fingers through his short crop of dirty blond hair. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Alexander smiled up at his mother and reached up to stroke her own long blonde hair, only to have the memories of the night before come back to him like a tidal wave.

The shady nightclub.

Bellatrix.

The duel.

Leila!

He abruptly sat up, only Antellica was quick to push him back down. "Alex please," she begged. "Lay back!"

"Leila! Where is she?!" Alexander urgently asked. He'd been shot unconscious before he could see what her fate turned out to be.

Antellica sadly lowered her head in silence.

"What do you remember from last night, Alexander?" Luke's quiet voice asked.

Propping himself up, Alexander saw that he was in a medical ward bathed entirely in white. At the base of the equally white bed stood the members of the Royal House that hadn't yet been killed or kidnapped as of the present: Gabriella, Troy, River, Lacovia, Arica, Luke, Anakin, and Anneliese. Plus, Jacen was also there.

Anneliese moved herself away from the crowd and joined Alexander at the other side of the bed. Sitting on the edge of it, she reached over and hugged him before softly saying, "Tell us what happened last night Alex. It's of the gravest importance, because you see, when we found you in that dark alleyway, there was no trace of Leila or what happened anywhere."

Alexander was horrified. "You mean, she's not here?!" He was desperately hoping he'd heard his sister wrong.

She gave him a sad smile. "I'm afraid not. She wasn't in the alley, and she isn't on-world."

Alexander was having a hard time digesting this information. He refused to believe, yet at the same time, knew it to be true.

"Which is why we need you to tell us everything that happened last night." Lacovia adopted the same spot on the bed next to Anneliese. "Did you come across one of the Shadow's servants?"

Alexander's eyes flashed at the memory of the arrogant Bellatrix. "Yes. She was cloaked in shadow at the club, but when we faced off in the alley, she revealed herself to be Bellatrix."

Lacovia sighed and shook her head. "There's another Jovovich."

"Though now she prefers to be referred to as 'the Dark Princess.'" Alexander rolled his eyes. "Somehow the Shadow's gotten it in her head that when she takes over the Empire, Bellatrix will be an heir to the throne."

This brought a scoff from everyone in the room, and Alexander than recounted the events of the previous night in vivid detail, finding the more he talked, the more he remembered.

A moment of silence followed his speech, to be eventually broken by River. "Thinking about it, it all makes sense now: the old Imperial fleet ships on the unknown world, the Jovovich heirs suddenly making appearances after six years of being missing. It must've been the Shadow that killed Charlotte and the others on Muunilinst and made the Jovovichs and fleet disappear into nonexistence. It all adds up. First, Braxton; than, Drake; now Bellatrix. I can't believe we didn't see it before."

"I wonder where Blondelle is in all this," Troy pondered. "And if we should be expecting to see her turn up soon."

"What I'm still trying to figure out is who this Shadow person is," Jacen presented. "Because I know Madison Lee isn't anything more then an alias."

"Who would be interested in having Palpatine's offspring as apprentices?" Arica expressed.

"Dylan tried to tell us but..." Anakin trailed off at the sight of Gabriella looking thoughtful, even pensive. She hadn't spoken once since the conversation began. "Gabriella, are you-"

"You don't think it could be-" She abruptly stopped herself with a scoff. "Nah. That's impossible."

"What?" Arica asked. "What's impossible? You think you might know who it is? Please speak Gabby."

Gabriella appeared slightly uncomfortable, and paused a moment before speaking. "Padme Amidala."

Time stopped as everyone in the room turned to gaze at her incredulously.

"What?" Anakin finally asked. "What did you say?"

"You asked me who I think it is and I told you," she said plainly. "Padme Amidala."

Time started again as the room's occupants laughed.

"Nonsense," Anakin dismissed, giving his daughter a pat on the shoulder. "Her ship was blasted out of the sky following her father's overthrowing. Do you realize how long ago that was?"

"Yes, yet how does anyone know she was on the ship when it was blasted out of space?" Gabriella challenged.

"Who else could've been on it?" Antellica asked.

Gabriella shrugged. "I don't know. It could've merely been a trick planned by her to make it seem she died when actually she didn't."

Arica was beyond floored at what her daughter was trying to insinuate. "Gabriella, what you're saying doesn't even make any sense! If she survived the ship explosion, she would've long done something by now. It's been twenty-one years!"

"I think everyone here needs to open themselves to the possibility – the probability – that Palpatine's daughter may still be alive," Gabriella said in fierce determination. "Because until someone shows me some proof – _actual, hard-hitting proof _– that it was her aboard that ship-"

"You didn't know Amidala the way we did," Anakin objected, not believing he was hearing this from his own daughter's mouth. "Even if what you're saying in true, she wouldn't have waited all these years to strike. It's not like her. She had the patience of an overexcited child at times."

"People can very much change over time," Gabriella put out there simply. "Sometimes you'll never know what a person is truly capable of until something..."

She trailed off, waving her hand expressionlessly.

"...drastic happens."

With a wink, Gabriella turned and strolled out of the room, leaving the Holiday Towers medical center behind. Beginning to walk along an overhanging balcony that led down to the hotel's starship docking bay in the basement and an elevator that led to the hotel's higher levels, she was confronted by Troy.

"Gabriella, do you even hear yourself?" he asked, following the departing back of his year-younger sister towards the elevator. "Do you even realize what it is you're trying to imply?"

Gabriella stopped walking and turned to her brother. "Troy, I'd like to go to my room and meditate."

"On what?!" he asked in exasperation. "That nonsense you were barking about?" He rolled his eyes and took Gabriella by arms length. "Look, Gabriella: you're not stupid-"

"You're right Troy," she snapped, yanking her arms out of his own. "I'm not." She turned tail and continued along the balcony, however, Troy continued to trail her. "Yes. And it's because of that I'm rather confused as to why I'm hearing this from you of all people. It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe not to your mind," Gabriella shot back.

"My mind?" Troy gave a laugh. "I think what you mean is 'my intelligent mind'. Now, it's perfectly normal to speculate about things that make sense, but this Gabriella, makes no sense whatsoever. And my intelligent mind is telling me-"

Gabriella stopped walking and turned to face her brother. "Troy stop! I really don't have time for any of your ego nonsense, because most of the time, it just bores me. You're entitled to believe what you want, while I'm entitled to believe what I want."

Troy laughed. "Gabriella-"

"No wait!" Gabriella abruptly stopped him talking with a raised hand and looked all around. "Wow! Did you hear something?" She exclaimed, continuing to look to around in wonder.

Troy followed her all-around gaze in confusion. "Hear what?"

Gabriella took that moment with his back turned to make her exit towards the open elevator down the hall. Catching onto the trick, Troy raced after her, but she reached the elevator in time and jumped in. Giving him a sarcastic wave and an air kiss, the doors closed in front of her and out of Troy's reach. Sure, he could've used the Force to continue after her if he wanted to bad enough, but really, what was the point, he thought with a frustrated sigh. She wouldn't listen to him no matter what he said. What he needed was proof of Amidala's death. Genuine proof. Such as what the former Empress was doing the day of her father's death and what she did after the effect. Where she'd gone. The fact that it'd been twenty-one years would make it difficult. And adding the six-year-ago massacre of Amidala's homeplant's capital, Theed, Naboo, courtesy of his own mother, this would be a very hard investigation. Yet he knew he could pull it off. All he needed to do was convince his parents to let him go. That, or simply leave.

Troy allowed a smirk. Somehow, he found himself liking the second idea more. Now all he needed was Gabriella to come with him.

Suddenly, the elevator doors opened in front of him and there stood Gabriella with a knapsack slung over her shoulder. She looked surprised to see him still standing there.

"Troy, what are you-"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're going somewhere." But he was smiling.

Gabriella gave him a sly grin. "You're asking to come with me?"

"You're going to Naboo," he stated.

She nodded. "I want answers."

Tossing him the other tote bag he didn't even know she was carrying, she grinned. "Welcome to the investigation force older brother."

Looking down at the bag told Troy that it was his and glancing inside showed him that some of his belongings had been placed into it. Turning his gaze to Gabriella showed him that she was halfway down the ramp that led to the docking bay.

"Hey!" he called, running after her. "What made you think I'd come with you after the argument we had?"

Gabriella smirked. "Despite your arrogance, I knew you couldn't resist a good investigation when it came to proving someone wrong."

Troy returned the smirk. "In that you are true my little sister. Plus, I wouldn't have let you go alone."

Gabriella nodded. "Another fact I knew. And you wouldn't want to miss out on leaving our overprotective parent's supervision for a little while."

"Yet another amazing point you raise," Troy said in playful humor. "You must know me better than I thought Gabby."

This brought a chuckle from her. "You have no idea."

Troy and Gabriella were quick about picking out a ship to steal. They chose a sleek, silver liner shaped like that of a diamond and used the Force to enter therein. Entering the cockpit at a run because they sensed their parents presences approaching, they quickly fired up the vessel's engine and fled the hotel and than Axxila, bound for Naboo.


	113. Twins and the Shadow

Author's Note: Happy 30th Anniversary to the phenomenon that is Star Wars! I can't believe it's been that long. It seems like forever and ever. Also, we've broken the 400 mark in reviews! Thanks so much you guys. Your reviews are what fuels me to continue uploading this.

Twisterblake: Obi-Wan's death appears as a flashback in Chapter 19. Besides that, my lips are sealed on the happenings of his death.

MissNaye: You may be surprised with what they come up with.

Twisted Words: Thanks. Muunilinst's events do tie in with this a lot, but more on that in Chapter 19.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 13: Twins and the Shadow

_Leila. Leila. Leila!_

Leila abruptly awoke from unconsciousness in battle mode, ready to attack whomever it was that was calling her, only to find herself chained up.

She was in a room of shadowy darkness with little to no light therein. The air was cold and had a feeling of dark emptiness to it. When she reached out to touch her presence in the Force, she found nothingness. It was no longer in existence! She sighed in displeasure. She must've been in the lair of the Shadow.

"Leila?" The voice came again, but beside herself. "Are you alright? It's me, Hilton."

"Hilton!" She let out a sigh of relief to being in the company of a fellow. "Where are you?"

"To your right," he replied.

Notwithstanding the darkness, Leila was able to squint enough to see her younger half-brother sitting to the right of her; his wrists and ankles also chained. She beamed, never so happy to see him in her life.

"Oh thank goodness!" she exclaimed, trying without much success to embrace him. They settled with just shaking hands. "I hoped you were still alive. And the others, where are they?"

"Elektra's knocked out on the other side of the room," he said, gesturing towards the shadow of a figure laying sprawled on the floor several meters diagonal of them. "She snapped at the Shadow and was knocked out as a result."

"And Allana and Ben?" Leila pressed.

Hilton let out a sigh. "I don't know. The Shadow took them upon our arrival here. I haven't seen or heard of them since. But it's not like we haven't asked. She just won't tell us."

Leila sadly lowered her head, yet she also couldn't help but feel slightly relieved about something. Now more than ever, she was so glad she hadn't told anyone about-

"But what about you?" Hilton asked, cutting across her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured, "besides having a mild migraine. But where exactly are we?"

"That's a good question. And if either of you figure out the answer, I'd love for you to tell me."

The Shadow had appeared out of what seemed nowhere and the room was suddenly aglow with light. As always, the dark woman's face was obscured in a hood of darkness. The only bit of it being seen, the long pool of dark hair that fell on either side of it.

In the light, Leila could see that Hilton looked slightly pale and malnourished, but than realized that she probably didn't look any better herself.

Despite the chains that held him down, Hilton moved himself protectively in front of his older half-sister and glared at the Shadow.

This only caused her to laugh. "Sweet, but unnecessary."

With a wave of her hand, Hilton was slammed into the wall his back was to. The impact of his head coming into contact with it knocked him out cold.

"Come along Leila," the Shadow said, ignoring the woman's gasp and using the Force to undo her chains. "The two of us have much to discuss."

Not surprisingly, Leila remained seated and glared up at her. The Shadow chuckled. "Not unexpected." She reached down and yanked Leila to a stand. "But again, unnecessary."

The Shadow dragged Leila out of the cell and along a dark hallway before they came to a fork. One way led right, the other left. The Shadow chose right.

Next thing Leila knew, she was in what appeared to be an elegant dining chamber in a cavern like room. Decorations included candle lights, jungle tree plants, and silver-plated dishes on a rectangular table of pure gold.

Roughly thrown into one of the table's seats, Leila tried to react on it, but couldn't at her sudden weakness. It was as if the Force was being drained out of her. She couldn't touch or feel it flowing around her all of a sudden. She was losing energy and didn't know what was going on.

Glancing at the Shadow showed that the woman was pointing to the ceiling above the table – the lady of darkness was seated directly across from her on the other side of it.

"Ysalamiri," she sneered as Leila looked up at the plant-crawling creatures recognizable to the First Imperial Princess from the holo transmission of Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's death. "It enables me to keep my captives and minions under control, yet it has no effect on me. Ironic, isn't it?"

Leila didn't respond, and merely continued her glare at the dark woman.

The Shadow gave a dry laugh. "Again, not unexpected."

At that moment, Bellatrix came strolling into the room. Laden in her hands were two ruby stoned plates of gold topped with food. The glare Leila gave her was returned with a smirk. While Bellatrix gave her mistress a deep bow after handing over the Shadow her plate, she merely tossed Leila's plate of food before her and turned tail out the room.

Leila looked down at her plate's contents in disgust. She didn't know what it was, but it didn't appear appetizing. Some type of grayish meat mixed with purple and orange plant leaves, and topped with a strange red sauce that reminded Leila of blood.

Glancing over at the Shadow, Leila saw that the woman had gotten the same thing and was eating it without hesitation.

_She might be used to this stuff, but that doesn't mean I have to eat it._

Leila pushed the plate away from herself with a screwed up face, but the Shadow pushed it back with the Force.

"Eat Leila," she commanded. "If someone offers you food, the polite thing to do is eat it."

Leila gave the Shadow a look of disgust. "You didn't bring me here to feed me," she spat. "You brought me here because you want something from me. So why don't we do both ourselves a favor and you just get to the point."

The Shadow smirked beneath the hood. "Direct. I like that. Just like your mother. Padme Amidala, wasn't it?" she asked and downed some of the wine Leila didn't even realize was on the table.

Leila gave a sniff of disdain at the mention of the former Empress. There was no comparison whatsoever between her and that horrid woman. "Who cares," she spat.

The Shadow returned her wine glass to the table and collected an empty one beside it. Filling it with the contents of a wine bottle, she asked, "Tell me, what do you know of your mother?"

"I consider Arica Grievous to be my mother," Leila stated.

The Shadow laughed and slid over the now full glass of wine. "No, no. I mean your real mother."

Upon the glass being slid over, Leila pushed it back, causing the glass to fall over; its contents spilling over onto the table.

The Shadow simply looked down at her wine spilled table and than at the mildly satisfied Leila a moment before speaking again. "I take it the subject of your mother isn't something you enjoy conversing over."

"I have nothing less then absolute hatred for her memory," Leila snarled in a deadly whisper.

"You remember her than?" the Shadow asked.

Leila rolled her eyes. "Of course I remember her," she barked. "Who couldn't remember that evil woman. Her disdaining, wicked, and twisted personality. Her eyes that would always look at Luke and I with hatred. The grief and anguish she brought to our father. The fact that she didn't even want to bare us to begin with. Her way of discrediting others just to make herself look good. I hate her! I Hate Her! I HATE HER!"

Leila's anger in the Force had gotten so strong that it surpassed the control of the ysalamiri. She felt her strength and the Force coming back to her so rapidly that she found herself falling back in her chair. The funny thing was, she didn't remember getting up.

The Shadow, meanwhile, was slowly clapping her hands. "Well done Leila. I truly am impressed. Thus, you have learned the way to overpower the ysalamiri. It's through your anger and a large amount of the Dark Side. That is how I am invulnerable to it, as you yourself also are. I, too, hold an immense anger and animosity towards those I hate. To be precise, the Grievous-Skywalker House. However," the Shadow rose a hand to silence Leila from speaking, "that is not the reason I have you here. A member of that house though you may be, you are also Padme Amidala's daughter, and I have certain uses for you."

Leila gave a dry laugh. "If you think I'm going to help you kill my own family, you can just-"

"This has nothing to do with you per say," the Shadow interrupted, "but the tiny offspring you now carry within your womb."

Shock.

That was all Leila felt.

Absolute Shock.

Her mind was racing with so many unsaid questions:

How could the Shadow know? Who else did? But most importantly, what would Alexander think when he found out that she'd never told him?

Leila had learned she was pregnant roughly a month prior. Though once she found out about Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's kidnapping and later death, she hadn't told anyone, not even Alexander, about the future Imperial heirs. She kept her pregnancy cloaked for the babies' protection. She didn't wish for them to be in the same amount danger as the rest of the family was. Yet it now seemed that her attempts at protection were all lost and in vain.

Leila's shock at discovering the Shadow knew of her pregnancy enabled the Dark Lady to break into the cloak that shielded the younger woman's womb from everyone but herself and discover the gender of her new heir. What she found was a pleasant surprise.

"Ah, twins. A male and a female. That should be an interesting repeating."

Rising, the Shadow pulled Leila to her feet via the Force and strolled around the side of the table, speaking. "When I reclaim the Empire as my own, your twin children shall be my heirs. Of course, by that time you and your pitiful family will be dead, thus unable to stop me. Do not look at me that way Leila." Leila was glaring at her. "If you were in my position, you would feel the exact same way."

The Shadow grabbed Leila by the arm and dragged her out the way Bellatrix had come into the room. Proceeding down a dark hallway, the Shadow placed her palm onto a stone in the middle of the wall and it rose into the ceiling. Inside was a softly lighted room, infested with numerous ysalamir and jungle life.

"This is where you shall be staying the next three months," the Shadow informed, pushing Leila into the room. "Since you're only two months along, we have the remaining three, in which time my method of speeding up the pregnancy will be complete."

The Shadow ignored Leila's gaze of shocked/confusion as she continued. "You may want to start thinking about some names, yet maybe you'd prefer it if I did that. After all, I'll be the one raising them, not you."

With a evil chortle, the Shadow exited the room, having the stone wall close and seal shut behind her.

Leila took one look at the sealed entrance and burst into tears. Her babies were truly lost.


	114. Smiles Can Be Deceiving

Author's Note: Never judge a chapter by its title. And with this chapter, that's definitely the case. I'll make one comment, and one comment only about it however: another major death occurs.

MissNaye: Indeed. But will she succeed? Keep reading to find out!

G-Anakin 13: Thanks, and yeah. That's the way it's supposed to be. I hope it's keeping everyone interested. (Never judge a story by the number of reviews it receives. Only the author knows how many people are actually reading it.)

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 14: Smiles Can Be Deceiving

Allana was unhappy and disgusted. Her dank, dark cell was filled with roaches crawling around all over the place, and the only meal she was offered per day was a loaf of bread that she stubbornly continued to refuse despite her hunger.

Upon arriving at the Shadow's lair, the Shadow herself, or Madison Lee as she also liked to be called, had taken Allana and her infant brother Ben into an elegant dining chamber to eat. Therein, the evil woman had tried talking to her, but the toddler remained tight-lipped and defiantly silent no matter what was said to her, much to the Shadow's rage. As a result, Allana was thrown into a roach infested cell, and Ben...she had no idea where her little brother was. But she would not grow scared or give into any of this. She would stay strong as Elektra and Hilton had urged. Somehow, the Force maybe, she knew they could make it through this. All she needed was to get out of here and get some help.

Oddly, none of the creepy ysalamir creatures had been put in Allana's cell. She remembered what they were from the transmission of Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's murder and Troy's explanation of them. Plus, she'd seen some in the dining chamber and heard Blondelle jeering to someone about them outside her cell before coming in and bringing Allana her daily dose of dry bread. The Shadow obviously thought a three-year-old Force user of the light and the dark was of no threat to her. Allana allowed a mischievous little grin light her face. The shadowy murderer was about to be proven wrong.

As was expected every day, the door to her cell opened, the room was filled with a blast of light via the ceiling, and in came...Drake? with a loaf of bread on a platter. Funny, it was usually Blondelle that came in everyday shoving bread in her face.

"Blondelle's busy at the moment," Drake snarled, clearly eavesdropping on her thoughts. "So I'm doing it this time. And you will eat this bread."

Allana jumped off the small cot towards the rear of the room, her tiny booted feet crunching down on dead and alive roaches beneath it. Despite her distaste, she brought herself to her full height, crossing her arms across her black nightgown covered chest, and glared defiantly back at him. "I'd like to see you make me," she snapped.

A slap across the face threw her to the roach-covered floor and though it hurt, she refused to cry. She would not show any type of weakness.

Drake reached down and roughly grabbed her around the throat, yanking her to a stand. Breaking off a piece of the bread loaf, he forced her mouth open, attempting to shove it inside. She was able to resist, however, with a slight Force-push, which sent him a few meters away and onto the floor.

Allana wiped away the dead roaches that had accumulated on her arms when she was slapped down as Drake angrily rose from the floor. Yet before he could do or say anything, she spoke in a suddenly cheerful tone. "If you don't mind Drake, I'd like to go to the fresher."

"You're not going anywhere," Drake snarled, making to grab her once more, only she jumped out of his reach and spoke in the same cheerful tone again.

"You'll take me, of course, won't you Drake?" she asked sweetly. "If I promise to eat the bread afterwards."

"You'll eat the bread now!" he roared, but Allana jumped out of his reach again.

"And then you'll take me?" she asked hopefully.

Drake's only response was breaking off another piece of bread and shoving it in her face. "Eat!"

Allana accepted the bread into her hands and looked at it a moment. Finally, she put it in her mouth, began to chew and swallowed. This continued until the bread was all gone. "Now, will you take me to the fresher, Drake?" she asked.

He examined her a moment, though remained silent.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," she said sweetly. "I'm just so used to being pampered that I forgot I was being held prisoner here. You'll take me to the fresher, won't you Drake? I really have to go."

Drake continued to study the young child, looking for any sign of deception. He found none.

"All right," he finally said. "But no tricks."

Allana appeared confused. "I don't even know what that word means."

With a sneer, Drake grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out the room, along the dark passageway that led to the fresher. Drake kicked the door open and threw her inside upon arrival.

"You have five minutes," he informed, glancing down at his wrist watch. "Starting, now!"

Allana picked herself up and smiled toothily up at him. "Thank you Drake."

His reply?

The door being slammed in her face. Allana smirked. It was just as well.

Turning, she screwed up her face, willing herself not to vomit. The fresher wasn't any better than her cell; filled to the brim with roaches. Some of which were congregating on the toilet. But Allana hadn't come in here for that. She came in to-

No. She wouldn't think it in case Drake was eavesdropping on her thoughts again. She wouldn't think; she would simply do.

Walking over to the faucet, she stood on the tips of her toes to reach up and turn it on. Letting the water run, she went over to the side of the room where a loose rock laid in the stoned black wall. Going back to the faucet, Allana wet her hands and proceeded back to the wall. She rubbed her wet hands along the loose rock and the ones surrounding it and then repeated this exercise several times. When she was satisfied that the rock was ready, she gradually began moving it out of its place in the wall. It was her intent to catch the loose rock in her arms as it fell out, only it turned out she wasn't ready for it when it did. The rock fell to the floor with a thud and Allana briefly panicked, glancing at the door. Nothing happened. It seemed that the running of the faucet water was loud enough to cover the noise.

Without the rock, there was a small hole in the wall. Yet not large enough for Allana to fit through any way she tried. Peeping through the hole showed her what appeared to be a secret passageway inside the wall. Her heart lit with hope. She didn't know where it led, but it was a good start. Knowing she'd have to move another rock, she wet her hands again and repeated the earlier process with the rock underneath the opening.

She realized her mistake right before it happened. With the large bottom rock maneuvered out of the wall, it caused a chain reaction with the other rocks above and around, having them collapse to the floor. Before this happened, though, she was able to roll through the hole she'd made in the wall, coming to its other side just as her escape route was demolished behind her. She heard Drake give a yell of rage, but did not stay to face his wrath. She ran and ran through the darkness, escalating in height as she went. Reaching the top, she abruptly ran into a wall and fell back on the hard ground. It was a dead end.

Beginning to panic because she heard Drake somewhere behind her, she frantically felt around for a means of escape. And found one! A small patch of ground at the base of the stone wall was moist like dirt. She quickly dug her still wet hands into the ground and kept digging and digging, knowing that with each handful of dirt she was coming closer to escape.

Finally, there was nothing left to dig and Allana found herself looking down into what looked to be another passageway. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Drake running up towards her in the darkness. She dropped feet first through several meters of air before landing on hard ground. Notwithstanding her slightly bruised arm at the impact of falling on it, Allana's eyes a lit with happiness at the view of sunlight ahead. Picking herself up, she ran as fast as her little legs would carry her, calling onto the Force to quicken her pace.

Drake had reached the dead end wall just as Allana hit the ground several meters beneath him. Activating his crimson bladed lightsaber, he enlarged the hole she'd dropped through to accommodate it for his own size and jumped after her, racing up to grab her before she reached the ray of sunlight ahead.

Allana was quite startled when she reached the end of the passageway to find herself at the edge of a cliff, hundreds of feet in the air. There was no way down except jumping, and below laid the flowing current of a deep river, which was strange to her since everywhere else she looked all she saw was mountainous desert. But she didn't have time to observe the mountain topped view. Drake was practically upon her, snarling all the way, and unless she wanted to go back to that dingy, dirty, roach-infested cell that awaited her inside, she needed to do something.

Surprising more than herself, Allana jumped off the cliff and used the Force to hastily fall into the river hundreds of feet below. She wasn't going to give Drake any type of chance to catch her as she fell through the air.

Allana landed in the river with a splash and shivered at the contact. The water was cold and with the added wind whipping around, that made her even colder. Yet she was too happy to be out of the Shadow's clutches to care. Glancing up at the small dot that was Drake on the cliff, she stuck out her tongue before holding her breath and submerging herself fully in the water. She called onto the Force to help her as she swam and navigate where she was going.

She swam a long distance through the river's current until she came upon a small shore. Darting towards it, she abruptly felt a warning come to her via the Force. She was being hunted by a large group of sea creatures. Increasing her pace of swimming, Allana reached the shore in time to see the blue aquatic creatures snapping their teeth at where her body once lay. Looking at them superiorly with hands on hips, she blew them a raspberry and sneered, "You dorks'll have to eat dinner elsewhere."

Turning her back on the snarling creatures, the toddler strolled off, gazing around in wonder at the wild desert landscape.

* * *

Drake was furious; nothing short of livid. That little brat! She'd played him with her charms and he fell headlong into it. He had half a mind to jump in the river after her, and was just getting ready to do so when the Shadow stopped him. Literally. He'd by far grown used to her appearing out of what seemed nowhere, but now was not the time for this. He attempted to jump again, only she threw him back into the passageway. Her rage was obvious. 

"I demand an explanation as to what just happened," she said in a deadly whisper. "In the throne room. Now!"

Drake should have known better than to argue – he knew her wrath – yet he did so anyway. "But master-"

His protest ended with a slap across the face. "Now!" she roared.

The Shadow had been in her chambers meditating when she sensed a disturbance concerning Antellica's granddaughter. Going to investigate, she was enraged to discover that the secret passageway behind the fresher had been found out and Allana gone. Someone was going to die for this.

Once Drake explained what happened, she had Jaina and Bellatrix retrieve Elektra, Hilton and Leila from their cells. She, meanwhile, collected the silent Ben from her chambers. She had placed an element of fear so strong on the baby that he would not utter so much as one whimper in her presence. She liked it that way, for she hated infants.

Jaina and Bellatrix returned with the captives she commanded for and threw them before her at the throne. She studied them a moment, her previous thought confirmed that they knew nothing of Allana's escape, and spoke in a snarl.

"Would either of you like to venture a guess as to why you're here?"

No one responded. This did nothing to cool her anger. If anything, it merely fueled it onward.

The Shadow let out a roar, causing various items to explode across the room. The captives kept their eyes downcast, however. They didn't even flinch once. But she supposed with having Darth Vader as a father, that was to be expected. She sneered at them. "The three of you will be delighted to discover that while you simply sat in your cells, twitting your thumbs for entertainment, little Allana decided to trick Drake into allowing her to escape."

This got their attention. All three heads snapped up at once and they looked at her in a mixture of shocked disbelief and unbelieving denial.

"What you won't be delighted to know is that-"

"Oh no, please say you didn't kill her!" Elekra begged.

The Shadow's eyes flashed as she turned to the wavy blonde haired teen. "Do no interrupt me girl," she hissed.

Elektra's only response was glaring defiantly back at her, not at all intimidated. Leila and Hilton adopted the same look.

The Shadow laughed. "You Grievous-Skywalkers really are quite pitiful, but also annoying. Which leads back to what I saying before our little interruption." She paused a moment and continued. "With Allana gone, wondering the wilderness, this leaves me very displeased. Displeased to the length of rage. And wanting to extract that rage on one of you three, which would lead to one of your deaths."

The Shadow pretended to ignore the glances that were exchanged between her captives as she continued. "As I've previously pointed out, Leila is of too much value to kill at the present. The same with little Ben here." She jerked her head over at Jaina. The Shadow had passed the baby to Jaina upon her arrival in the room, much to the young woman's disgust, as she was holding him in revulsion.

The Shadow moved closer to the three captives grouped together. "That leaves Elektra and Hilton. While I could kill both of you, I think I'll just go with one at the present. But who will it be? I'd let you decide, only I know you wouldn't be able to because of your," she allowed a sarcastic cry-like sniff, "_love_ for one another."

She studied the pair of them a moment before glancing at her servants. "What do you three think?" she asked. "Which one should I extract my rage on?"

"I'll go with Hilton," Jaina said almost instantly.

Bellatrix smirked. "The same."

Drake allowed a sneer. "Definitely."

Hilton scowled at the trio while the Shadow chortled. "It seems you're quite popular in the death department, Hilton." He turned his scowl onto her. "Very well. Hilton it is then. Imagine how heartbroken Lacovia will be upon learning of her twin's death through your bond."

With a final laugh, the Shadow rose her hands and let out a stream of electricity pour out of them. However, the blast of lightning did not hit Hilton as planned. Elektra gave her siblings a final look, as if to say goodbye, and threw herself in the line of Force lightning. Hilton and Leila both yelled as their sister's body was struck with currents of electricity, yet there was nothing they could do to stop it, for as they yelled, Bellatrix and Drake rushed over to hold them back. Leila and Hilton didn't know how long it lasted, but it seemed to go on forever. Elektra screamed as fluents of Dark Side energy pierced into her veins. She wanted it to stop. She wanted it to end. She just wanted to move onto the afterlife and see her youngest siblings again. She missed them terribly and desperately wanted to be with them again. And when it came, she was relieved. The pain ceased and she felt herself moving onto a shroud of light. Before her life force could fully leave her, though, she reached out to her present siblings and sent them what comfort she could.

"I love you guys. Don't ever forget that."

And then Elektra was gone forever, never to return.

Hilton and Leila felt like the twins and Philomena were dying before their eyes all over again. Another member of the Royal House lost. Both siblings wept with grief over the death of their sister and were relieved when Bellatrix and Drake finally let go of them. They raced towards the dead form of Elektra and held her in their arms, crying over her body.

They weren't the only member of the family present who was grieving Elektra's death. Ben was screaming loudly in Jaina's arms and squirming around in an attempt to be put down. Jaina was struggling to keep him under control and looked over at the Shadow in exasperation.

"Master, do something to shut this baby up," she snapped.

"Just toss him on the floor," the Shadow shot back.

Jaina more like threw Ben from her arms, but Leila caught him before he could hit the ground. Collecting her nephew into her arms, she returned to Hilton's side where he continued to hold Elektra, crying.

The Shadow watched in distaste as the offspring of her arch-enemy mourned the loose of one of their members, letting out cries of anguish and sorrow. What she found the most distasteful was Hilton, a twenty-two year old man, cradling his dead eighteen-year-old sister in his arms as if he could somehow bring her back to life. She gave him a disapproving stare.

"Men aren't supposed to cry, Hilton," she said. "It makes them appear weak. Besides, think of it this way: You're off the hook...for now. If Elektra hadn't sacrificed herself, that easily would've been you struck to death by lightning. I'd like to think that you should be happy-"

"Shut Up!" Hilton roared. "Just Shut Up!" Out of all of his sisters besides his twin, Philomena and Elektra had been the ones he was closest to. And now they were both gone. The cause of death being the same person. He was not going to listen to any trash the Shadow had to say about being happy when he wanted her dead.

"Of course you don't want to hear what I have to say," the Shadow mocked, eavesdropping on his thoughts. "Who would after I've killed their sister? I'll just leave you three in peace now, though, I'm going to have to take Elektra with me. A Princess of her stature deserves an elegant burning."

"You're not taking her anywhere," Leila spat viciously.

The Shadow grinned beneath her hood. "I am. And I will."

With a wave of the Force, the Shadow threw Hilton and Leila back and Jaina quickly retrieved Elektra while Drake and Bellatrix held the royals back.

"The three of you will be staying in my chambers from now on," the Shadow informed. "I want a close watch to be kept on you. There will be no repeat of what happened earlier."

Before they could protest, Hilton and Leila were being dragged out of the throne room and into the Shadow's candle-lit chambers. The room was fairly large; a rough mixture of a sleeping and sitting quarters. From what they could see upon being rushed inside, there was a Royal bed, a couch, a meditation area, and a desk. They were thrown into a corner and soon surrounded by ysalamir.

As Hilton and Leila grouped themselves together, holding the small form of Ben and continuing to mourn Elektra, Drake asked the Shadow if he could go out and search for Allana. Surprisingly, she merely laughed.

"That little girl won't survive long in the wilderness. And if she does, she'll end up making her way back here before long. But I can assure this, she'll meet her end sooner or later. Because if we don't kill her, the wild beasts will!"


	115. Rescue from Korriban

Review responses:

MissNaye: Whether or not that occurs appears in this chapter.

Twisted Words: What do you mean by the Shadow being "big on reality shows?" As for your own questions: I absolutely wanted to demonstrate the whole action toddler thing with Allana as I did with Luke, Leila, and Alexander in Episode VI. Mostly to show off her hereditary skills as being the granddaughter of Obi-Wan and Antellica and an heir of the Dathomir line. You'll see a lot more of Allana in the future.  
Most certainly more Grievous-Skywalkers die. At the start of the episode I said how eighteen people die in this, not counting Obi-Wan and Danni Quee (as they died in-between episodes). However, their deaths are later shown in a flashback. So far only seven have died: Philomena, Cole, Dylan, Tahiri, Augwynne, Braxton, and Elektra. I can definitely assure you much more is to follow. Eleven to be precise. But as to if all eleven of them are Grievous-Skywalker deaths, that's for anyone's imagination to muse over.

arzum: I could answer that statement, but it'd give away too much. So I'll merely say: Maybe, maybe not.

Tsubasa no Michi: And that will only continue as the episode progresses.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 15: Rescue from Korriban

Korriban. That's where they were. The harsh terrain and fauna was recognizable from a picture book of the Outer Rim Territories she once glanced through.

Allana had been strolling the wilderness of this planet the past few days now. Her mission was to somehow get to the Imperial base on-world for help. It sounded easy enough in her mind. It was the getting there that was tough.

Due to the planet's harsh terrain (or power of the dark side), Korriban's native fauna were both vicious and cunning, including such creatures as the fierce terentateks. The bat-like shyracks lived in great numbers in caves of the planet, something Allana learned upon attempting to stay in one of them during her first night. Tuk'ata hounds were also found fairly common, though, she was able to keep them at bay with the semi-Force powers Luke had taught her. Dark side dragons, Hssisses, were also found on Korriban, but thankfully Allana was able to slip away from these beasts unnoticed. And like the semi-aquatic creatures she came across in the river, they were quite rare so very few roamed the world. Wraids were also found on Korriban.

Allana strolled the planet by day nonstop, and curled up in a ball to keep warm against Korriban's chilly winds at night, finding shelter in one of the bat-infested caves. She did not eat, and the drink that she did get was very rare. This experience of being on one's own in the wild really forced one to teach themselves the matter of survival. But despite her tiny age of three, Allana thought she was dong pretty well for herself...at the present anyway.

She'd been on her own for a week when Allana came across what she recognized as the Valley of the Dark Lords. Also known as the Valley of the Sith Lords, it was a burial ground of Korriban's Sith Lords.

The valley was used from start to finish of the Galactic Sith Empire to bury worthy Sith Lords. The tombs were built before the death of the lord, and upon their demise, filled with riches and slaves. On several occasions, dead Sith would become Force Ghosts and haunt their tomb.

Whilst a tomb for the Sith Empire's Supreme Ruler, Darth Bane, was also constructed, it was never used, as the Sith Lord met his end during the aftermath of the Great Sith War off-planet and his body was never found. Bane's empty tomb had been used to house an ancient Rakatan Star Map, an artifact of the Dark Side, but was retrieved by Palpatine sometime during his thousand year rise to power.

The former glory the valley once harbored was practically gone, Allana noted as she walked among the tombs. With the elegance of it slowly decaying over the years of time, it looked nothing more then a valley of crumbling stone now.

Though the entire planet was mostly cold and dry, Allana noticed that this area was the most like that description than anywhere else she'd been on-world. It was kinda creepy walking among the resting place of so many notable Sith Lords that reigned over a millennium prior. And mildly uneasy.

A wind abruptly began to pick up around her and the sky darkened. Allana shuddered at the feeling of several presences being about in the tombs. There was pleasure at the sense of darkness, but distaste at the light. Allana assumed that if she remained where she was, one of the spirits might attempt at possessing her body. That or converse with her about something. It was not her wish to aid or speak to the dead, and so ran out of the valley as fast as she dared.

She was now in the former Sith capital of Korriban, the City of Power. This had also lost its former glory; buildings left in decay and rubble could be seen everywhere you turned – including the ancient Sith temple. But Allana didn't care about that. She was in Korriban's capital. The Imperial base was located somewhere within it. Giving a giddy clap of excitement, Allana raced around the city trying to locate the building. Finally, they were going to get out of here. Her excitement soon calmed down as her feet began to ache from all that running and reached out into the Force, allowing it to guide her to the base's location.

What she found lowered her spirits to the ground: The Imperial base was no more. It looked to have been destroyed by an explosion; a bomb perhaps.

Allana had hoped the Shadow simply killed all the Imperials off and left the building standing. But obviously exploding it was much better in her cards. The young girl walked among the ruins of the base with lost hope, eventually seating herself on what was left of a comm communicator. So much for her plans of their grand escape.

In the silence of the city, she distinctly heard the sound of a continuous beep. At first, she didn't know where it was coming from. Was it another bomb?

Allana frantically got up and dusted herself off the ruins, looking this way and that. No one and nothing was in sight. But as she continued to listen, she realized it wasn't a countdown beep, but that of a comm when it had an incoming message.

Frantically, she began looking through the rubble, hoping upon hope that she could find it before the beeping stopped. There was still a chance. It took a moment for her to realize that what she was looking for was what she'd been sitting on: the remnant of the comm communicator. Taking it into her hands in haste, she brushed it off. All that was left of it was the solar-powered transmitter, but that would enable her to receive the message. Not knowing what button to press, she had the Force show her. Upon pressing the small red button, the message began, but sadly it was nothing more then a recording.

"Korriban Imperial Base," a pompous male voice said superiorly, "this is Capital Headquarters. Report on your current stasis to Base One immediately. This is not a drill. The Emperor commands that-"

Abruptly, the message cut off and Allana panicked that maybe the communicator had stopped functioning. It hadn't. The recording was merely being cut over by a live message.

"Korriban Imperial Base," the same pompous male voice said, "it's about time-"

"Let's keep this brief!" Allana said into the mouthpiece in haste. "This is Imperial Lady Allana Grievous Kenobi Djo-Skywalker. I'm on Korriban and the Shadow is holding me and my cousins, the Imperial Royals Leila, Hilton, and Elektra, captive."

"Excuse me little Missy, but just who do you think you-"

Allana cut across the pompous man in desperation. "Please alert the Emperor of this and send forces immed-"

Suddenly, the machine exploded in a burst of sparks. Allana jumped back in time and yelped, quite startled by what was going on.

A wave of furious rage abruptly dominated the Force and Allana let out a gasp. She knew.

Abandoning the ruined site of the base, the toddler fled the area and ran to hide inside the ancient Sith Temple. Somehow she knew she'd be safe there.

* * *

The Shadow was...words didn't even begin to express how enraged she was. She'd been meditating when she picked up on Allana's call for help and had gone into a fit of rage, exploding various objects around her chambers while the remaining royals captive simply sat silently yet curiously, wondering what could've happened this time to fire her up so much. 

The Shadow thought her captives were taking the death of Elektra fairly well. Sure, the first few days had been anguish-filled, but they got over it.

How could've the Shadow underestimated Allana for the second time? How?

But of course, there was that very obvious detail that she was only a three-year-old. Plus, she was also a descendant of Antellica Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Yes, those were the reasons she overlooked. She didn't expect much of anything from a toddler descending from those two pathetic Force traitors. It seemed she was wrong. But no matter. She would not make that mistake a third time.

Snarling, she left her chambers behind and alerted her servants of the recent turn of events, demanding that they join the fleet in space and deploy it across the galaxy.

"I told you I should have gone after her," Drake said to her in angered irritation. "This wouldn't have happened if you'd just let me-"

"Shut your mouth, Drake!" she roared, extracting some of her rage on him by Force-throwing him into a wall. "Be silent and merely do as your mistress demands!"

While Leila and Ben would go with the Shadow to her next base, she decided to leave Hilton behind on Korriban as a way to bring even more pain to the Grievous-Skywalkers.

"This way, you can see the rest of your family again and tell them of Elektra's death," she jeered, taking both Leila and Ben into her grasp. "Imagine the grief you'll bring to your mother upon her discovery of it."

Dragging her other two captives out of the room, the Shadow bolted the door shut behind her and eventually left the planet.

* * *

The Imperial fleet perpetuated to search the galaxy for the Shadow and under the Emperor's orders in the Outer, Mid, Expansion, and Restricted Rims. The First Imperial Family had joined them upon Troy and Gabriella's abrupt exit. Their disappearance was far from unnoticed and the Imperial rulers were nothing less than furious over it. The entire family was confused, enraged and startled over why they'd abruptly left, and without saying anything at that. But then, thinking back to that day, they realized Troy and Gabriella had said something; more like Gabriella said something. The nineteen-year-old was so hellbent on Padme Amidala still being alive and acting as the Shadow that she probably convinced Troy to go with her. He could never say no to an investigation, even one so dead in the ground as Amidala. 

Originally, the royals were going to split up as they joined their forces in the sweep with two or three members leading the fleet in each region. After that little stunt, however, they decided to stay together in the Outer Rim, aboard _Executor III_. Continuously, they meditated almost endlessly, but the Shadow had covered her tracks all too well. They came up with nothing. But then, abruptly, they got something.

It'd been two weeks since Troy and Gabriella up and left, and the fact that they hadn't so much as left a recorded message stating they were okay or where they were had the family more then a little on edge. But the news they received from Imperial Base on Korriban soon took their minds off the runaways, if only for a short while.

Prerecorded messages had been sent out to all bases in the galaxy to report on their current position after the Battle of Wayland. With the Shadow on the loose, the Emperor wanted his troops to be on the alert. After all this time, the base on Korriban was finally responding and with news of the Shadow on-world. It seemed that Allana had somehow gotten herself got of the Shadow's clutches and went to the base to call a cry of distress. The message abruptly turned to static towards the end and they began to worry, wondering if perhaps the Shadow had realized what was going on and made a move to stop it. None the matter, the entire Outer Rim military unit raced to the Sith homeworld to find out.

Upon arriving, the royals were not at all surprised to find the Shadow and her minions gone, though, they were disappointed. They sensed Allana's presence still on the planet and went down to retrieve her. They were startled to see that the base had been destroyed and began to fear the worst concerning Allana. But she was fine. The toddler raced to meet them as they landed. She informed them of everything that had happened while captive, but urged them to free Hilton in the former mountain hideout of the Shadow. She'd learned that he had been left behind and had even been in contact with him a few times through the nexus of strong Force power inside the crumbling walls of the Old Sith Temple.

They reached out to him, though he was still under the Force-blocking ysalamir, and through the combined power of them all, were able to make his Force signature reappear out of nonexistence, thus locating him inside the mountain. He was inside the Shadow's former chambers.

The lair in which the Shadow had been using as a base on Korriban was the Fortress of the Sith in Hiding, a hidden cave located inside the Mass Mountain on the far side of the Northern continent. During the aftermath of the Great Sith War, this cave had been used and created by Darth Bane himself whilst preparing for his final assault on the creator of the Jedi, the Lord Freedon Nadd. Long thought to have been destroyed over time, the rediscovery of this fortress was a true find and an honor for any Force-sensitive to walk among the halls of.

After freeing Hilton of the ysalamir and a brief reunion, the young man told them the Shadow had taken Leila and Ben with her while she left him.

"I have to say, there was a part of me that was half relieved to be left behind," Hilton expressed. "But then, there was the other part; the part that wasn't merely thinking of myself. I felt, and continue to feel, regret that I cannot continue to watch over them."

The concern for Leila and Ben soon led to questions of where Elektra was. Hilton couldn't tell them. It was just too painful, but they guessed from his silence and lowered head what had happened to her.

Grief, sorrow, and despair is what met the news of Elektra's death. Once again, Arica fell to pieces and had to be comforted by Anakin and Antellica. They later found Elektra's body burnt to ashes in a small capsule atop the golden table in the dining chamber with a note from the Shadow underneath.

"_What do we have here? The ashes of your daughter, Elektra. I took it upon myself to burn her body personally via Force-lightning, the way she died to begin with. That's four down, fourteen more to go. So, who's next on my list of death? It's easy to say Leila, yet not at the present; she's still useful to me. As for the baby, I have uses for him as well. And though I have spared your son's life, this is only the beginning of my vengeance. Because make no mistake, I will capture each and every one of you and have my revenge. In three months from now, the Royal Grievous-Skywalker family will be no more..."_


	116. Handmaidens of the Former Queen, Amidala

Author's Note: Being as I have a job interview today, I may or may not update tomorrow. And also, if I get the job, depending on what hours I work, the daily updates will probably halt and become weekly or every three days. But we'll see. Information on that will be posted in the next update.

G-Anakin 13: Gulp indeed!

MissNaye: For now we can breath easily.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Twisted Words: Oh I see now! I never looked at it that way before. Interesting.

* * *

Episode IX: Shadow

Chapter 16: Handmaidens of the Former Queen, Amidala

The Hall of Records on Naboo was the planet's most extensive research facility in existence. It's over twenty levels of information and ceiling high shelves were packed with books – thick and thin, small and large – on anything that ever was, ever happened, or ever lived on the world. It was inside these walls that Troy and Gabriella Grievous Skywalker, 20 and 19 respectively, could be found. They were two weeks into their investigation of Padme Amidala's death with little to no results.

Everything check out the way it officially was: The former Empress had died during the Imperial Navy's assault on her ship outside Coruscant twenty-one years ago. That's all there was to it.

"I don't accept this!" Gabriella exclaimed, slamming the biography encyclopedia of the investigatee in question shut. "There's too many missing pieces. I know she didn't die. What we need is to speak with the former members of her court who were at the Palace under her during the days proceeding her 'death.'"

She glanced over at the mountain of books that were sitting next to her on the table. Troy had been surrounding himself with hundreds of books and pouring over them like there was no tomorrow for as long as they'd been here. Not that Gabriella wasn't doing the same. They lived and breathed this investigation; keeping themselves isolated inside the building at all times. Staying up into the wee hours and reading until their eyes refused to stay open. Because of their royal status, they were given unlimited access to the entire building for as long as needed. Their presence on Naboo was to remain secret, however. Only those who worked at the records hall knowing of them being there. Neither had any wish to be bothered by any of their family or the outside public during this time. It would only distract them from their purpose of being on the planet to begin with.

The investigation had become like banging their heads against the wall for no real reason. Yet despite the odds, they refused to accept defeat.

"Actually, that's what I've been reading up on over here," came Troy's voice from the other side of the mountain book pile in response to what she'd just said. "And I think I may have found a few things."

"Finally!" Delightedly thrilled with Troy's uplifting news, Gabriella got up from her seat and went around to where he was behind the pile of books. Troy was seated at the table with a hardback open before him, his eyes glued to the content inside. Crouching herself next to him on the floor, Gabriella looked into the book hopefully, and then did a double take. The page Troy had the book open to showed a human male of about thirty years proudly showing off a portable computer terminal with a wide grin. Though Troy seemed to be reading the other page next to it, Gabriella was confused and annoyed. Rising from her crouched position, she snatched the book from him in irritation.

"Hey!" he complained.

"What is this you're reading?" Her tone was exasperated. Flipping the book to its cover, her eyes narrowed at the title. "'The Next Generation of Electronics!'" she fumed. "We're here to solve a mystery! Not read up on the latest electronic gear!"

"Gabriella, give me the book back," Troy demanded, rising from his seat.

Gabriella made to toss the book away, only Troy stopped her by snatching it out of her hands. "There are two things I discovered which I have no doubt will help us in our investigation," he explained as he placed the book back down onto the table and began flipping through its pages. "One of which is in this book."

"I don't see what that could be," Gabriella huffed with crossed arms.

Troy ignored her as he continued looking to find his lost spot. Upon finding it again, a grin lit his face. "Here we are!"

Laying the book out in front of them so both could see, he began to explain. "Naboo has to be one of the most energy-saving and Eco-friendly planets in the galaxy, along with Chandrila. They recycle practically everything they use, _including_ surveillance holodiscs." He gestured to the page next to the smiling human and Gabriella saw that it was entitled 'Holodiscs of this Generation and the Next.'

"Every year, the discs used at the Theed Royal Palace, Imperial Base, and other places of importance on-world are recycled, resurfaced and used over again for years on end until there's no disc left to use," he continued. "Sure, twenty-one years is a bit of a stretch but..." He trailed off, appearing to be lost in thought.

"Anyway," he abruptly continued after a moment, "the other thing I found out was the location of Rabe de Silva."

Gabriella was slightly confused. "You mean Amidala's handmaiden as an electoral monarch?"

Troy nodded. "One in the same. But she was also a handmaiden during both Jamilla and Apailana's rule, and then Amidala's reign as actual Queen."

He retrieved a file folder on the handmaiden in question off the table and handed it to his sister as he continued to explain. "At the time of Amidala's recorded death, Rabe was thirty-five and more than ready to retire from public service. However, when Naboo then returned to electoral monarchs and Apailana was reelected, Rabe was asked to stay and continue serving. Thus she did for the next eight years of Apailana's two terms. By the time Apailana stepped down, and the first King in over twenty-five years, Elchanan, stepped up in 13 IE, Rabe was forty-three and had more than earned her retirement. She married two years later and had a son two years after that. She's currently fifty-six and resides in a Lake Country home southwest of the Naboo Imperial Palace."

Gabriella nodded as she looked over Rabe's file. "What of the other handmaidens during Amidala's reign?" she asked.

"Electoral or official?"

"Both."

"Well as the official Queen, Amidala had four: Rabe, Leslie and Lizzie Dayaden, and Dorme Travelen. The last three of whom were originally servant girls at the Amidala Lake Estate before Aunt Antellica destroyed it. As an electoral, sans Rabe, mom, and Antellica, she had five: Yame Sing, later Aurra Sing. She became a bounty hunter once dismissed from Amidala's service, but died on Tatooine twenty-one years ago. Another victim of our dear aunt. Amidala's decoy, Sabe Segura, retired when Amidala stepped down from her electoral throne and moved to Alderaan where she settled down with a family and continues to live to this day. Sache Bryne, shockingly enough, is a Senior Engineer at Soro Subb's Expansion Region Division on Gyndine. Like Rabe, Eirtae Elizabeth continued to serve as a handmaiden during both Jamilla's and Apailana's reigns, but was dismissed when Amidala reclaimed the throne. She then became a handmaiden in the Royal Court of Prince Vandurelle on the Mid Rim world Avaris, and later even married the Prince when he became King and was required to take on a consort for heirs."

Troy handed over each of the handmaidens files as he spoke. Gabriella looked approvingly impressed as she looked over all the information. "Rabe's going to be our best bet in this," she proclaimed. "But what of the Dayaden sisters and Travelen?"

"According to their files, their fate remains unknown," Troy replied. "Though it's assumed they were with Amidala when she was killed."

"But there's no proof to back that assumption," Gabriella quired.

"No."

"Hmm..." Looking over the handmaidens' files once more, Gabriella nodded at Rabe's. "Rabe's definitely going to be the one to talk to. Is her exact address listed anywhere?"

"In the residential listings of Naboo," Troy said, handing over the thick, heavy book that weighed at least twenty pounds. "That's this year's edition," he explained as his sister struggled to hold the big book. "Unlike before when new editions were published biannually, they're now published annually. I have the page that features Rabe's address marked. It's in the beginning, under her husband's last name of Delacour."

Dropping the heavy book down onto the table with a thud, Gabriella then found the marked page and jaunted the address down in a notepad. Slipping it back into the pocket she'd retrieved it from when finished, Gabriella turned to her brother. "Let's be on our way. I have to admit, I've gotten rather bored with this building's environment."

"You're not the only one," Troy chuckled.

* * *

The once massacred capital city of Theed was soon refilled with civilians following the events that swept them out. When Empress Arica had returned to the Empire after she and the Emperor's brief separation six years ago, a statement was released concerning the massacre and its purpose. Imperial citizens from other worlds, as well as other parts of the planet, then came to populate the city once more. 

Following King Elchanan's death in the Theed Massacre, it was proposed by the Naboo people that Amidala's heirs, Luke and Leila, ascend the throne together as King and Queen. And while this was considered a good idea by some, others, including the twins themselves, shot this suggestion down for the following reasons:

Luke wasn't interested in ruling a planet; Leila was already Queen of Alderaan, and not interested in becoming Queen of another world; and both shared the same displeasure at the prospect of being apart of the upbringing of the ex-Empress' people. Consequently, the kingdom seat of Naboo continued to be filled with electoral monarchs, with the election of King Fiji, Naboo's current monarch, five years ago.

Though as time brought new monarchs and people to Naboo, the planet and all its beauty within remained the same; the Lake Country island of Miabi included. Rabe's home wasn't far from the ocean docks, as her husband Fawzi Delacour was a retired sailor. It wasn't overly large or small; a moderate size for a three-person family. A patch of land and roses led up to the dwelling's entrance and a single chime doorbell on the right hand side of the door. Pressing it once, Troy and Gabriella awaited someone to answer. They knew all three occupants were home, for they felt their presences inside the structure.

Sure enough, they heard the overexcited voice of a small boy saying, "I'll get it! I'll get it!" and the door opened to reveal Rabe's nine-year-old son, Balin.

His eyes became as wide as saucers when he looked up at them. "Woah! I know who you to are! You're Third Imperial Prince Troy Zachary Stavros," the boy said pointing to Troy, "and you're Third Imperial Princess Gabriella Vanessa Melania," he continued, turning to Gabriella. "My mom knew you guys' mom when she was my age! Did you guys come to visit me?"

Brother and sister couldn't help but smile and laugh at the energetic little boy. "Actually, we came to see your mother," Gabriella informed. "Is she here? May we see her?"

"Why?" Troy and Gabriella looked up from Balin to see a man in his early to mid sixties coming down a staircase that ended at the right side of the entranceway.

Troy stepped forward with the intent of introducing himself, but was quickly reprimanded for doing so.

"Don't come anywhere closer to my son!" Fawzi boomed, quickening his pace down the stairs and snatching Balin from Imperial grasp.

Troy understood the man's panicked fear for he and his sister, and actually enjoyed seeing it in action, but now was not the time for that. "Sir, we didn't come here to harm anyone," he tried to assure. "We simply-"

"Leave my home and get off my property!" Fawzi thundered. "That is an order!"

"Now, now Fawzi," came a woman's voice from the left, "that's no way to treat royalty."

A petite older woman with a semi-wrinkled face and short grayish brown hair, and in silky middle-class robes, came into the hall from the direction her voice had come. It was Rabe. She didn't seem the least bit surprised by the royals presence and gave them each a humbled bow. "Your Imperial Majesties. Troy Zachary Stavros and Gabriella Vanessa Melania."

"Rabe de Silva," Gabriella returned the greeting.

"Rise," Troy commanded.

Rabe did so and both royals nodded to her. "We have sought you out because we wish to discuss a matter of great importance with you," Troy said to her. "Is there someplace we can go to speak alone?"

"The back porch," Rabe answered and turned to her husband. "Fawzi, why don't you make some tea for our guests."

"When Hutts fly," Fawzi snarled in disdain as his eyes continued to stare down the young royals.

Rabe sighed. "Very well. I'll make the tea."

"That's really not necessary," Gabriella said. "We're not hungry or thirsty."

"You're sure?" Rabe asked, almost disappointed.

"Positive."

"All right than. Let's go out back and talk..."

* * *

Despite their objections of not being hungry, Rabe decided to feed them anyway, giving the royal duo iced tea and crackers to munch on while she recalled her career as a handmaiden under Amidala. The three of them were outside on the back porch alone. 

Rabe had convinced her husband to go sailing again with Balin and teach him the ropes of it. And while he hadn't been exactly thrilled at the prospect of her staying home alone with "those royal brats", once he was reminded of her twenty-seven years of service as a handmaiden, he finally left, but urged her to stay armed at all times. Troy and Gabriella responded to this by handing over all their weapons, much to his speechlessness.

"She had the tendency to be very cold with us," Rabe remembered and took a sip of her tea. "As if we were nothing more than rag dolls in her eyes. Yet I always liked to think that deep down she truly was a nice individual."

"The reason you served her again when she became Naboo's official Queen," Troy inquired.

"Correct." Rabe sat her cup of tea in her lap. "I thought she might have changed in the five-year gap that she was Senator. I was wrong. She hadn't. She was just as demanding as ever, if not more. I hate to say this, but your father did everyone a favor in ordering her death. Naboo's better off without her; the galaxy's better off without her."

Troy and Gabriella slowly nodded in agreement. Gabriella then allowed a moment to go by before asking a crucial question. "What do you remember of the last day you saw Amidala? What was she doing?"

Rabe wrinkled her brow in an attempt to recall. "She was going over reports about something. I don't remember what. But what I do remember is the strange frenzy she went into about an hour into this. No one knew what was wrong with her. Yet the way she was acting, it was as if she was in pain; all curled up in a ball, screaming in agony. Then, as abruptly as it started, it stopped, and she suddenly left the room without a word. No one ever saw her again after that. And then it was announced that she'd been killed when her ship fell prey to Imperial forces outside the capital. Her death came as a shock, but the reactions were mixed. I can assure you that while a moderate amount of people mourned her loss, the rest of the planet was actually relieved by it. And that of her father's death in addition. The two of them gave Naboo a bad name. Plus, she was a lot like him in the sense of being a dictatorship loving tyrant. Neither of them have been missed."

"But what of your fellow handmaidens during Amidala's official reign, the Dayadens and Travelen?" Troy asked. "What ever became of them?"

Rabe looked like she was raking her brain to its fullest extent. "Strangely, I really don't know. They weren't at the Palace that day. But after Amidala's death was announced, no one ever saw them again. It's assumed they went with her to Coruscant and thus died with her, but again, no one knows for sure. And I don't think it was investigated into."

"Do they have any family that could be contacted?" Gabriella asked.

"I don't know," Rabe said thoughtfully. "However, what I do know is that they weren't Naboo. The Dayadens were from somewhere in the Inner Rim and Dorme, somewhere in the Outer. As to what exact planets, I don't remember, but I do know that much."

* * *

The ship Troy and Gabriella had stolen from Axxila turned out to be named _Regina Galas_, after the famous holostar the Third Imperial Prince had recently dumped for the third and final time after a two-year on-again, off-again relationship. Obviously, he wasn't the only one who found Galas to be fascinating. Personally, Gabriella saw her to be this generation's version of her deceased second cousin and former Empress' Hand to Amidala after Antellica briefly left the Empire, Iolana Lestrange. Galas was blonde, air headed, and annoying. But then, according to Gabriella, most blondes were annoying, sans the members of her own family of course. 

She and Troy had returned to, as they now dubbed it, _their_ ship after finishing up with Rabe and were currently at their own separate portable computer consuls in the central cabin doing research on their appointed families in question: Troy, the Dayadens; Gabriella, the Travelens. Gabriella sensed from Troy that he wasn't having much success in his search, and when she glanced over his shoulder into the computer screen this was confirmed. The only Dayadens that seemed to be listed were the famous handmaidens. She was having the same problem herself with the Travelen family; no one else was listed except Dorme.

"Oh, this is just great!" Troy said with an irritated sigh several hours later.

Gabriella was pretty much at the point of throwing her PC out one of the ship's viewports when Troy spoke. She was so frustrated with the lack of information it was giving her that she just wanted to destroy it. But then, that would've left her with no PC, and she wasn't so sure she liked that.

Glancing over at Troy showed her he was beyond irritated; he was vexed. "You'll never guess where the Dayaden family originated from," he said to Gabriella.

This perked her interest. "Where?"

"One of the member planets of the Hapes Consortium," he fumed. "And once reading up more on Leslie and Lizzie, it turns out that's where they came from."

"Impossible!" Gabriella exclaimed. "The Hapes Consortium had no part of the New Galactic Republic. That's a fact Ta'a Chume seemed to enjoy boasting about when she was telling me of the Clone War years and how it had no effect whatsoever on her _perfect government_, because they kept themselves isolated. No one was allowed in or out of the cluster."

Troy allowed a lopsided grin. "Well, unbeknown to Ta'a, a small amount of civilians had been smuggling in and out of the cluster for years. Obviously, that's how the sisters got to Naboo. But what of the Travelen family? Have you found anything on them yet?"

"No," Gabriella growled. "And I'm about ready to kill something over-" She abruptly stopped at the sight of the name Dr. George Travelen among a list of scientific figures she was skimming through. Funny thing was, she didn't even remember searching on scientific figures. It must have been the Force that led her to it.

"Finally!" she exclaimed and clicked on the name. A moment later, though, she cursed.

"What's wrong?" Troy asked in confusion.

"Guess where he was from?" Gabriella fumed as she looked at the short, one sentenced profile page on Dr. George Travelen that laid before her on the terminal screen.

Troy joined her at the screen and read the single sentence profile. "George Travelen, a scientist in geology, perished with his family during the destruction of Yavin 8!" Troy ended the sentence with a growl and also cursed. "This is just wonderful!" he snarled. "No leads. Nothing to follow...except the holodiscs maybe," he added thoughtfully.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Troy, it's been over twenty-one years. I hardly doubt-"

"Do you have any other suggestions?" he suddenly exploded.

Gabriella placed her mouth in a thin line and curtly shook her head. "I suppose there's no harm in trying..."

* * *

Troy and Gabriella did not speak as they went their separate ways: Troy, to the Theed Royal Palace; Gabriella, to the Naboo Imperial Palace on Miabi. Their little to no information in this investigation made them both annoyed. At each other, the Death Star projects, and the Shadow for not revealing herself from the get. It was her fault they were even on this case. What was she so desperate to hide under that pathetic black cloak? Why couldn't she just face the Grievous-Skywalker House like a worthy Sith and not hide in shadow the way a coward does? These were questions Troy and Gabriella wanted answered. Today. They were sick of all the hidden secrets and sense of unknown that shrouded this entire crisis. They wanted answers now and would stop at nothing until they achieved that. 

Troy and Gabriella, separately, snuck into their assigned buildings' of importance with their presences cloaked. While they doubted that their parents had sent search parties out for them, the Empire had probably been alerted to keep their eyes pealed for them. They were more determined than ever not to be bothered by their family until their investigation was complete.

Getting into the security bunkers was the easy part, as was luring the guards inside to sleep. The more difficult part was finding the correct surveillance disc they needed and once doing so, determining how they were going to retrieve the decades old information needed.

The holodiscs of this era were so small and compact, they fit into the palm of your hand and were as light as a feather. The way they functioned was quite simple: when using one for surveillance purposes, you simply loaded it into the holodisc player of choice and hit record. The disc had enough space to hold information for an entire standard year before needing to be either replaced or resurfaced. When a disc was resurfaced, the machine it was placed in skimmed a very small amount of the disc off the bottom side, enabling it to be used again as new. And though the information recorded was "deleted" through the resurface, the data always remained on it, no matter how many times it was recycled. That's just the way they were designed. It'd take a highly qualified hacker to access information from years past, but it could be done. And with the Force as an ally, Troy and Gabriella knew they could do far better then any hacker could ever dream of accomplishing.

There were various types and brands of this era's holodiscs. And as such, numerous limits to the amount of resurfacing you could do to one. While the less expensive ones could only be used for a low 10, the most expensive one in existence could be used a startling high 1,500. Of course, that one wouldn't have been out back in 5 IE, as it was just released the year prior. But the efficiency was at a somewhat high for that year, 50.

The surveillance discs being used at both Palaces were, not surprisingly, the versions of 50. The discs had been used since they came out twenty-one years ago, and would continue to be until they wore out twenty-six years from the present – 51 IE – and the Naboo updated to higher versions. With a strong concentration on what they wanted, Troy and Gabriella reached out with the Force, singularly, and dug deep down into the files of the discs, demanding the Force give them access to the discs' first year of files.

Unfortunately for them, in both instances, the holodiscs the Naboo had acquired twenty-one years previous were the less efficient prototypes of the ones released later that year. Because they were less efficient, they weren't meant to last a half century as deigned to, but twenty-one of that period. The discs were pretty much ready to go at any given time now, and the digging Troy and Gabriella were doing to the discs' files was only worsening it. The files didn't come out crystal clear the way they were supposed to, but distorted and the discs skipped a number of times. Despite all this, the royal duo were able to access bits and pieces of the discs' first year. Troy caught glimpses and bits of conversation of Amidala conversing with her court and barking orders at her handmaidens and servants. Nothing major or of any importance, but something. It was the same with Gabriella at the Imperial Palace. She caught glimpses of Amidala strolling about the vast grasslands surrounding the structure and conversing with her assistants about this or that. Again, nothing important, but the good thing was they were on the right track.

Fast forwarding to the second month of the fifth Imperial year, they began to skim through the discs, searching for the events of the day Palpatine died. Coming upon the fifteenth day of the second month, they stopped and let the discs play out.

The day started normal enough. Amidala stayed over at her homeworld Imperial Palace and ate breakfast there before returning to the Theed Royal Palace where she had an assembled meeting with her court.

But that's when the discs began to go haywire on both ends. Some stopped playing, others skipped loudly, buzzing, abruptly fast forwarding, rewinding, and staying on pause. The colors on the screens turned to various dis-colorings of that of the rainbow and the audio pickups were failing. Troy was only able to catch a few glimpses of Amidala's "frenzy", as Rabe had called it, before the entire security system shut down and a blaring alarm sounded.

Cursing, Troy quickly fled the building, his presence still cloaked as guards came out from every which way searching for the cause of the security breach.

As the discs continued to go haywire at Naboo Imperial Palace, Gabriella did as best she could to keep the discs active and not have them shut off. It drained her of a large amount of energy, yet she kept pouring wave after wave into the security system. Somehow she knew she was going to see something. And she did. It was on the surveillance disc of the Palace hanger. Amidala was inside conversing with the forms of three people. And though their backs were to the camera, Gabriella knew from their stature that they were Leslie and Lizzie Dayaden and Dorme Travelen.

The security system was about to crash. That Gabriella knew for a fact. But she needed to hang onto it. The Force was screaming at her to do so. Something was about to be revealed. And then, the screen displaying the disc of the hanger suddenly became clear of all discoloration and the static that had been blaring from the speakers was replaced with Amidala's voice.

"...Go to Coruscant and meet whatever force they have assembled there."

"But what about you mistress?" the voice of Dorme asked.

A sense of satisfaction was heard in Amidala's tone when she next spoke. "I shall be...elsewhere."

Abruptly, out of nowhere, Gabriella was hit with a stream of visions inside her head.

_A lone, defenseless ship exiting hyperspace._

_The entire Imperial fleet opening fire upon it._

_Screams._

_Laser fire._

_The terrified faces of the Dayaden sisters and Dorme inside a cockpit, their hands flying over the controls._

_An exploding ship._

_Blackness._

Gabriella came out of the vision, gasping.

She was alive!

Padme Amidala aka Darth Lady Baynetta was alive and extracting her revenge on the First Imperial Family in the form of the Shadow! It was Leslie, Lizzie, and Dorme who'd died in the exploding ship outside Coruscant twenty-one years ago. Not Amidala. She'd been acting in the shadows all these years, just like her father had done when he overthrew the Jedi Order and New Galactic Republic. She was using her siblings – Palpatine's offspring – in her plot for vengeance. Turning the very people who were like family to the Grievous-Skywalkers against them.

"You do realize what this means, don't you?" Gabriella desperately asked her brother in a clearing outside the Naboo Imperial Palace minutes later. She'd just finished explaining to him everything she'd seen.

Troy was beyond disturbed. He was terrified. "We've got to get back to the Outer Rim immediately!"

"You're not going anywhere!"

Gabriella and Troy slowly turned to see a hooded figure that had abruptly appeared out of what seemed nowhere. It was a feminine voice that had spoken and the face of the figure was shrouded in darkness. But not for long. Two hands rose from the figure's sides to remove the hood from its head and reveal...

* * *

Author's Note #2: Ah, a cliffhanger. So what do you guys think happens next? I'm quite anticipate of your reactions to this chapter.  



	117. Family Relations

Author's Note: Lots of action in this one and the introduction of a new character. As we're nearing the end of this episode, I may not update as frequently as before since I don't even have half of the next episode typed up yet. (There are 48 chapters total and I only have up about 19). Either that or take an extremely long hiatus after this. Which would you all prefer?

MissNaye: I guess it was kinda obvious.

Tsubasa no Michi: Thanks. Look for the "news" delivery at the end of this chapter.

Twisterblake: Oh boy indeed.

G-Anakin 13: Naturally.

Twisted Words: A cookie to you for guessing correctly.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 17: Family Relations

...Drake Jovovich. Troy and Gabriella let out a sigh of relief. For a brief moment they'd thought it was Amidala herself. The ex-Empress' Hand must've disguised his voice to spook them, and it worked. The duo rolled their eyes at their prior paranoia.

"Drake," Troy greeted in a tone as cold as ice.

"Troy." He returned the gesture with a nod, eying them both expressionlessly. "Gabriella."

"What are you doing here?" Gabriella hissed.

Drake allowed a slight smile. "One might ask you the same question."

"This is our mother's homeworld," Gabriella said simply.

"As it was my own mother's," Drake said just as simply.

"And your older sister's," Troy added with a trace of a challenge.

Drake simply smirked. "Indeed it was."

"Whose, whether you want to admit to it or not, still alive and acting as the Shadow," Gabriella stated.

Drake's only response was silence and another smirk.

"I assume you're here to kill us then." Troy's guess was met by a nod. This brought a smirk of his own. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm afraid I can't give you that luxury."

"We'll see," Drake sneered, "but you know...there is another reason I'm here. Or shall I say, _the real reason _I'm here. And it has nothing to do with you in the sense of me tracking you here to Naboo. After all, you two aren't the only Grievous' on-planet."

"What are you talking about?" Gabriella asked in irritated confusion.

"Do you realize what's happening right at this moment?" Drake asked.

"Besides the fact that you're speaking you're last words," Troy said sardonically.

Drake ignored him. "Right at this moment, an assault is being led on your late maternal grandmother's Starflare family."

At Troy and Gabriella's looks of intrigue, Drake grinned. "You see, in your haste to worry about and protect your immediate family, what of the others you have on Tatooine (the Lars), Naboo (the Starflares and Grievous'), and the Mid Rim world Garos IV (the rest of the Grievous'). Innocent lives, who never brought any harm to anyone, being mercilessly slaughtered just because they're related to the First Imperial Family, whether close or distantly."

Drake took pleasure out of his former friends' appalled looks of horror. "When the Shadow said she wanted the Grievous-Skywalker line wiped from existence, she meant the _entire_ Grievous-Skywalker line. Even those who aren't royal."

Notwithstanding the fact that neither Troy nor Gabriella had ever met any of their family outside that of the Royal House, they still couldn't help but be enraged over the twisted sadistic nature of the Shadow's orders. What would massacring the family lines of which the royals didn't even socialize with accomplish?

"Nothing," Drake said in response to their thoughts, "except eliminating the last remnants of a dynasty that's gone on quite long enough."

Gabriella ignited her rainbow-bladed lightsaber with a _snap-hiss_, the various colors of it shifting through its color spectrum, and stroke a ready pose. "I can think of another family dynasty that deserves being wiped out," she snarled. "And I'm going to start by eliminating you and then your worthless sister."

"Which one?" Drake asked coyly. "Blondelle, Bellatrix, or..." He trailed off.

"At the present, there's only one sister that's on-world," Troy said, also igniting his lightsaber, which was as black as night. "And that's Blondelle."

"Very good Troy," Drake said with an appraising smile. "Yes, it is she whose leading the assault on your non-important family. But as sad as it sounds, I'm afraid you won't be seeing her. As by the time she's done with her mission, I'll be done with mine: aka eliminating the both of you."

"Enjoy the attempt," Troy started.

"Because you won't get the chance to strike us down," Gabriella added.

"You'll be too busy begging for mercy to worry about anything else," Troy finished.

Drake smirked. "You always were more pathetic than you were competent Troy," he sneered, "and I see it's rubbing off on your sister. Too bad those arrogant attitudes aren't as strong as powers."

"Now whose the arrogant one?" Troy snipped, causing Gabriella to give a smirk of her own. "Let's find out, shall we?"

As one, Troy and Gabriella threw themselves at Drake in attack, but he was ready. No sooner had they taken two steps, his crimson blade was activated and meeting their attacks in aggressive motion.

Both opposing sides were level, something neither of the three duelists were thrilled over. This could lead to a very long and drawn out fight. Each attack was blocked, for they were using the Force to determine what move their opponent was about to make next. If they kept going like this, the duel would never end.

Hit with a sudden idea, Troy withdrew himself from the Force. This confused Gabriella and Drake alike, but Gabriella soon followed suit when she caught onto what her brother had in mind.

Keeping up a duel like this with no connection to the Force was like walking blind through a jungle of reeks, Drake mused. Stupid. He grinned beside himself at the irony of it. They were practically giving themselves to him.

But therein laid the trap that would be his ultimate downfall. Troy and Gabriella took him by surprise, abruptly calling upon not the dark, but the light side of the Force. Striking at him with such force that he found himself falling back. This was the opening the brother-sister team were searching for. Throwing their lightsabers at him at same time, they pierced into both ribs on either side of Drake's abdomen. However, they were then thrown back by a surge of furious energy as Drake collapsed to the ground.

Obtaining their footing, Troy and Gabriella deactivated their lightsabers and called Drake's to them with such force that he couldn't help but let go. Gabriella caught it and leveled it at her foe as she began to circle his bloodstained form. Troy, meanwhile, called the blaster pistol on Drake's hip to himself and followed his sister in the circling.

Silence proceeded them as enemy looked down upon victim, and victim looked up upon foe. Gabriella finally broke the silence by turning to Troy sarcastically. "What do you think, brother? Should we take him out of his misery or just let him bleed to death?"

Troy's response was two shots to Drake's chest. The bolts struck him down from his upright position, but did not kill him. Troy surmised he was too strong for that. Without the proper medical attention, though, he'd be singing a different tune.

"Let him bleed to death," Troy snarled in actual response to Gabriella. "He more than deserves it."

Leaving the blood drenched form of Drake behind, and making sure to take his lightsaber with them, Troy and Gabriella reached out with the Force to locate Blondelle. She was amongst the Gallo Mountains, a mountain chain on Naboo which featured the settlement of Deeja Peek at its summit. One of the first Human settlements on the planet, the city was famed for its stunning views (being built close to a great waterfall) and as the hometown of the once-vogue Holostar Starflare Sister Act, one of whom was Troy and Gabriella's maternal grandmother, Velásquez Starflare. This was northeast of their current position. The youngest of Palpatine's heirs knew they were coming and seemed pleasured at the chance of crossing blades with them.

Boarding _Regina Galas_, Troy and Gabriella merely followed their ex-friend's presence to determine her exact location in the city. It was on the northwestern side, on the outskirts of Deeja Peek's city district and in the splendid estate of their maternal grandaunt and uncle, Valarie Starflare-Dublavviane and her husband, financial mogul, Nicholson Dublavviane. From what Troy and Gabriella could see upon arriving, it looked to be a rather nice place to live. A four-story home surrounded by an acre of land that included a pond and fruit tree garden. The loveliness of the estate was soon forgotten, however, at the sight of about twenty people running about it in discontent; the sound of terrified screams admitting from their mouths, and sense of an unfamiliar light side Force presence somewhere among them.

Touching down into the field of running people, Troy and Gabriella weren't surprised to see most of them change course and run to the ship, hoping for entry aboard it. The ramp was barely down when they began to hear people running up it and looking for a place to hide.

Exiting the cockpit, Troy and Gabriella ignored the gasps and looks of shock that their maternal family were giving them and rushed past off the ship. The siblings hadn't exactly come here to rescue their family, but confront Blondelle. At the same time, they figured the family wasn't doing any harm by staying on the ship at the present.

The clashing of lightsabers brought their attention towards a group of picnic tables to their left. There, they saw Blondelle engaged in a furious lightsaber match with the light side Force presence they'd previously sensed. It was a young woman in her early twenties, petite in height (approximately a little over 1.52 meters) with Gabriella's complexion of caramel skin and short light brown, almost blonde hair. What confused them was why they didn't recognize her, how she could be so advanced in the Force, and why they hadn't sensed her presence sooner.

Their quires were quickly dismissed when the sound of a ship taking off whipped the royal twosome around to see _Regina Galas_ rising into the air. Hiding on the ship was one thing, but attempting to take it with you to a "safe place", stealing it in the process, was something else; something neither Troy nor Gabriella would stand for. They were about to pull the ship back down, only Blondelle decided to take matters into her own hands. Backflipping out of the duel with the mysterious Force-user, Blondelle leapt onto one of the nearby picnic tables, retrieved what appeared to be a small red ball from her robes and threw it at the escaping ship, the Force being used as a guide to keep the aim precise. What followed was both shocking and heartbreaking. The moment the red ball came into contact with _Regina_, it erupted into a mass explosion of sparks and fire, a startling display of force from a bomb so small. Troy and Gabriella gasped, the unknown Force-user (what they were guessing was a family member) yelled in anguish, and Blondelle looked triumphant.

"Small in size, yet big in magnitude. Ironic, isn't it?"

This remark from Blondelle as she stepped off the picnic table seemed to strike such a rage within the Force-wielding unknown young woman that you could actually see the angered fury radiating off her. She ran at Blondelle with a growl, but Palpatine's third heiress merely threw her back with the Force and a picnic table. Underneath the picnic table that had been thrown was a blonde woman who looked to be in her mid-50s, a black-haired teenage male, a brunette young woman of her early 20s, and a small young boy with a freckly face and bright red hair. Realizing their cover was blown, the group of four quickly got up and made to hide someplace else. But not quite fast enough. Blondelle called Gabriella's laser ray gun from the Princess' belt and shot down the four escapees, one after the other. Gabriella called the gun back to herself with a strong amount of the Force, causing Blondelle to turn her attention to she and Troy. A mocking smile lit her face.

"Well, well, well," she drawled. "If it isn't the famous Imperial Royals, Troy and Gabriella Grievous Skywalker. I've been looking forward to seeing the two of you again."

Troy and Gabriella responded with a level stare and silence. Blondelle laughed. "What, are you _not_ going to speak to me?"

Troy shook his head. "I don't see the reason."

"We'll simply let our lightsabers do the talking," Gabriella added.

Blades activated, they came at Blondelle in a quick pace; swinging and striking at her clashing blue blade.

Out of all her siblings, Blondelle was considered the least proficient sword fighter by the Shadow. She always had been from the beginning of training, and though in time she did progress somewhat, she'd never come close to being as advanced and skilled as the rest of Palpatine's offspring. This was easily seen as she dueled Troy and Gabriella. Blondelle wasn't exactly more than a match for them, but she wasn't exactly much of a challenge either. The siblings showed no mercy as they perpetually stroke at Blondelle, giving her no openings whatsoever against them. Nonetheless, she kept trying to breakthrough, growing more and more frustrated as the duel went on. The brother-sister team decided to do their former friend one last favor before she died: taking her out of the frustration that was befalling her. Gabriella abruptly slammed her lightsaber down onto Blondelle's with such force that it fell out of her grip and onto the ground. Troy took his cue, blocking Blondelle's Force-push and cutting his blade through her middle section with a swift twirl. Blondelle gave a shocked gasp as she looked down at her split body before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the ground, dead. Troy and Gabriella gazed down at Blondelle's lifeless form, their faces void of emotion, until the sound of a groan drew their eyes away and onto the nearby upturned picnic table the Force sensitive woman was still trapped under. Deactivating their lightsabers, Troy and Gabriella turned their backs on the dead Blondelle and rushed to aide their unknown family member. Lifting the table and tossing it several feet away with the Force, they found the Force sensitive woman sprawled on the ground, just regaining consciousness. Something about this woman made them felt drawn to her, and as such, they crouched down on either side of her, Troy gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked in the same tone as his touch.

The woman's eyes opened and she smiled. "I'd like to think so."

Casually getting up, she objected to any assistance and dusted herself off. Then gave a brief look of satisfaction over at Blondelle's dead body before turning back to them and smiling again. "I imagine at this moment you're probably wondering who the hell I am," she said.

Gabriella gave a sly grin and Troy a brief laugh. "You could say that."

She stuck out a hand which they each shook. "Hi! I'm Kylantha Escovedo. I'm your cousin through the fact that your maternal grandfather, Lamar, and my maternal grandmother, Petra, were siblings."

"So you're not apart of the Starflare family," Gabriella said with a trace of confusion.

"Oh no! The only reason I'm here is because Sapphire, one of your cousins on the Starflare side – she and your mothers were cousins – invited me. The Starflare family's 3-year annual reunion is what was going on before she arrived." Kylantha's jerked her head in Blondelle's direction at the word "she".

"Sapphire always found things like this to be boring," Kylantha continued. "Always said nothing of _interest _or _excitement _occurred at them." Her eyes dropped to the nearby form of the brunette young woman that had been with the pact of four until shot down, she was laying a few paces away, and Kylantha's eyes began to tear. "I guess this was the one year when she was wrong."

While Gabriella went over to slip an arm around Kylantha's neck, Troy glanced down at the dead bodies of Sapphire and the others. They seemed like nice people. All of them. They didn't deserve this to happen to them.

Troy turned back to Kylantha and gave her an intriguing stare. "You're Force sensitive."

It was a statement, not a question.

She nodded. "Yes."

"We saw you fighting Blondelle when we arrived," he said, slightly hesitant. "It would appear you've had training in some point of your life."

"Not really," she said with a shake of her head. "Mostly everything I know about the Force was self-taught."

"And the lightsaber?"

"A gift...from my uncle."

"Your uncle?" Kylantha nodded. "Was he a Jedi?"

Now she was the one hesitating. "You could say that."

Beginning to sense that some of the trust they'd briefly formed was slipping away, Troy made things plain and simple for his cousin.

"Listen Kylantha: I don't want to make you uncomfortable with the questions I'm asking. I just wanna know a little about you, that's all."

Kylantha offered a slight smile and gestured to the only picnic table that wasn't damaged by the carnage. As Troy and Gabriella followed her over towards it, she gave a small chuckle and spoke.

"It's interesting. I imagine if I'd made a particular decision when I was eighteen we wouldn't be having this conversation and I'd probably be dead."

The trio seated themselves on either side of the table; Kylantha and Gabriella on one, Troy on the other. Troy flashed her a knowing smile. "You were a Jedi trainee, weren't you?"

She nodded. "I was supposed to be. I merely changed my mind."

"And you uncle?" Gabriella asked.

"He was my uncle actually." At their raised eyebrows, she shrugged. "Well kinda. He was married to my mother's cousin...my second cousin...your aunt."

She glanced up from her slightly chipped manicured fingernails to find Troy and Gabriella gazing at her as though they'd heard her wrong.

"You mean...Kenobi?" Troy asked in a tone that clearly said he was having a hard time digesting this information.

She again nodded. "I was supposed to be one of his Jedi pupils following the destruction of Death Star I six years ago. I declined because I didn't want to be at war with my own family," she nodded at Troy and Gabriella, "and endanger the lives of the rest of my family. He said he understood, but gave me the original lightsaber he used as a Padawan with the parting words that if ever I changed my mind, the Order would always be open for me. But I never joined, nor had any longing to. He'd visit me from time to time at home on Garos IV, yet my answer remained the same: no. I knew he was disappointed by my continued refusal, even if he never said so. I just...wasn't interested in being in a war. Plus, my parents didn't really approve of the idea, or any of the other family for that matter. Yet despite that, it didn't stop me from training myself in some aspects of the Force. Not much really," she said in reply to their unspoken question. "Force persuasions, pushes, shoves, floating objects, eavesdropping on people's thoughts," she added with a lowered head.

Gabriella and Troy both laughed, causing Kylantha to raise her head and grin deviously.

"I didn't do it often," she defended. "But it's interesting to hear some of the stuff that goes through people's minds. It can be pretty out there at times."

"What am I thinking right now?" Gabriella asked, looking at Kylantha expressionlessly.

Kylantha examined her a moment and grinned. "You think I'm really crazy, that's what you think!"

Gabriella laughed. "I do not!"

"That is what was going through your mind, Gabriella," Troy said with a smirk. "Among other things..."

"I am _not_ going to repeat what the other things were," Kylantha said as Gabriella began to twirl her long black hair with a finger.

Troy continued to smirk. "My sister has a dirty mind."

"So how did you meet the Starflares, Kylantha?" Gabriella abruptly asked.

Troy's smirk became even more pronounced. "You see! That's why she changed the subject. She's a dirty girl."

Gabriella shocked Kylantha by flipping her brother off with not one, but both middle fingers. Troy recoiled instantly. "You wound me Gabriella!"

"Once I decided I didn't want to be a Jedi, I left Garos IV to go to the University of Naboo here," Kylantha said in response to Gabriella's question. "There, I met Sapphire. We were friends for some time before discovering we were actually related to some extent through Antellica and Arica Grievous. The only sad thing about it was because of the Starflare-Grievous feud that occurred before and during the time your maternal grandparents married, my family didn't like that I was socializing with the Starflares. The Starflares had long gotten over their hatred of the Grievous'; though, probably because it was their only link to being related to the First Imperial Family. Eventually, it got so bad with my family that they disowned me. My parents kicked me out of the house and I was forced to be on my own. Thankfully, I had Sapphire and her mother there for me. They allowed me to move in with them for as long as I liked and life was good."

"Until this," Gabriella supplied.

Kylantha sadly lowered her head. "Yeah."

Gabriella and Troy exchanged a glance before turning back to Kylantha, who continued to speak. "And it's not like I can go back to my old home. Blondelle told me she'd just finished massacring my family on Garos IV before she came here. She was too smug about it to be lying. That I know for a fact."

Brother and sister exchanged yet another glance that spoke of a telepathic conversation. Kylantha was able to pick up on some of it, and what they were saying floored her.

"But-I can't come with you!" she exclaimed. "I won't impose myself on you like that." She rose from her seat. "It's alright. I'll find my own way."

"Alone?" Troy asked doubtfully. "Kylantha, you may not realize this, but we are dealing with someone who will not rest until the entire Grievous-Skywalker line is wiped out. That includes you. You're going to have a better chance at survival if you stay with us."

"Besides, it's not like you have anywhere else to go," Gabriella added.

Kylantha's discomfort was easily seen in her posture. "I appreciate your concern," she said dismissively. "Really, I do. I just-"

"Don't wish to impose yourself on us at a time such as this," Troy finished.

"Yeah." Kylantha looked relieved that he'd picked up on the real reason why she didn't want to come. "You just lost your three youngest siblings, two of the others were kidnapped, plus your nephew and second cousin. I can't impose myself at a time like this."

"I think the real reason, besides imposing, is that you're afraid of what the others will think of you," Gabriella voiced. "Especially since you were once a candidate for being a Jedi."

Kylantha's further discomfort simply proved this.

"Jacen was once a Jedi," Troy pointed out. "No one has any problems with him, and he's not even family."

Kylantha allowed her discomfort to show only a few more moments before taking on a small smile. "This isn't an argument I'm going to win, is it?"

Troy and Gabriella shook their heads. "No."

She thought it over a few more moments before reaching a decision. "Well...alright. I guess it could be fun to meet the rest of my family. Only one small problem: How are we leaving? Because in case you haven't noticed," she gestured to the ruined _Regina Galas_, "we cannot leave on that thing."

Kylantha was sure she heard Troy utter a profanity under his breath, but chose not to say anything of it. Gabriella let out her frustration by huffing out a sigh. "We'll just have to steal another ship."

"Steal?!" Kylantha was thunderstruck. She glanced back over to the destroyed _Regina Galas_. "That ship wasn't yours?!"

"Nah." Troy waved it off like it was no big deal. "We stole it from a hotel on Axxila. It's kind of a long story."

"One I intend on hearing," she said in a reproving tone. "Now come on!"

"Where are we going?" Gabriella asked as she and Troy rose from the table to follow their cousin. "You know where we can steal some ships?"

Kylantha acted as though she hadn't heard the second question. "Fortunately for you, I have a ship in the estate's basement garage." She gestured to the off-white stoned house.

"Great!" Troy looked generally pleased. "Then let's go!"

* * *

The Galaxy was full of many wonders. One of which was the Outer Rim world Geonosis. It was intriguing how this world was one of the few in the galaxy to have an equatorial ring hooped around its center in the form of an asteroid belt. The planet itself brought back many memories to those whom were alive during the time of the Clone Wars. The Battle of Geonosis. That had been the start of it all. The start of a three-year conflict that was the turning of an era for the better of the galaxy. 

Arica let a smile play across her lips at the remembrance of that time. She'd been nothing more than a loyal handmaiden at the time, before then moving onto becoming the opposing side's Supreme Commander and later Head State. She'd made quite the name for herself at fourteen as a cruel, sadistic, murderous mercenary. She was feared by many and wanted dead by many more. Yet despite all that she'd still been a girl; a girl with a crush.

From the moment she'd met her husband of nearly twenty-five years, her heart was his forever. She'd dream of him at night and think of him during the day. All she'd ever wanted was to be loved by him in return. But at that time, there was the Amidala factor. Arica was forced to standby and watch her love fall for someone else who was merely using him for their own gain; pretend to be happy at the wedding, when in fact she was crying on the inside, her heart heavy; and then watch him get his heart broken, her own heart breaking in the process. She and Anakin had been through so much together. The thick and thin, good times as well as the bad. She could not picture her life without him in it. She'd die if he died and visa versa. They'd brought so much happiness to one another over the years, including that of their nine children. Arica's smile instantly vanished. The joy that once came to her at the thought of their children was replaced with a tidal wave of sadness. Out of the nine, only three were with their parents presently; four were dead – no, murdered; while the other two were...who knows where.

As much as Arica liked to believe Troy and Gabriella were just fine, there was apart of her that still worried about their well being despite the fact that they were practically adults. Yet there was another part of her that was angered by their abrupt leaving; angered over the fact that they would do something of the sort at a time like this and worry not just her, but everyone else too.

"Thinking about Troy and Gabriella again?"

The smile returned to Arica's face as she turned from the _Executor III's_ starboard bridge viewport that gave a clear show of Geonosis out from of it to see her twin sister standing before her. Donned entirely in the staple color of the Royal House, black, complete with sleeveless top, pants, and robes, her flowing blonde locks coming halfway down her back and eye patch in place over her right eye socket, Antellica Grievous was still quite recognizable as the former partner/pupil of her brother-in-law during the last leg of the Clone Wars.

"Yeah," Arica said in response to her sister's question as she joined her at the viewport. "I'm always thinking about them."

She took to gazing the stars again beyond and around Geonosis. "They could be anywhere."

Antellica wrapped an arm around her younger twin and pulled her into a side embrace. "I'm sure they're just fine. Heck! At their age, we'd done far worse then stealing ships and running away unsupervised."

"Such as?" Arica inquired for wit.

Antellica took on sly smile. "Oh, you know...blowing up buildings...secretly getting married..."

"You're talking about yourself on those aspects," Arica pointed out.

"...hooking up with married men," Antellica continued as though there had been no interjection.

"Betraying empires by hooking up with the enemy and having his child," Arica shot back.

"Secretly plotting the death of the person you serve to overthrow the very empire he worked to create," Antellica returned.

The sound of a chuckle from behind halted the women's playful tiff. Turning, they saw the Emperor himself standing before them, and though his mask was still safely in tack, they could easily sense the amusement radiating off him. It could be heard in his tone. "I think it's safe to say Troy and Gabriella didn't run off to do any of those things."

Arica gave a brief laugh and, ignoring Antellica, wrapped herself into her husband's arms, giving his mask a warm kiss. He responded by pulling her deeper into the embrace and holding her firmly, gently stroking her long silky hair.

It was amazing that after all this time Anakin was still able to light up Arica's face at his very presence, Antellica mused. That was true love.

She turned away to give them their just privacy, notwithstanding that they were on the Star Destroyer's bridge level, but also because there was a small part of her that didn't enjoy watching couples show their happiness in public. It reminded her too much of before, when she herself had been in love.

Shaking her head, Antellica dismissed these thoughts and went to see what the trouble was between the arguing Captain and Admiral of the ship. "May I help you with whatever problem you have gentlemen?" she asked in a no nonsense manner.

Though she was no longer Supreme Commander of the Navy, she still had authority as a retired officer and the Imperial Queen.

Both snapped to attention at he sound of her voice, though while Captain Katarn appeared relieved by her intervention, Admiral Tantor seemed mildly irritated. However, the Admiral was ignored as Katarn began to tell her the situation.

"Miss, we have a ship requesting to land in the hanger by the name _Princess of Blood_. It's markings match that of a Kuat Drive Yards cruiser and, remarkably enough, the Third Imperial Prince and Princess-"

"are aboard," Anakin finished as he and Arica approached them.

"Y-yes sir."

"Authorize it immediately," Arica commanded.

Katarn saluted. "Yes Your Highness."

* * *

Finding the fleet in the Outer Rim was fairly easy. As was getting authorization to dock inside the Super Star Destroyer Command Ship _Executor III_. The interesting part was going to be facing their family after almost three weeks away and telling them of Amidala's faux death. It would be hard for them to handle, and some may not even want to believe, but they'd already prepared themselves for that factor. Gabriella would simply show them the memories of the surveillance disc and the vision via the Force. If they didn't believe after that, they were simply blinding themselves to the truth. 

The journey from Naboo to Geonosis was a good chance for Troy and Gabriella to get to know their cousin more and visa versa. Kylantha may have been a small 5'1', but this short stature was made up for in her personality. She was serious when the need presented itself, but most of the time was cracking jokes and you never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. Besides this, however, she was sweet, polite, and a great person to be around who liked to have a good time. This was why her sudden nervousness at meeting the rest of the Royal House confused Troy and Gabriella to no end. Kylantha donned a multi-color summer-type dress with heels and gave her already short hair a slight trim. According to her, first impressions were best impressions when it comes to family.

"I don't wanna look like a cheesy bantha when I meet them," she'd said. "Elegance is perfection."

In Troy and Gabriella's eyes, she looked fine the way she was. And while her dress up did make her look nice, she looked nice before in brown slacks and an off-white top of short sleeves with black knee-high boots.

With Troy and Gabriella in the lead, donned in casual clothing of gray and black, and Kylantha in the rear, they exited _Princess of Blood_. Not halfway down the boarding ramp, the Empress began barking demands as she marched forward to meet them. She was closely followed by the Emperor, Lacovia, and Allana, while the remaining seven (Jacen, Alexander, Luke, Antellica, Anneliese, Hilton, and River) stayed on the sidelines in the semicircle they'd created around the vessel. Their expressions were various: relief, confusion, irritation, frustration. The Empress', though, was one of anger.

"Explain yourselves!" she barked with a steady leading march, but stopped at the sight of Kylantha. The others soon followed. "Whose this?"

This question caused everyone to look questionably at Kylantha, but Troy and Gabriella weren't ready to introduce her just yet. The siblings reached into their pockets and presented their furious mother with two lightsabers that were not their own. She took them with some surprise and confusion, resulting in Gabriella's explanation.

"What you hold in your hands at this very moment, mother, are the lightsabers of Drake and Blondelle Jovovich," she said with just a tiny hint of smugness. "Or shall I say, _were_ the lightsabers of Drake and Blondelle."

"You killed them?" Lacovia gasped in a tone that clearly said she was afraid to know the answer.

Gabriella gave a satisfied nod and Troy smirked in addition to replying. "That's right."

Their mother seemed speechless, and though they sensed some of the irritation leave her, she still looked mad. Anakin, however, is the one who spoke.

"While I think this is a magnificent accomplishment for the two of you, sneaking off without telling anyone and stealing what doesn't belong to you is reckless behavior." He seemed to add to himself, "Of course I can't say I haven't done the same in the past."

Troy and Gabriella exchanged smirks, but their father, for the most part, ignored them as he pressed on. "The point is, reckless deeds do not go unpunished, and as punishment-"

"You can't punish us!" Troy arrogantly boasted.

Anakin crossed his arms. "And why is that?"

"We're practically adults," Gabriella stated.

"We don't need reminding, thank you," Arica said, the previous irritation returning full swing.

"Oh, but I think you do!" Troy shot back with a raised voice.

"Silence!" Anakin boomed. "I will not take this arrogance from you Troy! Either of you! The two of you abruptly left. We have not heard anything from you for over three weeks. I demand to know where you were, why you think you could just leave unannounced, and who this girl is!"

"Kylantha's my wife," Troy pronounced with a smug smirk.

Gabriella and Kylantha both laughed, however, no one else was humored.

"Don't joke with us Troy!" Arica snarled. "You're too arrogant to get married."

This comment seemed to only nourish his ego, as his smirk widened. "Indeed I am."

"I expect a full length explanation as to how you acquired these," Anakin gestured to the lightsabers in his wife's hands, "what you've been doing the past few weeks, and the real identity of this young woman. March!"

Troy and Gabriella flashed their father a look that said they weren't moved by his shouts, but did as instructed with Kylantha in tow.

The party of fourteen proceeded out of the hanger and onto the level beneath the bridge. It consisted of the ship's Royal Quarters. Upon arriving inside the floor's private conference hall, Anakin barked, "Sit!"

Troy, Gabriella, and Kylantha took the chairs at the head of table and waited for everyone else to seat themselves.

"Explain!" The Emperor once again barked when the seating had been acquired. He, however, chose to remain standing.

Troy and Gabriella exchanged another humored glance before the younger took it upon herself to lay down the rules and rose. "We'll start the explanation, only under the condition that everyone remains silent the entire time. Can I have assurance of that? Because I won't stand for interruptions."

Everyone nodded, but only Alexander spoke. "Yes Gabriella. You have assurance that we'll keep our traps shut while you and Troy rattle on."

This brought chuckles from a few, but these were swiftly silenced at Arica's cleared thought. Gabriella pursed her lips and reclaimed her seat, not at all happy about Alexander's mockery of her.

Troy drummed his fingers on the tabletop a few moments before starting the explanation. "We'll start at the beginning, during the conversation that was conducted concerning Amidala..."


	118. Birth, Death, and Siege

Author's Note: The beginning of June commences with an explosive chapter! I won't say what this all entails, but _you will_ not be disappointed by it. Enjoy and review!

arzum: Of course it was. Didn't you read the explanation given at the beginning of the chapter prior?

MissNaye: But will they believe it, is the question.

Twisterblake: Thanks, here ya go!

G-Anakin 13: Ah! I wondered if someone would ask that. A conversation at the end of this chapter will answer it somewhat.

Twisted Words: Definitely, and especially in the middle of a crisis. No matter how old they are.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 18: Birth, Death, and Siege

26.5 Imperial Era

The second planet orbiting the star Cirius in the system of the same name was the marsh-covered world of Caamas. Located in the Galactic Core, it was one of the Core Founders of the Old Republic, and the homeworld of the behemoths and Caamasi people. It was said that the early Jedi learned morality from the Caamasi. Despite this legend, however, few Caamasi ever learned the ways of the Force under the Jedi. The once highly populated world remained loyal to the New Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, but was bombarded during the start of the Alien War. And though a few survivors were able to flee to such neighboring worlds as Alderaan and Kerit, they were soon tracked down and killed as well.

Ever since the planet's devastation twenty-four years ago, it'd mainly been kept isolated, with the only life on-world being that of the Imperial base and prison, which had been built three years afterward. It's harsh climate, rocky wastelands, and overgrown jungle-like wilderness gave it the sense of forbidding that was attractive to the Shadow. And since most of the planet was untouched, unused, and set apart from civilization, it was the perfect place to hide while awaiting the arrival of her twin heirs through Leila. The Imperials would never think to look in the Core. The analogy didn't make sense, yet they would learn of their underestimation soon enough.

It'd been three months since the Shadow left Korriban. Three quiet months that seemed like peace, yet weren't. The Imperials continued to swarm the Restricted, Outer, Mid, and Expansion Regions of the galaxy while leaving the Inner, Colonies, and Core untouched. And the Royal House kept themselves grouped together on the _Executor III_ in the Outer Rim in a tense situation.

Notwithstanding everything that had been said and shown concerning the subject of Amidala, half the family (Anakin, Arica, Antellica, Luke, Alexander, Lacovia, and River) defiantly refused to accept what was being laid out in front of them: Amidala didn't die in the ship explosion as thought. In response to this, Troy and Gabriella grew cold and concise to all who didn't believe them, refusing to engage in the various conversations that were thrown at them about why they were wrong. And on top of that, both took the news of Elektra's death extremely hard.

However, there were those who did believe them (Jacen and Anneliese), while others had mixed feelings on the matter (Hilton, Allana, and Kylantha). The numerous beliefs of everyone on the subject made the atmosphere surrounding the royals uncomfortable and strained. Everyone usually stayed in their own separate groups, avoiding whom they didn't wish to socialize with as not to start an argument.

On a lighter note, Kylantha was welcomed into the family warmly, and it was insisted she stay with them, like previously suggested, where she would be safest.

The absence of the Shadow's treachery over the three month course made the Imperials, rather it be royal or officer, suspiciously nervous. Something was going to happen. Of that they were sure. And it was going to be big, an event that would change the galaxy from which they knew it.

The Shadow kept hidden on Caamas in a mountain cave at the east point of the southernmost continent. She secretly resided there, in tow with her two captives, Leila and Ben, unbeknown to the Imperials on the continent north of them. Her fleet was kept secretly deployed in the regions the Imperials weren't searching, under the command of Bellatrix and Jaina. The assumption of the galaxy being turned upside down and back again was one the Shadow liked to muse over. The final pieces of her board of reclaiming the Empire were set and about to start moving, creating chaos, death, and destruction in more places than one. But first, there was the matter of her heirs to deal with.

The Shadow's method of speeding up Leila's pregnancy with the Force was shockingly successful. The young woman had gone from having a flat belly to a large one in no time at all. Leila didn't think it was possible, let alone natural, to go that fast in pregnancy healthy, but the Shadow kept her well-fed and nourished in spite of Leila's disdain for the food she was given. Because of the Shadow's own disdain for infants, Leila was forced to care for her nephew Ben, something she was more than willing to do. It was practice for her. Through Ben, she was able to experience what caring for a baby was really like and enjoyed it, even if it had to be done couped up inside a cave with the Shadow watching her every move. Caring for Ben inspired Leila to want out of the Shadow's grip. She wanted to have her babies surrounded by family the way Anneliese had Ben. And she wanted to raise and watch her children grow up on Alderaan with Alexander by her side. She needed to get out of here and get help. She knew where she was, and where the Imperial base was located on the planet. Getting there was the problem. The cave she, the Shadow, and Ben were staying in wasn't that big, but livable in a moderate size, approximately five dozen meters in length and width. Candles were kept lit at all times in each corner of the room, and the supplies they used daily towards the center. Any chance of escaping while the Shadow retrieved more supplies from her ship, _Shadow Hunter_, every day was out since she kept Leila consistently by her side. Leila didn't remember when was the last time she wasn't in the Shadow's presence. It was all a blur. Leila suspected the Shadow knew of her yearn to escape, even if she never said anything. Oddly enough, the Shadow didn't speak much at all unless it had to do with Ben making too much noise or Leila not eating enough. Leila followed this trait by not speaking unless spoken to, and used the silence to meditate or ponder things. If one were to look into their cave, they would see two women – one young, one cloaked in shadow – and an infant male merely sitting on opposite sides of it, doing nothing out of the ordinary except sitting. Hardly the scene of a Sith Lady and her prisoners.

All Leila's hopes of escaping while pregnant were lost when the Shadow told her the morning that marked three months of being on Caamas that it was time. Her pregnancy was complete. This slightly confused Leila because she didn't feel any different. Sure, her body felt tired, her back ached, and her feet hurt at the point of being swollen, but she didn't feel like she was about to give birth and as such, remained seated on the hard cave floor.

Not unexpectedly, this act of defiance angered the Shadow. With a growl, she yanked Leila to a stand, snatched the silent Ben from her arms, and roughly dragged the instrument that would provide her heirs out of the cave, along the downhill jungle path that led to her cloaked starship and then onto the _Shadow Hunter_ itself. She'd already called ahead, via the Force, to alert her medical droid staff of the situation, so by the time they arrived in her ship's med wing, the droids were just finishing setting up.

Leila got the small shock of entering a room bathed entirely in white light that she had to squint her eyes for them to adjust. She hadn't seen any type of real light since entering the Shadow's company. And because everything was usually in darkened shadows in the Shadow's presence, Leila wasn't sure what to make of this. The room was filled with all the usual finds of a medical chamber, with a single birthing table laying in the center. Because of the light, Leila was even able to get a few glimpses of the bottom half of the Shadow's face, her nose and down. However, this was short lived, for after the dark woman thrust Ben into the metallic hands of one of the nurse droids, with the instruction of putting him in her quarters, she whipped around and barked for Leila to lay down on the room's birthing table, pulling her hood securely down in the process and obscuring her face from view once more.

Leila boldly held her ground, crossing her arms over her swelling abdomen. Her attitude remained defiant. "What makes you think it's time for me to give birth?" she demanded. "Whose the mother here, you or me. I say-"

A surge of energy slammed Leila back and onto the table. And an instant later her water broke, accordingly beginning the birthing the process. She wasn't in labor long, and with the help of the Force managed to shorten it somewhat, much to the Shadow's pleasure.

The experience of giving birth was nothing short of wonderful, if yet also traumatizing with the Shadow standing next to her the entire time, sharply commanding her to push harder and embrace the pain she was feeling. Interestingly enough, Leila's second child, a daughter, came out harder than the first, a son. It was as if the tiny baby somehow knew and sensed the approaching danger that awaited her outside the womb and was fighting to stay inside. The Shadow wouldn't have this though, and practically pulled the girl out of the womb with a powerful Force grip while squeezing Leila's hands. Leila had no choice but to squeeze back and allow the Shadow's power to pour inside of her. The woman's grip and strength in the Force was like durasteel.

At the process' end, Leila let out a sigh of relief and sat up to look at her babies. She was tired yes; exhausted even, but she wasn't going to fall asleep without getting a glimpse of them. And indeed a glimpse is all she achieved. No sooner had the babies come out of her womb that they were being taken away from her by the droids that helped her with the birthing.

"No wait! Please!" she started to protest. "I want to see them!"

The droids either didn't hear her or didn't care as they continued for the room's exit. Leila made an attempt to get up and follow, but the Shadow pushed her back down. Her tone was utterly satisfied. "Now that I have your twins, there is no further need for you to be in existence."

At this point, Leila could careless about anything the Shadow had to say. She just needed to see her babies. "Wait!" she continued to call after the droids who were almost out the door. "I want to hold them! I need to hold them!"

"Silence!" The Shadow snarled with a slap across Leila's face for emphasis. "Your purpose was to bare my heirs; not hold them!"

The exit door closed with a swing behind the droids and her children, and Leila could hear that they'd started to cry. Both of them. Through the Force and her motherly instincts, Leila knew that they wanted to see her just as much as she wanted to see them. As tears began to flow from her own eyes, she tried to reach out to their signatures in the Force and give them the love she yearned to transfer to them via cradling that way. Only she couldn't. The Shadow wouldn't let her. She was hiding their presences from her in the Force the same way she always kept hers cloaked, in nonexistence.

Leila let out a cry of agony and allowed the tears fall more rapidly from her eyes now as she turned to the Shadow with a look of grief. "You monster!" she cried. "Why are you doing this to me?!"

The Shadow smirked beneath her hood, but other than that, ignored her heir barer. Her anger towards the girl had faded to be replaced with a sarcastic tone when she next spoke. "As priorly said, now that your purpose has been fulfilled, I have no further use of you and this is the part where I bring your life to a sad end. However, before I do so, I have a question for you Leila. And I want you to answer it truthfully." She gave a brief chuckle. "Think of it as your dying words." She paused a moment before asking, "Why do you hate me so much?"

Leila was flabbergasted. She stopped crying and examined the Shadow as though she'd heard her wrong. When it was clear she hadn't, Leila exploded.

"Hello! You kidnapped me! Killed my sister; no, four of my siblings! And you intend on stealing my babies from me! The pain and havoc you've brought to my family, that's why I hate you!"

The Shadow seemed unmoved by her shouts, merely thoughtful. "Hmm. And you still haven't figured out who I am," she stated. "Despite all the hints I've given you."

"I don't care who you are!" Leila roared. "In my eyes, all you are is an evil woman!"

"Just like your mother, yes?"

Leila was beyond irritated with that subject; she was enraged. "What does she have to do with everything?!" She screamed. "Why do you keep bringing her up?!"

The Shadow was silent a moment before replying. "What do you think, Leila?" she asked calmly. "Isn't it obvious?"

For the first time in her company, the Shadow's presence wasn't cloaked. Leila was actually able to reach out and touch the woman's signature in the Force. And what she found shocked, confused, angered, yet also frightened her. Leila found herself up off the bed, but before she could make a run for the one and only exit, the Shadow reached out her hand and locked it. Though Leila was more than proficient in the art of combat and the Force, the Shadow was much older and more experienced than her. Plus, the birthing of her babies didn't help the matter. She was in no fit state for a fight.

Backing away with a mixture of all four emotions she felt displayed on her face, it was clear which one she was feeling the most through her stuttered speech. "No! It's not possible! You-your-"

"Dead Leila?" the Shadow replied. Reaching up, she lowered her hood, causing Leila to gasp. "Do I look dead to you?"

Knowing and seeing are two separate things. Knowing something is all well and good, but at times seeing is the only way one will fully believe. This was the way it was with Leila. She knew who the Shadow was before she took the hood off, but actually seeing the Shadow without her hood made Leila fully believe whom this woman was: Padme Amidala aka Darth Lady Baynetta.

"And now Leila, you understand why I'm doing this," Baynetta said simply. "I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm merely taking back what is rightfully mine. What was stolen from me twenty-one years ago. What harm is there in that?"

Leila was too stunned to speak. She continued to back away from the ex-Empress in not so much shock now, but fear.

Baynetta fed off of Leila's fear with a smirk. "Knowing that, there in no longer any purpose for you to live."

Activating her decades-old crimson bladed lightsaber, she began a slow pace towards Leila. The girl went into a panic almost instantly.

"No wait! Please!" she begged. "You wouldn't! I-I'm your daughter!"

Baynetta stopped and flashed Leila a triumphant look. "Oh I see! Now that I'm about to kill you, you have no problem accepting the fact. You are not the daughter of Arica Grievous, but the daughter and descendant of the Palpatine line, not the Grievous-Skywalkers. And that is the way your children, _my grandchildren_, shall be raised. You, meanwhile, will join your _siblings_ in the pathway of death. But don't be too upset Leila. The rest of your worthless family will be joining you shortly."

The Sith Lady brandished her lightsaber once more and resumed her pace towards Leila.

"Please!" Leila cried. She was beyond caring that she was sobbing like a pathetic child. She just didn't want to die. Not now. She wanted to at least see her babies first. "You won't! You couldn't!"

Baynetta offered her a mocking smile. "Watch me!"

"Please!!"

But it was too late. With one swift and straight forward thrust, Baynetta's blade was piercing into Leila's chest and heart. The young woman screamed in the utmost pain imaginable as her life force left her and became one with the Force, crumpling to the floor in a heap as Baynetta's lightsaber was yanked out of her.

The Dark Lady of the Sith gazed down at the dead form of her daughter with a satisfied smile. This had been a long day coming. Five down, thirteen more to go!

What Baynetta didn't realize, however, was that despite Leila's presence being cloaked into nonexistence, her death was still felt through the twin bond that was shared with Luke.

The eldest of the Skywalker children, recently turned 26, had been on the bridge of _Executor III_, pondering the letter the Shadow left with Elektra's ashes on Korriban.

Leila was next on her death list, yet she wouldn't immediately kill her because she was still useful. But for how long? And what purpose? Luke had raked his brain over and over concerning what that could be, and continued to come up with nothing. He even spoke with Alexander about it, not to pry into he and Leila's marriage, but to just try and figure out what the Shadow could find of use in Leila. Alexander expressed how she'd been acting slightly distant ever since learning of Dylan, Cole, and Philomena's kidnapping, and once they'd been killed he got the sense from her that she was hiding something, though would always deny it if presented. Luke, as well, had sensed something amiss from Leila during the Mission to Dathomir and later Wayland, but as with Alexander, she always brushed it off, saying it was simply his imagination and that she was fine. Luke began to wonder if Leila was pregnant and the Shadow wanted to use the child as an apprentice. Alexander, however, dismissed that analogy, saying she would've told him if no one else and sensed it in the Force. Luke didn't want to start an argument, so nothing else was said on the matter.

Yet there was also the matter of his five-month-old son, Ben. Obviously, the use the Shadow had for him were the same for Leila's possible offspring: an apprentice of sorts. Luke wouldn't allow that though. He would not have his son turned against him the same way Kenobi and Yoda attempted to turn he and Leila against their own father.

The thought of Kenobi caused Luke to sigh. It'd been close to a year now and still Anneliese had not been able to regain contact with him. She was beyond worried, but petrified for her father's life. With the Shadow running loose, anything could've happened to him. She'd finally given in and told them his location upon being in orbit around Dantooine. What they found on the northeast continent, which Kenobi and the apparent Zonama Sekot natives had based themselves on, however, was nothing but grassy fields. The village Anneliese remembered was gone, and no trace of it could be found. Luke thought that would be the end of it. Kenobi and the aliens had moved on and found safety elsewhere, yet Anneliese refused to see or accept this. She felt something bad had happened and would not rest until she received answers. Luke thought she was being ridiculous, not just over that, but over the fact that she actually believed Troy and Gabriella on the matter of Amidala being the Shadow.

Luke allowed his eyes to roll as he moved from the Star Destroyer's side bridge viewport to the central most one that gave a large frontal view of the vastness of open space that swarmed around the ship. The bridge crew mostly ignored him as they went about their duties, though a few saluted none were acknowledged.

It seemed that no matter what anyone said, nothing could change his middle half-siblings minds on that subject. He felt that besides rescuing Kylantha, whom he'd taken a liking to, and killing Drake and Blondelle, their entire trip to Naboo had been a waste. This had caused Anneliese to join Troy, Gabriella, and Jacen in their silent treatment act against the family. She refused to say anything to him and had even moved out of their quarters, opting to stay instead in Gabriella's, much to Luke's displeasure. But he didn't try and stop her. She, as well as the others, would learn soon enough of the Shadow's identity when she made her next strike, which Luke knew would be soon. The letter had said as much: _"In three months from now, the Royal Grievous-Skywalker family will be no more."_

It'd been three months exactly since the letter, and Luke knew the Shadow was about to make her next move. All they needed was to be ready for it.

Suddenly, abruptly, and unexpectedly, Luke felt a coursing pain of uncontrollable power surging inside of him. It was so strong, it caused him to double over in agony. He felt like part of him was being torn from his body; as if his insides were being ripped out. Pain to the extreme utmost. Toppling to the floor, screams of pain began to emit from his mouth, much to the bridge crew's confusion and worry. A few officers began to hesitantly approach him, but he didn't see them. His whole body felt like it was on fire. All he could feel, all he could taste was pain. His ears were filled with the sounds of screams and his sight, notwithstanding that his eyes were closed, was filled with the distorted images of a room bathed in light, a young woman screaming, and a crimson blade piercing into her heart. Luke knew instantly who it was. It was Leila. She was...no-no, she couldn't be! He wouldn't accept it! But the image of a blade being yanked out of her body and it collapsing lifelessly to the floor affirmed this. The Shadow had made her next strike. Leila was dead.

Luke was overcome with anguish, grief, and loss at his twin's death, though, this soon changed to shock and rage at the next image that filled his vision. It was the Shadow but...her face wasn't shrouded in the darkness of her cloak as it usually was. It was...she was... The horrid face of ugliness Luke had been expecting to find beneath the cloak wasn't there, but a face of such familiar beauty, it wasn't even possible.

The vision of the woman soon vanished, however, at the feeling of numerous hands and voices pulling him to a stand and speaking.

"Luke?! Luke, what's wrong?"

"Give him some air!" came the superior tone of Troy. "I think I know what happened."

Though he'd been pulled to his feet, Luke was still hunched over, tears streaming from his eyes in the agony he continued to feel.

"She's dead, isn't she?" This is the question that caused Luke to open his eyes and look at the speaker. It was Gabriella. She and the rest of the family were grouped around him. Their eyes showing concern, confusion, and at Gabriella's question, dread.

"You saw it happen," she added gently.

Luke hastily made to wipe his eyes, but River offered him a handkerchief. He took it with thanks and used it on his face. Though the pain remained, he was able to compose himself and look Gabriella in the eye as he answered her questions.

"Yes. I saw Baynetta kill Leila."

* * *

The Galactic Core was under siege; a full-scale invasion of the entire 28-system region. This had never happened before in the entire history of the Galaxy. The Confederacy's invasion of Coruscant had been bad; the various invasions during the Alien War worse; but this, this was more horrendous than anything that had ever occurred in the past. This event would go down in history for years. Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of Super and Victory-class Star Destroyers, corvettes, and frigates abruptly arrived out of nowhere and began attacking the select system they were assigned to. The source of all these ships were the various dealings the Shadow had in the Outer Rim; cut throat dealings were more like it. Promises she never intended to keep, merely using them for what she wanted and killing them later. The millions of troops she had cloned on Wayland led assaults on the numerous worlds, allowing the Imperials to either alliance themselves beneath their conquerors or die fighting in rebellion. 

When the royals were alerted of this invasion, the entire Imperial fleet was ordered to abandon their search posts and make best possible speed for the Core immediately. Nothing could've prepared them for what they saw upon arriving. It was as if the entire region was overly flooded with spacecraft. Mostly, every world had been conquered with the Shadow's forces and all communications had been shut down. It was impossible to believe, and yet it was happening. First off, where could've the Shadow gotten this overwhelming amount of troops and forces? Second, how were they going to reach Coruscant and confront the Shadow when every Imperial ship around them was being blasted out of the sky by the heavy cannon fire of multiple ships?

Interestingly enough, the _Executor III_ was allowed passage to the capital. The surrounding ships of the Shadow's fleet ignored the Super Star Destroyer entirely as they continued to take out every other vessel but the Flagship. The Shadow had deliberately ordered this. It was not her wish for the royals to die the way they'd intended for her to bite the dusk, by blasting their ship out of the sky. Oh no! She would see to their deaths personally.

Coruscant was, out of all the Core, the most heavily bombarded planet; naturally, because it was the capital of the galaxy. And if the Shadow wanted to reclaim the Galactic Empire, here was where to do it; and properly at that.

The capital was beyond reclaiming on many levels. Disorder, turmoil, and annihilation was everywhere. Not only had Coruscant's Imperial Base been bombed, but that of Skywalker Manor as well; the 75-level structure destroyed and its grounds demolished. Imperial troops were now giving themselves up left and right to the Shadow's forces, and civilians were urged to stay indoors or else be shot down for their disobedience.

The Grievous-Skywalkers knew there was only one way to put a halt to this, and it didn't include the crossfire of battle many thought would end this conflict. The Shadow needed to be taken down. Once and for all. This struggle had gone on five months long enough. They'd lost five of their members to her and wouldn't allow this to perpetuate.

If they knew right, the Shadow was probably in the throne room of the still-standing and untouched Imperial Palace. One quick check in the Force confirmed this, motivating them to have the _Executor III_ docked on the kilometer long outdoor hanger strip to the rear of the old structure. Deboarding and entering the Palace alone, the Grievous-Skywalkers weren't surprised to find the entire building empty of all life except for the Shadow; they'd expected it.

Coming to a halt at the entrance of the durasteel doored throne room of the Palace's crown level, the ten royals present, plus Jacen, briefly exchanged glances of assurance before Anakin typed in the activation code that unlocked and slid open the door horizontally. Stepping inside, they found the large room shrouded in mostly darkness except for the small amount of light that beamed across the room at a side angle from the above skylight and down onto the pinnacle of the room's purpose. The 30-feet high throne podium which Anakin always remembered Palpatine sitting upon during his 5-year glory era was currently being occupied by the Shadow, though her back was to them and she seemed to be speaking silently into a hand held comm system. Also, she wasn't wearing her usual cloak of shadow, but a simple black tunic and loose fitting pants of the same color that matched her long dark hair perfectly. Uncontrollable rage to the utmost filled Anakin as he gazed upon the rear of the person that had brought so much pain and grief to his family. He didn't even wait to let her finish her conversation. Reaching out with the Force, he roughly pulled the the comm out of her hand and crushed it with a balled fist as it hovered in the air beside the woman. It deteriorated in a mass of shooting sparks, but this did nothing to move the Shadow. She kept her back to her audience below.

Overcome with fury, Anakin growled up at her. "Your time is up Shadow! No more will you take away from my family. Today, I will make sure of that."

"Is that so?" The Shadow still had her back to them, but it was her voice that caught the Emperor's attention. Hearing it in person, it sounded so familiar. Almost like...

"Hello Anakin." The Shadow finally turned to look at them, and everyone expect those who already knew whom the Shadow was from the start, gasped in shock and disbelief.

She smiled pleasantly down at them, ignoring their shock. "Remember me?" she asked, still answering Anakin. "Your one-time nemesis, in addition to one-time wife? As you may have noticed, the years have been graciously kind to me. Not something you can agree on. You might have been a hotshot when you were our son's age, but now look at you! In a life-sustaining suit; the only reason you've been living the past twenty-one years." She gave a small, light laugh. "The only thing Kenobi did right, in addition to slicing your eye out Antellica." The Shadow turned to Antellica with a mocking smile. "The eye patch suits you." She ignored the flashing eye directed at her from the blonde woman and turned to one-eye's twin. "And of course we move onto Arica." The Shadow's detesting smile was met with an eye flashing glare. She smirked. "Just as arrogant as ever, I see, if not more. Too bad Kenobi wasn't able to do anything to you, or will be able to for that matter. Because you see..."

She began to slowly descend the long flight of throne stairs.

"...I had the great pleasure of killing him."

At their looks shocked confusion, and in Anneliese's case, horror, the Shadow waved it off dismissively. "No need to thank me. It was obvious I was the only one who could've pulled it off."

It was...not...possible, Anakin thought continuously, opening and closing his eyes as though he was having a hallucination. And yet here she stood: Padme Amidala/Darth Lady Baynetta, Dark Lady of the Sith, Former Empress of the Galactic Empire, and daughter of Palpatine/Darth Sidious.

Amidala was in her early fifties now, but didn't look a day over forty. Her figure was still fit and long dark hair came down to her waist. If anything, she looked even more deadlier as a Sith now than she ever had when she was younger. Being older and more mature suited her better.

He noticed that Troy and Gabriella were giving him self-satisfied smirks that clearly said, "We told you so." How could he have been so blind and not seen this sooner? It all made sense now; all of it.

"But I didn't come here to talk about Kenobi," Baynetta continued, ignoring their various thoughts about her. "And neither did you all."

She allowed a moment of silence to swarm the room, only being broken by her boots continuing to come down the podium stairs, and turned her gaze to the haughty figures of Anakin and Arica's middle children: Troy and Gabriella.

"Drake told me of what you discovered on Naboo," she said with a hint of approval.

Troy was smug. "Before or after we left him to die."

Baynetta again waved her hand. "That's not important. What is important, however, is the vengeance I am about to receive upon all of your deaths." She addressed the room at large. "Each and every one of you." She pointed to each of her eleven audience members below, but then stopped at the discovery that a few were missing.

"But wait! I see three of our members aren't here: Lacovia, Allana, and Kylantha."

"How do you know about Kylantha?" Gabriella's tone was sharp.

Baynetta's answer was one single syllable. "Drake."

Her enemies exchanged glances of confusion, but she did not elaborate. "Those three are not important presently," she continued. "My vengeance will come to them as it's about to come to you. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I murder you all, I would like to give you a briefing of how I survived your attack on my life, and what exactly it is I've been doing the past twenty-one years." She stopped her descend halfway down the stairs and opened her arms before her. "Will you allow me the honor of doing that?"

"I don't think anyone in this room could careless-"

"Actually, I would be more than interested in hearing your explanation." Troy cut across his mother as though she hadn't even spoken.

"It would certainly fill in some of the gapes our investigation left open," Gabriella added.

"Children-"

"Silence!"

"Shut up!"

Troy and Gabriella both roared at their mother at the same time. They were beyond irritated with her attitude.

Arica was slightly affronted at their harshness, nonetheless, it was their father that reprimanded them. "You will not speak to your mother in such a disrespecting manner!" he boomed.

Their only response was a glare.

Baynetta smirked at the whole exchange. "It would seem the two of you have more in common with your parents than just looks," she said to Troy and Gabriella. "Defiance and attitude. I like that."

Troy returned the smirk. "Coming from you, I assume that would be a compliment." His tone was sarcastic, yet arrogant.

Baynetta gave him another approving smile. "It's too bad I have to kill you, otherwise, I'm sure and Gabriella would fit right into my new empire."

Gabriella gave a sarcastic sniff. "What a pity indeed."

Baynetta allowed another smirk as she seated herself on the stairway at its halfway point. Her audience remained standing, some toying with the hilts of their lightsabers, others not, simply glaring at her. She almost laughed outright, but proceeded with the explanation instead.

"Let's go back twenty-one years ago, when I was still Empress of the Galaxy..."


	119. Baynetta in Exile

Author's Note: Sorry for such the long wait you guys. It's just that I've been trying to get the next episode typed up to its entirety, and now that I'm halfway to achieving that goal, to award myself, I decided to finally update. Expect the same four to five day hiatus between the rest of this episode's chapters. Sorry. I hope you don't mind.

MissNaye: Yup. There was no reason to be.

arzum: Stay tuned.

Twisterblake: Thanks

Twisted Words: Stay tuned.

G-Anakin 13: I guess you could refer to her as such.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 19: Baynetta in Exile

"...During that five year period, life was virtuous. I had it all. Everything went according to my will, and that was something I more than grew accustomed to. My father ruled as the Empire's supreme ruler, yet he wouldn't forever. Of that I intended to make sure of. Because you see, like you Skywalker," she nodded to him, "I also intended to overthrow Palpatine from power."

Ignoring the assembly's shock, she continued. "He never knew of this, of course. That part of my mind was kept forever hidden from him. My sense of privacy to him; my secret plots against him, I knew. The years would pass, day in and day out, with no change coming from me. I needed to find the right opening, the right time to strike. But alas, that time never came. Skywalker and the Grievous' acted before I could. My reaction, after overcoming the pain of his death through the Force bond we shared since my birth, was rage. Rage that I hadn't seen Skywalker's insurrection coming ahead of time, and regret that it hadn't been by blade that Sidious died. His last words to me before death were 'Avenge me!'. He didn't say when to avenge him, he didn't say how, just 'avenge me'. I, however, knew the meaning behind the words. He wanted me to storm the capital right then and there, blinded in my fury and hatred of Skywalker, and attempt to take back what was rightfully mine. And I almost did this too, but stopped at the realization of how that would simply get myself killed. Skywalker would be expecting something of the sort from me and be ready. Abandoning my morning reports as Naboo's Queen, I left Theed Royal Palace without a word to anyone and cloaked my presence as I proceeded to my Lake County Imperial Palace. It'd been built secretly soon after the Amidala Lake Estate's exploding. There, I found three of my four appointed handmaidens – Leslie and Lizzie Dayaden and Dorme Travelen – in the hanger washing down my collection of starships. Because Skywalker would be expecting me to avenge my father, and grow suspicious if I never turned up, I needed to fake my own death to make it seem I'd been moved out of the way, when in fact I hadn't. That way, I'd be able to take the Empire by surprise when I finally chose the time was right for my uprising. Through the Force, I learned of Skywalker's plan. He intended to blast my ship out of the sky the moment I exited hyperspace outside Coruscant. I must admit, I was disappointed that he didn't want to do it the fair way, yet should have known that this was what to expect from a cowardly young man."

Anakin's growl was ignored.

"Deciding upon my exile, as a final duty to me, I ordered the three servants to Coruscant in the _Natalia_ and meet whatever forces Skywalker had assembled there. I, meanwhile, would be elsewhere.

Various worlds came to mind at the prospect of staying hidden for years on end: Rattatak, the jungles of Myrkr, Byss, Cartao. Byss was obviously out because of its location and in the Deep Core, and the other three weren't as appealing to me because each harbored some type of semi-large civilization. I was looking for something in isolation, where the chance of being found there were slim. And then it came to me as I was gazing out at the Outer Rim of space's stars in the cockpit of my ship. Sidious' secret trophy world, Wayland.

An error in the Old Republic planetary registry lost it from all known charts, pretty much leaving the expeditionary team that had been sent to the planet to settle a colony therein to fend for themselves. The world was never recovered. Not during the Sith Empire nor the New Republic, until Sidious stumbled upon it during the Clone Wars and demanded that its dis-registration continue. A storeroom was secretly hollowed on the planet during the first few months of the Empire's reign, while I was still carrying Skywalker's twins, and a Force-wielding guardian was set on-world to protect the trove, plus keep Wayland's human and alien inhabitants under control.

The Guardian in question was none other than Darth Maul himself-"

"Impossible!" Anakin roared.

Baynetta acted as though she hadn't heard him. "Turns out he survived his bisection and fall into the generator shaft on Naboo. His severed lower body being replaced by a pair of large cybernetic, triple jointed droid legs and abdomen, and his cranian horns having grown crown-like, to over three times their original length. Not surprisingly, Maul and I had always been something of rivals when he was Sidious' apprentice. He felt threatened by me, and my disdain for him was not hidden. In the end, though, it was clear who was the superior Force-wielder of the two of us: It was I.

For the next thirteen years I resided in Wayland's Mount Tantiss, mostly keeping myself isolated from the natives, but making sure they kept in order. In that time, I trained myself to know the full extents of the Force, discovering how to make Force signatures disappear into it – something I once thought was impossible – and eventually learning to cloak Force signatures into nonexistence. The task of patience had never been one of my strong points, but over the years I was able to teach myself the importance of it. Also through the Force, I learned the manipulation of time and space, making portable objects disappear and reappear in thin air through the wormholes of space.

Despite my isolation, however, I did keep myself up to date on the happenings of the Empire. Which leads to the Galactic Civil War with the second Rebel Alliance; an event I didn't at all find surprising. I more or less expected it to occur eventually, and even knew where Yoda and Kenobi were hiding all those years with the twins on Zonama Sekot. I did not interfere, though I could have. I merely wanted to see how well Skywalker's empire would hold up during a war. And you impressed me; not once, but twice. I don't see how I could've done it any better. But retracing a bit, we come to the start of my plans. If I wanted to reclaim my empire, I had to be patient, alert, and cunning in all my moves. I left Wayland not long after the start of the Galactic Civil War and went to Muunilinst, where I resided for the next two years.

King Zarcar Sizhan of the Black Sun Crime Organization; his death during a," she used two fingers from each hand as quotation marks, "'club shooting' No. Such a wicked being deserved an equally wicked death, in the form of slicing the Falleen's body to pieces. The body that was found at the scene of a random club shooting was meant to look like Zarcar's when actuality it wasn't. The distasteful crime lord had gone down to the club to demand his pay in a shipping conflict he had with a group of pirates. I secretly followed him there and hid myself in the shadows as they conversed. In short, the meeting did not go well. He didn't get his money, consequently having him start the shooting. Utter chaos ensued, enabling me to gain control of Zarcar's very presence and lure him outside into a dark alley. His mind was not his own until I released him. I will never forget the meeting that followed..."

The memory of this filled not just the mind of Baynetta, but her audience as well:

"_Hello Zarcar," said a hooded lean figure in a feminine voice. "You don't know me, but I'm here for one reason: to kill you."_

_The olden Falleen Kingpin didn't have anytime to react as his body was then being cut to pieces by a crimson blade._

"That was my first kill in over thirteen years," Baynetta said, bringing her audience back to the present. "You can imagine how satisfying it was. Zarcar's death didn't come as too much of a shock as he was up in age, but didn't start nearly as much of a ruckass as I would've hoped. A brief investigation was done, yet only because Zarcar's son, Prince Xizor, didn't want anyone to grow suspicious and begin to wonder if he, in fact, had planned the shooting. Only members of Xizor's inner circle knew this, but he'd been planning his father's death for years. I knew this, the reason I removed Zarcar from power.

At the mysterious death of Xizor's personal assistant soon after, the Prince was looking for someone new to fill the empty slot. Enter the alias of Madison Lee. Disguised with long, white blonde hair and the impressive background of a double agent during the Clone and Alien Wars, in addition to the exceptional skills as a smuggler, bounty hunter, and computer slicer, Xizor became quite enamored of me both professionally and personally. I became something of a mistress of his for the next two years, alongside my job as his assistant. This only added to his trust of me and the element of surprise I had when it was time to strike. I appeared as nothing more than a shadow to Xizor the night he died; it was never my intention for him to learn who I was. His death, another shock, was followed by that of his organization's workers, other crime lords on the planet, and finally Muunilinst's Regional Governor – all killed the same way: via Force choke.

Though the Galactic Civil War was at the heat of its prime, the happenings of Muunilinst caught the attention of the Empire as I'd hoped. Drake Jovovich, than the Empress' Hand, was sent to the world with his squadron of forces to investigate, only they disappeared before anything could be done. Hence, the next part of my plan was set into motion. Through my manipulation of time and space, Night Squadron was transported to a wormhole not far from Muunlinst; the occupants of each ship being cloaked into nonexistence, even that of Drake.

Though enraged over what I'd done, Drake immediately recognized me upon first sight despite my disguise. Upon challenging him to a duel, I became more than impressed with his skills and later told him of the heritage he'd been dying to know and remember his whole life. Once learning of the way Skywalker took the Empire from our father, and the way his mother pretty much just handed it over to him without so much as a resistance, he was more than ready to join my uprising.

Enter Charlotte Jovovich herself. At the disappearance of her oldest child and acting as one of the Imperial government's Grand Moffs, she came to Muunilinst with a Star Destroyer of troops in tow to discover that quite the surprise awaited her. The police and officers that were supposed to meet her at the planetary Imperial base in Harnaidan where found dead the same way as the others – Force choke. In space, her ship vanished the same way that of Night Squadron had, and Charlotte, well, she got the pleasure of meeting me before her pathetic life was brought to an end-

"_No! It can't be!" The image of Charlotte backing away from an advancing Drake and Baynetta filled their minds the same way the first memory had. "You're dead! This isn't possible!"_

-by Drake stabbing her through the heart with myself looking on coldly.

This, of course, was followed by the triplets leaving Coruscant to avenge their mother's murder, much to the Imperial family's resistance. Drake met them at Muunilinst's Imperial base, soon joined by myself. Their hesitation was clear, but after a long talk, they followed their brother into becoming my apprentices.

Right after this, Skywalker arrived in orbit of the planet with Death Squadron, and I did the following two things-"

"Vanish the triplets presences," Gabriella supplied.

"And that of the Star Destroyers surrounding the _Executor_," Troy finished.

Baynetta gave them a twisted smile. "Correct. I did not take Skywalker's Command ship, as Drake suggested or I may have wanted to. Taking Skywalker alone is not the way I wanted my plans to play out. He soon deboarded, though, on a shuttle, yet stayed in orbit of the planet and in clear sight of the _Executor_. I hesitated briefly, thinking he may have an idea of what was going on and how it could be a trap. But I finally took it to discover nothing of the sort. The _Executor_ was no different than any of the other ships.

With my thousand captured Star Destroyers, we returned to Wayland, yet not before making a brief pit stop along the way at Myrkr to retrieve the Force-blocking ysalamiri. This was used to counter the side effects of the quick twenty-day cloning process of the Spaarti cloning cylinders, which were originally developed during the Clone Wars and later installed within Wayland's Mount Tantiss at the dawn of the Empire. Every officer aboard each ship was cloned, and soon that of the crews of other ships as well. Rebel cruisers, pirate ships, smuggler operations, bounty hunting teams, and criminals of all sort and walks of life were captured over the years, being cloned multiple times for the use of stormtroopers. Through my manipulation of time, this enabled me to clone so many forces in the course of six years, over which time the planet was slaughtered to accommodate the large numbers, and I began Palpatine's younger heirs Sith training.

From the start, I knew that out of the four, Drake would be the one to beat and easiest to train. Not only was he much further advanced than his siblings, he'd actually shown a divine interest in the Force since before he could speak back when I once knew him. The others, however,...they were a disappointment. They didn't know anything about the Force except the basics, and their midi-chlorain counts weren't nearly as high compared to Drake. Nonetheless, I trained the four of them equally, and while they did progress, none did more so than Drake.

Originally, I was going to wait ten years until launching my plan instead of six. Yet something happened that changed my mind."

"The outcome of the Legacy of the Force War," Hilton supposed.

Baynetta nodded. "That is correct. As you know, there were five survivors of the war on the opposing side. One of which is in this very room: Jacen Solo." She gave him a nod that wasn't returned. "His twin, Jaina Solo, Tahiri Veila, Danni Quee, and of course, Grievous' estranged husband, Obi-Wan."

The scowl that was directed at Baynetta from Antellica was disregarded as the Sith Lady continued speaking. "All three of the Solos I found to be shockingly remarkable, especially since they descended from such worthless people as that of a smuggler of an abolished kingship and a Jedi reject."

The anger Baynetta had been hoping to arise inside Jacen never came. All he had to offer her was an impassive smirk.

A commending smile lit the former Empress' lips. "I'm impressed Jacen. The moment I first said that to your sister, she went into a tidal wave of fury."

Jacen's face remained impassive and Baynetta chuckled. "But of course, you and your sister are so different nowadays, you're like night and day."

Baynetta allowed a brief pause to pass and continued. "Out of the three, Jaina is the one I watched the most, because of her superb Force potential. By far, she was the greatest Jedi of that era under Yoda himself, far surpassing Kenobi and all the rest. The only flaw she had were the occasional fits of rage she suffered from at her tragedy-stricken life; a flaw she later came to use as an advantage. Following the war's end, she harbored a great deal of hatred for everyone it seemed; I could feel it in the Force. I knew she would be a splendid asset to my campaign. I came across Jaina as one her bounty hunting targets. Madison Lee was finally discovered as a criminal and behind Prince Xizor's death. She, that is to say I, was scheduled to be taken out. Notice the words _scheduled to_. Naturally, she, I, wasn't.

Jaina was easy to lure to the dark side, mainly because she was pretty much already on it when I met her. She's been my best student under Drake, causing the two of them to be something of rivals. And though the Second Battle of Dathomir didn't necessarily go entirely the way I would've liked, she has since redeemed herself, and I know will eventually become a force to be reckoned with."

River rose an eyebrow. "Aka, a threat to you?"

Baynetta laughed. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Oh?" Arica looked generally interested. "Why not?"

"Because like her father," Anneliese cut in before Baynetta could answer, "she doesn't want to admit that the student may eventually become the master."

Baynetta studied her colorless fingernails and spoke as if there had been no interruption. "Through Jaina, I came to know the locations of the other Jedi who resigned from the Order. Tahiri was a dancer at a club on Tatooine when we found her. She was intrigued over the fact that I was still alive, and after much discussion decided to join up as another one of my apprentices. Next was Danni Quee on the Colonies world Commenor. I will admit, it was a bit of a stretch going into a world that close to the Core without detection, but Jaina, Tahiri, and I pulled it off. The others had remained on Wayland as not to cause too much of a disturbance before necessary. We met up with her at the end of a science convention she was speaking at. Unlike with Tahiri, I was disguised in a short red wig. While I could've easily just cloaked my presence, I chose not to. Quee invited us back to her apartment, and it was there that I finally revealed myself. She didn't hide her confusion, nor her disapproval, of what I was doing when it was explained to her."

"_I will not and could not be apart of such a thing." The wavy blonde haired Danni Quee filled their minds at her seated position on the edge of a couch in a brightly lit room. Baynetta, Tahiri, and Jaina were seated across from her. "I'm sorry, but I'm happy with my life as a scientist. The path of the Force is something I have no desire to follow any longer; rather it be light, dark, or a combination of both. I've seen enough pain and suffering in my lifetime to not want to be apart of it anymore."_

"Noble girl," Baynetta commented as her audience returned to reality. "I very much enjoyed her speech, even if I didn't agree with it. I did, however, applaud her for it, before..."

_The screaming face of Danni Quee filled their minds as a lightsaber was then being impaled into her chest. An instant later, she slumped back into the chair dead._

"And last, but most certainly not least, my favorite Jedi confrontation. On Dantooine." Baynetta was grinning evilly. "One in which resulted in the death of the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi. On that mission, I went as the Shadow and merely stood by and watched as the natives of Zonama Sekot were slaughtered by their one-time saviors, Jaina and Tahiri. You could almost say the village wipe out was something of a test for the two. One in which I'm happy to say they more than succeeded at.

So where was Kenobi in all this? It turns out he decided to take a little stroll in the high grasslands just north of the village. But he arrived back soon enough, and when he did, I engaged him."

_Strike! Pare! Slash! Sith cloak up over her head, shrouding her face in darkness, Baynetta dueled Kenobi in expert speed. She had not revealed herself to him at the start of the fight, simply attacked. Lightsaber clashing, Baynetta looked for an opening to distract the old man into allowing her the ability to cut him down. His skills were rusty, but he wasn't that foolish to fall for any tricks she may attempt throwing at him. While their duel wasn't with one having the upper hand over the other, it wasn't exactly level either, but a mixture of harsh blows from Baynetta and side attacks from Kenobi._

"I like to think that the battle was over before it started," Baynetta said, briefly returning them back to the now. "He was so old. Plus, it was obvious he didn't really want to fight."

_They'd been going at it for sometime now, and while at first Baynetta found fighting Kenobi to be rather enjoyable, she was growing bored. To her, he was a joke. She personally couldn't see how he'd managed to stay alive so long. He was weak, pathetic, and yet there was also apart of her that showed admiration for the longtime warrior. He deserved to know who he was fighting before she struck him down. Somehow, Baynetta sensed that the shock alone might just kill him._

_Throwing back her hood as she dished out another strike, she was pleased to see his eyes widen in shock as he gazed at her face._

"_Baynetta!" he exclaimed._

_That was all she needed. Speeding up her attacks to lightning fast, she slammed down hard onto his lightsaber, disarming him in the process, and swung around circularly in a swift manner, her crimson blade slicing through his upper abdomen as she spun._

_The sliced in half form of Kenobi fell to the ground, but then abruptly vanished, all that being left behind his robes._

_Baynetta gave no thought to this, as she reached down and retrieved her fallen enemies' lightsaber. All that mattered was that he was dead. She really couldn't care less that his body had moved onto the Netherworld of the Force. She got her satisfaction, and was quite pleased about it at that._

"And that my dear friends, er, enemies leads up the events of the past five months," Baynetta pronounced, returning them to reality for the final time. "Of which you all are more than aware of..."

* * *

Author's Note #2: So what did you guys think of the whole Darth Maul thing? How the idea even came to me was by reading up on different characters' profiles on wookiepedia. On his page, I came across an alternate universe format of him surviving The Phantom Menace the way explained above. They even have a comic book picture to go along with it for those whom are interested in what the resurrected Darth Maul looks like. It's pretty interesting looking. So what's to come? I'd love to hear what you think. What I can promise you, though, next chapter (entitled Shadow's Revenge: Anguish and Death) are some massive showdowns and eight deaths. It's quite the action-packed chapter, filled with tragedy, and I can't wait to post it. But first, more typing of Episode X. I'm currently on chapter 25; there's 48 in all plus a long epilogue. Feedback is enjoyed and appreciated. 


	120. Shadow's Revenge: Anguish and Death

Author's Note: Thus forth follows quite the shocking finale of this episode. It's so intense you may shed a few tears (or not). I know I did while writing it. This chapter is a major turning point in the series.

MissNaye: (Laughs) Yeah. She was quite well entertained.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Jedi Master Sabbath: Just some random person I made up. Talia Salla, of whom was denied to the temple as a baby because her parents didn't want to part with her. Additional information about her can be found in Chapter 10 of the episode prior: Return of the Jedi.

Twisted Words: Yeah, Baynetta killed Maul when she took over Wayland. Sorry about that, but it needed to be done. It was interesting to have him back though, if only so briefly.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Chapter 20: Shadow's Revenge: Anguish and Death

Silence followed Baynetta's recount of exile. Each member of the Grievous Skywalker House, plus Jacen, was going over select details of what had just been explained to them; every one of them lost in their own thoughts. The shock of Amidala still being alive was gone. They'd come to accept it. Yet that didn't mean they would continue to allow it. There were eleven of them and only one of her. What were the odds of her surviving such an encounter?

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Luke brought an end to this duration of quiet. "And what of Leila?"

A smirk lit Baynetta's lips as she turned to her other twin child. The twenty-six year old looked vaguely like his father had at his age. Like Anakin, his hair had darkened to light brown from sandy blond as he grew older in his twenties, and his eyes, which were now glaring at her, were as blue as day. Really, despite the height factor, he was pure Skywalker.

"Oh, your dead sister," she sneered.

"I am more than aware that Leila's dead." This came out as a soft growl. "I saw you do it through the Force."

This caused an eyebrow to raise on Baynetta's face, though, it was mostly ignored.

"You mentioned having a use for her," Luke reminded. "The reason you didn't kill her outright. What use was this? Offspring perhaps?"

Baynetta made sure to keep the surprise at Luke's precise guess off her face and merely laughed. "Goodness no! She served her purpose, and that's all I'll ever say."

"And Ben?" Luke asked.

"You mean my grandson," Baynetta reminded.

"_Our_ son," Anneliese stressed.

Baynetta smirked. "He's alive, but it's not like you'll ever see him again. He's not here, as you may have already figured, but is being well watched however."

"By whom?" Alexander demanded.

Baynetta allowed a smug smile and said simply, "Ask Troy and Gabriella."

All attention turned to the thoughtful pair, who'd seated themselves on the hard, black floor near the throne's stairwell during Baynetta's chattering. The near-adult royals looked as though they'd reached some dreading horrific discovery, and the level stare Baynetta was giving them only seemed to confirm it.

"Drake isn't dead, is he?"

Though the answer was already known, the question was asked by Gabriella as a last hope that she and her brother were wrong. Baynetta only continued her level stare, but after a moment said, "What do you think?"

Troy sighed heavily and Gabriella looked furious, the others, merely disappointed.

"Ben is under the protective care of his granduncle," Baynetta drawled. "That should be comfort enough in itself. He's with family."

"Somehow I don't find that comforting," Luke said.

Baynetta's only reply was her signature smirk.

"As entertaining as this blast of the past has been," Anakin stepped forward and spoke in a superior tone, "I think it's high time I do what should have been done twenty-one years ago."

Baynetta's stare turned interested. "Oh? And what might that be?"

"Don't play dumb Amidala." The cyborg Emperor ignited his lightsaber. "You know more than well what I mean."

"Indeed." Rising from her seated position in the center of the throne stairs at rapid speed, the daughter of Palpatine leapt through the air and ignited her own crimson blade, meeting Anakin's attack as she landed.

Finally, a level and spectacular match, Baynetta thought to herself as she pared and swung all of her opponent's strikes. Out of all the confrontations, save Kenobi, this had been the one she'd looked forward to the most, because she'd known it'd be the most epic. Battling a half-human – a cyborg – was sure to be an interesting challenge, but she was more than up for it.

The fight was violent and aggressive with both opponents using their hate for the other to make them stronger, and the longer they dueled, the only faster and more violent it became.

Baynetta swung her body horizontally, bringing her blade down on Anakin's with such force that any normal being would've been knocked back and lost their grip on the sword hilt. But Anakin was far from normal, and threw off the assault with skilled precision. Though the Force didn't flow as rapidly around Skywalker as it had before the suit, he was still quite sufficient, more than Baynetta had thought, yet not so much as to be taken by surprise. This didn't faze the Sith Lady; she just kept coming. The duel was like a dance of lights, flashing this way and that across the room for an audience to admire.

Baynetta's refusal to give up only provoked Anakin to fight even harder. He was pretty hellbent on the idea that he, as the "Chosen One", was the only one present capable of killing her. And though she agreed that he was the strongest of the royals as a whole, he wasn't anywhere near her level of Force power. Something she demonstrated upon making him block a high thrust, only to enable a middle kick on the surface of his oxygen plate and a Force push.

He toppled backwards to the floor with a growl, yet managed to obtain hold of his lightsaber. Arica rushed to his side, but was soon brushed off as he rose to his feet. Luke and Antellica pulled her back the rest of the way to her original position, at the center of the royals.

Leveling his glowing blade at the smirking Baynetta, the Emperor proclaimed, "No matter how hard you try, you will never get back the empire you once yearned of ruling for yourself."

"I think that has yet to be decided Anakin," she said tautly, "because I fully intend on proving you wrong."

And they were at it again. Lightsabers clashed and blows locked as they resumed their contest of endurance. Like before, it was a level match, but Baynetta wanted to change this. She began decreasing her attacks and allowing him to take he upper hand. But Anakin wasn't stupid, and had a sneaking feeling as to what she was trying to pull off. He wasn't falling for it, yet decided to humor his ex-wife.

"What's the matter Amidala?" he sneered. "Too much for you?"

"Hardly," she responded, countering yet another side blow. "I'm not about to be overtaken by a mere machine."

That did it. Growling fiercely, he madly threw his blade down upon hers over and over. But Baynetta was right there, meeting all of the attacks. Despite this, his aggression caused her to continue her slight weakness, which she knew only fueled his arrogance. She used this as an advantage. Keeping up the assault a few more minutes, till they reached the bridge overhanging the Palace's generator room below, Baynetta abruptly threw herself down and let Anakin forcefully strike his blade continuously down upon her own until it fell from her grasp with a clatter. She fell back upon the floor as though beaten and watched as Anakin leveled his blade at her throat. She sensed satisfaction and vengeance from him. He really thought it was over, and his next words only confirmed this.

"It is over for you Amidala," he growled, both senses being heard in his tone. "There is no escaping my wrath."

Baynetta propped herself up on an elbow and looked up at her enemy with a mild sneer. "Really?"

Just as Anakin was about to bring down his blade for the deathblow, Baynetta leapt out of the way, over and above him and landed in a crouch behind. Quickly rising, she turned, igniting her disregarded blade in the process, and cut off the prosthetic hand that held Anakin's lightsaber. This enabled her to plunge her own blade into the cyborg emperor's life-sustaining plate box and out the other side of his back, adding the impact of Force lightning behind it.

It took only a second to do, but the registry process inside not just his, but everyone else's minds took several more. Baynetta ceased the Force lightning and yanked her sword out of his center as he collapsed to the ground with a groan of pain and the continued shortness of breath. Baynetta assumed that either the Force was allowing him to continue living at this point, or his strong will to live was sustaining him at the present. It didn't matter to Baynetta; sooner or later he'd eventually die. He couldn't hold on forever.

Arica was at her husband's side almost instantly, soon followed by Luke and then the others. But Alexander, Anneliese, and Jacen formed a semicircle around the grieving Grievous-Skywalkers, lightsabers lit and in ready position, their eyes aflame with hatred and rage as they eyed Baynetta. They would not let this time of grief work as an advantage for Baynetta to simply kill even more of their members in this state. But Baynetta had no intention of making any sudden attacks during this time. As much as she hated the Grievous-Skywalkers, she also respected them enough to let them say goodbye to their dying emperor. She simply readopted her former position at the center of the throne stairs; quietly sitting and examining her fingernails.

His breathing had gone hoarse and was hard to do. Because of his suit's oxygen plate's destruction, he was a little surprised as to how he was still alive. But then it came to him: the Force. He knew he wouldn't last much longer though; he felt his life force slowly leaving him, and though he tried fighting against it, he knew it was pointless. The Force was calling him home, and nothing he did would be able to change that.

He felt more than saw Arica and Luke prop him up to his elbows and the remainder of his children present, plus Antellica, crowding around him with looks of sorrow and grief. He admired the other three for setting up a perimeter around the area. Now more than any would be a wonderful time for Baynetta to strike, when they were most vulnerable.

He turned to his beautiful wife, and his heart nearly broke in the process. Words didn't even begin to describe how full of agony Arica was at the sight of her husband near death. It was the same way he knew he would feel if it were the other way around: helpless and scared.

He reached forward with his only remaining hand, his left, and took Arica's into it as he spoke. "I've failed you, my darling Arica." He turned to the others assembled. "I've failed all of you."

"No!" This was said by more than one person, but Arica's was the loudest and most heartfelt. Tears were now falling rapidly from her eyes as she threw herself in his arms. "You're fine!" she frantically proclaimed. "You're gonna be alright! You just need to hang on."

Arica was simply trying to convince herself of this, Anakin knew. She didn't want to come to terms with the reality that everything wasn't as she said. He wasn't fine, and he wasn't gonna be alright. No matter how much he held on, it would still eventually result in one thing: death.

Gently holding his weeping wife, he turned to Luke. "Watch over her Luke, and the entire family. You're the head of it now."

Luke nodded, attempting to fight back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes also and took his father's hand in his own. "I will father. I promise."

Anakin nodded to his oldest son and child and turned to his other four children present, each of whom threw themselves at him in the same amount of dolor as their mother. Arica moved herself out of her husband's arms to give their children more space and time with their father. After the kids came, Antellica, who like Luke was also fighting back tears, and then Alexander and Anneliese once she took their place guarding the perimeter. Even Jacen, who'd grown to be like a son to Anakin, was able to say goodbye before the fabled Chosen One beckoned to his wife once more.

"Come to me Arica," he requested. "I want you to be what I'm thinking of when I die."

This only caused more conflicting emotions to rise within her and more tears to flow from her eyes as she fiercely shook her head. "Anakin-"

"My love, please!" he begged urgently. His life force was just about gone, and he really wanted her to be in his arms again when it fully left him. "Let me hold you and kiss you. At least one last time."

Wiping the falling tears from her eyes, Arica slowly leaned forward through the space that had been created for her by the surrounding family and placed herself in his arms. Anakin sighed at the warmth of her love and ran his gloved hand along her tear stained face. She gave it a slight squeeze before she began taking his mask off. First, the surrounding helmet, then the actual mask. The face that greeted her was the face she'd come to know and love for the past twenty-one years. The face that really wasn't any different than the previous one she'd known, except for its paleness, the eternal scars that lined it, and the forever bald top. It was still her Anakin though, and she continued to love him despite everything that Mustafar and Kenobi had done to change him physically. She lovingly ran her right hand along his cool face and gradually leaned forward, accepting his soft, warm lips into her own. Gently, she kissed him back, their lips sliding within each other's, until suddenly Anakin's went limp inside her mouth. She knew what this meant, but she didn't want to accept it. She didn't want to let go. But as the prone form of her husband fell away from her in a lifeless state, she knew, rather she wanted to accept it or not, that he, Anakin Skywalker – former Tatooine slave and Jedi Knight of the Old Order, Chosen One, one-time Dark Lord of the Sith, Force Master, Emperor of the Galactic Empire, and father of eleven children and husband of Arica Grievous – was dead.

Overwhelmed with uncontrollable grief, the new widow let out a howl of anguish as she clung to her dead husband's body, sobbing. Four of her children, a stepdaughter that she considered to be the real thing, and now this, her husband. Arica had always sustained to thinking that Anakin would be there no matter what happened. He would always be there to hold and comfort her, and just be there with her when she needed him the most. Like now. But it seemed fate had a cruel way of changing things.

Arica felt Luke envelope her into his arms from behind, gently pulling her away from Anakin, but she didn't want that. She wanted to stay with her husband. She would not be taken from him.

The sound of light cackling tore her, as well as the others, attention away from Anakin and onto the source of the evil laughter. Not surprisingly, it was Baynetta, gazing at them with a complacent smile. The grief and sorrow within Arica, as so many times before, changed to hatred at the mere glance of Baynetta's face. The pain she was feeling now, and that of the past five months, was all the fault of the woman seated casually in front of them. How Arica yearned to strike her down from where she sat, cause her the same pain that Baynetta had caused her. She wanted her longtime rival dead, and now that Anakin was gone, it seemed that left her in charge here. She knew that he'd want them to keep fighting and not mourn for him. It would only get in the way of battle. She knew this. Yet if that was the case, why did she keep getting hit with waves of sorrow and new tears sprang from her eyes every moment she tried to pull herself together? She didn't care. All that mattered in her eyes was Baynetta's death.

Arica swiftly rose from the floor, taking her dead husband's lightsaber in hand, with the intent of throwing herself at Baynetta with every single emotion she was feeling right at that moment, but Luke intercepted, holding her back. She was naturally confused and irritated. "Luke, what are you-"

"You're in no fit state to fight her like this, Arica," he said calmly. "I suggest you sit down."

Arica's eyes flashed. "Sit down?" she repeated with a scoff. "Listen here junior-"

"You're only making this harder for me, Arica." His tone was still surprisingly calm. "You have too many conflicting emotions racing through you right now to be of any help to anyone. Now please, stand clear."

"Listen well to me Luke when I say-"

"I'm only going to say this one last time Arica," Luke cut across, his voice slightly raised this time. "Stand clear!"

"You can't-" But the rest of Arica's sentence was drowned out in protests as she began to fight against Luke over the lightsaber she was holding. He grabbed her wrists and began to wrestle the sword out of her hands, all the while she yelled out protests.

"Stop it Luke! Just stop it! I'm fine! There's nothing wrong with me!" But at the end of the last exclamation, her voice began to break and tears began to flow from her eyes. Luke retrieved his father's lightsaber from her hands and pushed her up against a wall, away from everyone else.

"Luke please stop! I'm fine!" Her voice broke even more to where she was all out crying and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing. "No, I'm not fine! I'm far from fine. Oh Luke..."

Arica continued to cry and Luke held her warmly. "It's alright Arica. It's alright."

"I see that some of us haven't changed," the voice of Baynetta jeered from behind them, still seated on the throne stairwell. "You're still the same little girl who would cry when she didn't get her way; nothing more than a pathetic child in a grownup body."

"And some of us like to think of you as nothing more than a nasty bitch who uses insults as a way to degrade people when she doesn't get _her_ way."

Baynetta turned to Antellica with a smirk and merely shrugged. "Whatever you say one-eye."

Antellica pursed her lips in disdain, but did not react to the insult as it may have been hoped.

With the Emperor dead and the obvious new Emperor, Luke, helping soothe her Empress sister across the room, this left Antellica to take up charge in the assault against Baynetta. Gesturing to the remaining seven capable members of their group, she waved them forward to where she was standing mere meters away from the stairwell bottom and ignited her orange blade. Her fellows did the same with their own lightsabers, and the eight of them each glared up at Baynetta, the challenge of a fight in their eyes.

Baynetta merely looked down at them and gave a tired sigh with the shake of a head. "Do you really think the eight of you are up to doing this?" she asked. "What with your dead Emperor and grieving Empress." She nodded to the still crying Arica, who was no longer sobbing into Luke's shoulder, but watching them with interest. "Each and every one of you," Baynetta turned her attention back to the assembled group, "must be aware that none of you are of any match against me." She gave a dry laugh. "Don't merely assume because there are more of you, you have the advantage."

"Save your boasting for someone who cares," Antellica snarled and used the Force to throw a nearby artifact up at the seated Baynetta. It was ducked, but the main intent was accomplished. Baynetta leapt from the stairs again and landed a few paces from the group with her blade ignited.

"I must warn you though," she said, "I will not be the only one you'll be dealing with in this conflict."

She clapped twice and out of what seemed nowhere, Jaina and Bellatrix suddenly appeared, landing on either side of their mistress, lightsabers lit.

Antellica, though a little surprised, simply shrugged. "Who cares? You're still going to die today, no matter what. I will see to that personally."

Baynetta smirked. "Let the games begin then."

And so it began.

Antellica threw herself at Baynetta in fierce determination; Gabriella and Hilton jumped forward after Troy and Jacen in engaging Jaina; leaving Alexander, Anneliese, and River to deal with Bellatrix. Luke and Arica stayed safe on the other side of the room, unbothered.

Everywhere one looked, all that was seen and heard where the flashes of numerous glowing colors and the clashing of laser blades. It was an epic battle unlike any other that had ever been seen since the Great Sith War and times of the Sith Empire preceding it under Darth Bane a millennium ago. Because this wasn't a fight for dominance between two opposing sides of the Force or governments, but a struggle between Sith for the tyranny rule of an empire. Such battles could be known to bring horrific deaths, leaving behind nothing but dolor and sadness for the survivors on the losing side, if there were any at all. This fight was meant to ensure each on both sides, yet it was the anticipation of the unknown that was the most terrifying.

Hilton was the first to go not long into the duel with Jaina. He was knocked out by the ex-Jedi's lightsaber hilt, but quickly picked himself back up, assuring Gabriella, who'd disengaged from the fight briefly to make sure he was okay, that he was fine. They rejoined the duel together, but Jaina soon surprised them by Force shoving her opponents out of the way, leaping after Hilton, and impaling her violet-blue blade into his chest.

Arica screamed his oldest son's name in agony as she watched him die, going into even more hysterics that Luke comforted.

Hilton was only able to lock eyes with his mother and mouth the words "I love you" before Jaina finished the deed by thrusting her lightsaber into his jugular vein, thus killing him.

Jacen was next to go soon after. Hilton's death had caused him to throw back Troy and Gabriella for their own protection, as he engaged his twin alone. The duel was mostly level in the beginning, though as it continued on, and Jaina kept looking into her brother's face, her hatred for him grew, causing more dark side energy to flow inside her, fueling her for her goal.

With a sharp, Force enhanced kick, Jaina sent her twin flying to the other side of the room, his head hitting a wall of durasteel at the hard impact of landing. And resulting in him struggling to remain conscious, let alone pick himself back up.

Troy and Gabriella assayed at coming to their friend's rescue, but Jaina easily Force shoved them again on either side of her as she stalked towards her brother's sprawled form. By the time she reached him, Jacen had pulled himself to a stand and had his lightsaber at the ready, his face full of determination.

"This is about Aaron, isn't it Jaina?" he asked.

The mere mention of their deceased brother set Jaina off even more, slamming her blade down onto his with furious rage.

"Jaina," Jacen continued his reasoning as they fought, "what you're doing won't bring him back."

"True," she agreed venomously. "But it will give me a sense of satisfaction knowing I eliminated the person who helped kill him."

"Jaina-" The rest of his sentence was lost in a wave of pain that hit him at Jaina's blade piercing into his stomach and then kidneys, immobilizing him from fighting. He collapsed to the floor with a groan and winced as Jaina roughly yanked her lightsaber from his bleeding center. Because of the pain, Jaina easily abstracted Jacen's lightsaber from hand, calling it into her own and leveling both blades at his throat. Jacen had accepted his defeat, but that didn't mean it made it any easier to look into the hateful face of his sister. Actually, it made it all the more harder.

Looking at Jaina now, Jacen was filled with old memories of their younger years, before any of the wars. Back when he, she, and Aaron lived on Corellia with their parents and the Wookie Chewbacca. Things had been so wonderful and careful back then. It was amazingly tragic how much a thing like the Force could change the lives of thousands, even millions and billions. He found himself wondering how life may have been had he never been a Jedi or Force sensitive. He certainly wouldn't be in the position he was in now.

Jaina deactivated her own lightsaber in favor of Jacen's solely, keeping the green blade lit as she prepared to make the deathblow. Her eyes were ablaze as she glared down at him.

"This is for Aaron, Jacen," she said coldly. "You killed him, and now I'm going to kill you."

"You're simply being blinded by your grief Jaina," Jacen countered. "Don't do this. You'll regret it later."

She merely smirked. "Will I? Say goodbye to your life little brother."

"Jaina no!"

But it was too late. Jaina used Jacen's own blade to plunge into his heart, ending his life.

The look Jacen gave her was that of hurt and disbelief before he crumpled to the floor, dead.

Jaina held no regrets over what she'd just done, and that's what made it all the more shocking and heartbreaking. She didn't have much time to bask in her glorious revenge, however, for Troy and Gabriella were coming up behind her, ready to resume the fight.

Bellatrix had been dueling River, Alexander, and Anneliese for a long time now; and on the contrary, was growing quite tired of it. They were all so weak and pathetic, but at the same time, had some type of potential to last this long fighting her. This was about to change though. The deaths of Hilton and Jacen by Jaina fueled a desire within her to take out her own duelists. She simply needed to find the right opening...easily found.

River was the first to fall to Bellatrix's blade via throat impaling, causing her mother to go even crazier in grief. Alexander joined his cousin in death not long after, when Bellatrix purposely made it seem she was going to strike Anneliese down, only to then change course at the last minute and cut Alexander down instead. This briefly distracted Antellica from her ferocious duel with Baynetta, earning the Navy's ex-Supreme Commander a cut into the upper arm. Hissing at the pain, Antellica bit back the anguish she felt at her son's death and used that to aide her in the duel with Baynetta.

Anneliese was the only one left dueling Bellatrix now and, like her mother, was also using the pain of Alexander's death, and that of the others, to assist her in it. But it wasn't enough. Soon, Antellica's only remaining child was joining her brother on the floor; struck down by Bellatrix's lightsaber.

Seeing this had more of an effect on Antellica than seeing her son die, because Anneliese still wasn't on speaking terms with her. It seemed that the family dispute over Amidala's possible survival all these years only widened the gap between them. Anneliese had lambasted her severely over the matter when she took to siding with the opposition, saying too many harsh comments to repeat, but through it all meaning that she, Antellica, was an ignorant, self-centered, foolish woman who was too blinded by her arrogance to see anything but her own face. Antellica was deeply wounded by the rift that had come between she and her daughter, but there was apart of her that knew she deserved it for lying to Anneliese all those years about her father. Many times, she'd tried to patch things up between them, but Anneliese perpetually flat out refused. Antellica knew there was a small part of her daughter that wanted to forgive her and get back that special bond they once shared – it was obvious every time Anneliese saw Antellica with Allana – but...it was too complicated.

Antellica disengaged herself from Baynetta and ran to her daughter's slain form, Force slamming Bellatrix out of the way in the process. She was soon back up though, snarling in rage, yet before she could come at Antellica in attack, as she intended, Luke dropped Arica on the other side of the room and ran to intercept it, his lightsaber and eyes blazing the same shade of crimson red. He was successful in the action of decapitating the woman that slew his wife and joined Antellica at Anneliese's side, hoping upon hope that she was going to be alright. A closer look, however, showed that the feat was nearly impossible. The wound she received from Bellatrix was fatal: an upward deep cut across the stomach, abdomen, and into the chest along the lungs. In a short period of time, she'd already lost a lot of blood, and without the proper medical care...even Luke's skills in Force healing wouldn't be able to stop this. She was...

"Dying," Anneliese supplied.

What surprised Luke, besides her calmness, was that she'd read the thought from his mind. Despite their close Force bond, when it came to the subject of each other's thoughts, they usually stayed clear of them.

Luke offered her a soft smile that soon became slightly distorted at the choked up grief he was now feeling. He didn't want to lose her. He couldn't. Not after his father, twin, and other siblings. He couldn't lose her too.

"I'm not afraid to die Luke," she said gently. "Obviously, this is the way things are supposed to go. I'm not going to fight it, and neither should you."

"Anneliese-" Luke found that tears were slowly falling down his face.

"Just let go Luke." He was saddened to see that she was also crying softly. "Give Allana my love and promise me one thing: that you won't die today, and no matter what it takes you'll bring our son home."

Luke vaguely noticed Arica on the other side of Antellica, comforting and holding her as he took his wife's hands in his and nodded. "I will Anna. I promise."

Leaning forward, he gave her a warm kiss that she returned and then moved aside to allow Antellica her just right as mother.

The moment Antellica locked eyes with her daughter, she knew she was forgiven. Anneliese reached out to her, more tears flowing down her face, and cried, "Oh mom! I'm so sorry. My behavior towards you has been unacceptable and-"

"Oh Ani, there's nothing to forgive." Antellica took her sobbing daughter into her arms and was horrified at how light she was beginning to feel. Her life force was leaving her, and one look into Anneliese's face told Antellica that she knew this and was ready to accept it. But only if she would as well. Antellica didn't want to let go of her little girl, yet she knew she had to.

"Help Luke look after Allana," Anneliese requested, her voice becoming softer the more she spoke. "Be the mother figure I won't be able to be as she grows up. I love you mom, and you as well Aunt Arica."

Arica smiled behind the tears that were dripping down her own face and took Anneliese's hand intertwined with her mother's.

"Just as I always...will..."

Anneliese's hands fell limp in that of her mother's and aunt's, and they knew she was gone. Antellica collapsed into her sister's arms, far beyond the limit of grief and Luke cried into his hands.

All through this, Baynetta watched in pleasure, absentmindedly glancing at the only duel that was still commencing between Jaina, Troy, and Gabriella not too far from the death scene. Each of the duel's fighters had stolen glances at it during the effect, but they mainly kept their eyes and focus on the fray. She had to admit, she was impressed.

"The tragedy of losing one's offspring," Baynetta said in a mock dramatic tone, drawing the attention of the grieving three as planned. "One of the most horrible occurrences in the history of parenthood." She paused a moment before returning to her normal tone. "On the other hand," she demonstrated with a raised left hand, "death can also be a good thing in the nature of showing oneself just how weak or strong you truly are. Example? Some of us can watch our children or siblings die with not a care in the galaxy. Others, well, they cannot. What point am I trying to make? Some of us are strong enough to endure the tragedies and horrid sacrifices a Sith must make to achieve more power; others are simply too weak and foolish to do anything besides weep with anguish all day."

This little speech of Baynetta's caused such a rage to rise up inside of Antellica that she swiftly rose to her feet, abandoning her late daughter's side, and came at her former mistress with all the hatred she could muster, eye flashing and lightsaber lit. She ignored Luke and Arica's yells for her to stop and turn around before it was too late. Her mind's only focus at that moment was Baynetta's death alone.

Arica and Luke both ran to intercept Antellica from Baynetta, but weren't fast enough. One rapid swerve and flick of the evil woman's lightsaber was knocking Antellica's own blade out of her hands and plunging it deep into her stomach. Antellica screamed at the pain of the blow, Arica in the agony she was feeling as she fell sagging-like into Luke's arms, and Luke in the anguish that he couldn't stop his mother-in-law/step-aunt in time.

As Antellica crumpled to the floor in a near-lifeless state, Arica and Luke quickly ran to her side and propped her up on her elbows. Despite the limitless pain that was now coursing through her veins, Antellica managed to offer them a wry smile.

"I guess I was being stupid, huh?"

This only made Arica cry harder and Luke look more deploring. Antellica took each of their hands in hers and smiled again. "But you know what? It's okay. I'm ready to go. There really isn't anything left for me here anyway."

"Yes there is!"

"That's not true!"

Luke and Arica had both spoken at the same time, and though she'd heard what they each had to say, Antellica just shook her head.

"My children are gone," she said. "Both of them. And I feel so empty inside at their loss."

"Antellica-"

They both attempted to interrupt, but she stopped them. "No. Let me finish." She turned to her twin. "You, Arica, still have three wondrous children and another who is like your child." Luke allowed a soft smile at that pronouncement and wrapped an arm around the crying form of Arica. "Hang onto them," Antellica continued. "I know it hurts, but you need to stay strong. Don't be foolish like me and simply throw your life away, blinded by grief. And help Luke look after Allana. Give her my love and watch over her the way you know I would."

By now, Arica was sobbing uncontrollably, too torn with grief to speak so merely nodded.

Antellica then turned to Luke. "Look after Arica, Luke," she said softly, her life force beginning to leave her more. "She's going to need more than just a shoulder to cry on, but a person there for her in the coming months. Say you'll be that person."

More tears began to fall from Luke's eyes at the sense that Antellica was about to slip away. "I'll hold what's left of the family together," he stated. "I promise you that."

Antellica gave a small nod and her eyes began to droop closed, her head slowly falling to the side. Arica started to panic. "Antellica?"

Her sister was still alive, but only just. Antellica's head was still slipping to the side, yet she was able to utter four final small words in a whisper before her life left her. "I love you Arica." And she died.

Arica completely lost it. Her twin, her other half, was gone. How was she supposed to survive without her? Antellica was practically the air Arica breathed. She couldn't be without her sister. This was far worse than before when it was thought that Antellica, along with Kenobi and Alexander, was dead at the start of the twenty-six year old Galactic Empire, because Arica saw it happen with her very eyes. She wouldn't have wanted it any other way, but the agony she was now in was close to unbearable.

The small comfort Luke was giving her was fine, but she soon found herself pushing him away and standing to face Baynetta. So many thoughts raced through her mind as she simply looked at the person who'd taken so much from her, and was met by the same hatred Arica harbored in her heart for the woman. She took a small step to the left and Baynetta took one to the right. They began to circle each other, still in a silence that was only distracted by the clashing of three lightsabers.

Guessing what she intended, Luke rose and made to pull Arica away. She only pushed back.

"Arica please-"

"Just trust me Luke," she urged. "I'm not dying today. Of that I can assure you."

"It seems notwithstanding what I may have thought," Baynetta said, coming to a halt several paces from them, "the death of so many loved ones has done nothing to deflate your arrogance Arica."

Arica called her late twin's lightsaber to herself, activated its orange blade, and stood at a ready position. Luke adopted a similar pose beside her with his father's crimson blade. "I suppose not."

Two horizontal swings and Luke and Arica were engaging Baynetta in combat. The two fought her with no emotion, their faces betraying nothing as they attacked all of Baynetta's defenses. The former Empress returned the gesture, ridding herself of the smirk that had seemed to alight her face since the throne room confrontation began what now seemed like forever ago. Neither side could brake through one another's defenses no matter how hard they tried, and that's what made the duel so frustrating. Baynetta would make an upward stroke, and it would be blocked perfectly by the pair; Arica and Luke would attempt to overwhelm Baynetta through side attacks, and she would bat them off through evasive maneuvers. The match was just too level. And unless either of the three did something to change this, they'd be fighting continuously for an awfully long time.

But then a series of events occurred that changed everything. In the Jaina vs. Troy and Gabriella duel, Troy briefly gained the upper hand, enabling him to cut into about two inches of Jaina's waist. She growled at the pain of the wound, falling back a short moment, but was not down and out. She retaliated quickly by slashing her lightsaber at the top of his left eye, scaring the skin above it, causing him to fall back and yell at the pain.

This led to a concise distraction in the Baynetta vs. Luke and Arica duel, enabling Baynetta the ability to cut off Luke's right hand at the wrist. He hollered in agony at the extreme pain and Arica pushed him back as not to allow Baynetta to hurt him any further.

Gabriella fully engaged Jaina after Troy was knocked back from his injury, but soon found herself being thrown back as well at the two slash swipe Jaina gave her across the upper chest.

Arica glanced over her shoulder in horror at what was happening here, but quickly went back to her duel as not to give Baynetta an opening. This needed to stop. She was not going to lose Luke, Troy, and Gabriella the same way she lost the others. She would stay strong as Antellica urged. But the truth of the matter was, notwithstanding that there were still more of them, they were fighting a losing battle. The way it was going as of the present, they'd all end up getting killed if a halt wasn't brought to this.

Without Luke, Arica knew she wasn't going to win the duel with Baynetta. The daughter of Palpatine was just too powerful now. Arica was no match for her.

Locking their lightsabers in a sharp blow, Arica abruptly pulled off a 'drop, roll' maneuver; dropping to the floor as she let go of her lightsaber, and rolling away empty-handed several meters. Jaina was just about to finish the job of killing Troy and Gabriella – she'd taken their lightsabers from them and slammed them into a nearby wall so hard that the two were fighting to remain conscious – but Arica wouldn't have that. Still rolling, she suddenly stopped and did a ground trip beneath Jaina's feet. The young woman lost her balance and began to fall, yet was able to catch herself mid-air with the Force and backflip over Arica's rising form. As Jaina was turning, Arica called the lightsaber out of Jaina's hands, but did not strike the girl down as she may have liked to. With a strong force of energy, Jaina was thrown into a wall behind Baynetta and Arica rose, tossing the lightsaber aside. As Baynetta watched silently, unmoved, though she did keep the livid Jaina back with a slight flick of her finger, Arica collected the injured forms of what was left of the Royal Grievous-Skywalker House and helped pull them to their feet. She then placed herself in front of them, covering the three from any further attacks and gazed upon Baynetta with a glare.

"You want your empire back," she said in more of a statement than a question. "Fine. Take it! The four of us will go to live in exile somewhere, far away from here. Just please..."

Despite her better judgment, Arica found that she was getting choked up again.

"...enough killing."

Baynetta simply studied Arica a moment and deactivated her lightsaber, though kept it in hand. "Think of all the innocent victims you've slaughtered Arica," she said in a level tone. "The families you've torn apart; the grief you've caused. Now that you're in their shoes, you know how it feels to lose everything." The smirk returned to her face. "It's not such a pleasant feeling to be on the receiving end of a sword, is it?"

Baynetta's words rang too true for Arica; a lot more than she would've liked, and distant memories of the Clone Wars began to come back to her. The Massacre of Ryloth. The capture of Duro. All for the CIS. She'd killed more than her share of victims, and somehow this made her feel even the more mournful.

"Please!" Her plead was barely above a whisper.

Baynetta continued her stare of the woman, who'd over thirty years ago been nothing more than a homeless orphan coming to the Theed Royal Palace looking for work. She made herself appear as though she was considering what Arica had to say and responded after a moment.

"I don't consider myself to be one for mercy much Arica." Baynetta spoke in the same level tone as before. "If I were to let you go, whose to say you wouldn't merely do as I did? Bidding your time in the shadows before making your move to strike. I'm sorry Arica," her tone turned sarcastic, "but I will not have full satisfaction until the _entire_ Grievous-Skywalker family is deceased."

A small smirk lit Arica's face and she tilted her head as she gazed at her. "I'm sorry to say you shall never get that satisfaction."

With unexplainable speed, Arica whipped out a hidden laser ray gun and fired three shots at Baynetta. The first two were dodged, but the third stroke her in the rig cage. She yelled in fury as she was thrown back several feet, releasing Jaina in the process, who ran forward, calling one of the idle lightsabers on the floor to herself and activating it, ready to resume the fight. Arica, however, threw a Force Whirlwind at the girl, though it didn't work as well as it should have due to Jaina's fight against it.

The four remaining royals had just enough time to grab one of the slain bodies – Anakin's – before fleeing the throne room and palace, under the gunfire of their one-time allies, now foes: hundreds upon hundreds of stormtroopers and Imperial officers. The escapees raced through the city-planet's streets, dodging blaster bolts until they finally shook their pursuers off via Force cloak. They were able to steal a rundown, yet compatible ship in Coruscant's underbelly. And as they then fled the planet, still under the cloak of the dark side, each member of the Grievous-Skywalker clan present – Arica, Luke, Troy, and Gabriella – realized, for the first time in their lives, what it truly meant to be an exile.

* * *

Author's Note #2: No matter the fact that only an epilogue's left, more death ensures with another battle. Review, review, review! 


	121. Epilogue: Exile and Extinction

Author's Note: This is it guys! The end of Episode IX: Shadow. Next up is the finale episode: Labyrinth of Evil. It is by far the most shocking and intense episode yet. You guys are gonna love it and I can't wait to start posting it. I've estimated being done typing X by this time next week (June 21), so I'll probably start posting by a few days after or what not.

MissNaye: Didn't see that coming, huh? Yeah I guess it was kinda shocking, but necessary to intensify the fic.

Twisterblake: Thanks. Yes, Anakin's death was indeed sad. A great loss to the family. As to who kills Baynetta however, far off though it may be, you might be surprised.

arzum: We shall see.

Tsubasa no Michi: Depressing in a good way or a bad? To the question: Interesting. But you'll have to wait till the next episode for the answer.

Twisted Words: It's because he was a cyborg that she was stronger. If Mustafar never happened, he wouldn't have died. It probably would've been the other way around.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode IX: Shadow_

Epilogue: Exile and Extinction

Exile.

The banishing from one's land.

Exile.

It was something many in the galaxy experienced. She herself had ordered the expulsion of many a people during her time as Empress. Yet never had she expected to end up in the same predicament.

Out of everyone, it was Arica who not only took the realization of the Grievous-Skywalker's exile the hardest, but, in addition, that of the events that were to follow.

The Invasion of the Core ended soon after the Battle of the Imperial Palace and Baynetta proclaimed herself Empress and Supreme Ruler of the Galactic Empire, giving a full-length explanation to the press and public as to where she'd been the past twenty-one years since her father was wrongly dethroned and the events which led up to this moment.

The next matter of business was the remaining seven members of the ex-Royal family. Though bounties ranking in the trillions of credits were placed on the Grievous-Skywalkers, Baynetta had a good idea as to where the family may have gone to hide: Dathomir.

Jaina was sent with a squad of nearly half a million troops to swarm the planet. It was overrun in no time. Baynetta was right in her guess as Dathomir being the safe haven of the ex-Royals and a battle ensued. The ten remaining Dathomiri Witches that survived the planet's assault several months previous were killed, as was Kylantha in an act of protecting Allana.

It was just too much for Arica. All the death and destruction. Words still couldn't describe what she was feeling over it all. She needed a time of solitude. To have space and be away from everything. She didn't want anyone offering her comfort and distanced herself from everyone, pushing them away so she could drown in her own grief. It was as if her whole identity had been stripped of her at the deaths of her husband and twin. She wasn't the same person anymore, but smaller, weaker, and insignificant. A loner in everything she did. And so, she abandoned what was left of her family, right in the middle of battle. She fled the planet, taking the rundown ship which was stolen from Coruscant, and escaped into the Unknown Regions/Imperial Restricted Region to mourn the loss of so many that had been taken from her with no one but the dead form of her husband to turn to.

Those she left behind – Luke, Lacovia, Troy, Gabriella, and Allana – were deeply hurt, angry, and horrified that she would leave them as such in the perilousness that came with being in the center of battle. Nevertheless, the team of five managed to also flee Dathomir in a stolen Imperial cruiser. For the safety and secure hiding of each of them, it was decided that they would each live in exile, not together, but apart on separate worlds, sans Allana, whom would be staying with Luke because of her young age. It would be easier for them that way not to be found out, and harder for Baynetta and her forces to track them down. None of the five liked the idea of being torn apart much, but it was the only way.

Following the Third Battle of Dathomir, Baynetta's forces continued to search the galaxy far and near for the ex-Royal Grievous-Skywalker House, yet they were never found. Eventually, the Supreme Ruler chose not to worry about them. This was her time. And if the exiles ever tried to do as she'd done to reclaim the throne, she'd swiftly crush them.

Thus began the era of Baynetta.

The Shadow had gotten her revenge, and, in her eyes, all was right with the Galaxy.

* * *

Author's Note #2: A full-long feature-length version of the Battle of Dathomir will be in a later chapter of Episode X as a flashback, just you know. 


	122. Episode X: Prelude

Author's Note: Hey guys! How's summer treating ya? I hope well, because it is with me. So here's the skinny on this episode. The finale episode. As can be read on my profile page, it's a two-parter of 46 chapters plus a prelude and epilogue and spans over a course of twenty-one years. The first part, Betrayal, features a prelude and 24 chapters. Part Two, on the other hand, Alliance, holds 21 chapters and an epilogue. This is definitely the most epic of them all in episode standings, harboring lots of shocking twists and turns. Without giving away too much of the first half's plot, the Dramatis Personae below might give you an idea of it. And if that fails, check out the first chapter of the story and read what sources I have credited. Or you can just be surprised. Either way, it doesn't matter. Enjoy and review!

Twisted Words: Here's something for you to enjoy before you leave. I figured I'd do a quick update as a pre-vacation present to you, though I've finished typing, I'm still in the midst of editing. Have fun!

_**The Lure of the Dark Side Chronicle 2: The Domination of the Sith**_

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Part I: Betrayal

* * *

Dramatis Personae

Aidel Saxan; (Human female)

Allana Djo; Dathomiri Witch, Force Apprentice (Human female)

Arica Grievous-Skywalker; Ex-Empress of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human female)

Baynetta; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lady of the Sith (Human female)

Ben Skywalker; Hand Servant of the Empress (Human male)

Cha Niathal; (Mon Calamari female)

Drake Palpatine; Executor, Sith Master (Human male)

Gabriella Grievous Skywalker; Ex-Third Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human female)

Gilad Pellaeon; (Human male)

Jaina Solo; Empress' Hand, Sith Master (Human female)

Narcissa Jade; Empress' Hand Apprentice (Human female)

Natchios Jade; Empress' Hand Apprentice (Human male)

Lacovia Grievous Skywalker; Ex-Second Princess of the Galactic Empire, Force Knight (Human female)

Lumiya; Dark Lady of the Force (Human/cyborg female)

Luke Skywalker; Ex-First Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human male)

Thrackan Sal-Solo; (Human male)

Troy Grievous Skywalker; Ex-Third Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human male)

Wedge Antilles; (Human male)

* * *

Prelude

It'd been twenty-one years.

Twenty-one long years filled with warfare, inferno, sacrifice, and betrayal. Yet despite all this, it'd paid off. The ex-royal Grievous-Skywalker House were no longer exiles, and Baynetta had been defeated once and for all through a near-impossible means. The twins of Alexander and Leila Skywalker Grievous were discovered and returned to their family, and an unexpected ally came in the form of Jaina Solo. But, we're getting way ahead of ourselves.

As satisfying as the end of this conflict was, many steps had been taken to reach that point. Therefore bringing us back to the beginning: Baynetta's dethroning of her father, Darth Sidious' killer and ex-husband, Anakin Skywalker, and his family's rule of the Galactic Empire through death to most, though six were able to escape her wrath and flee into the unknown reaches of space.

The Empress under Skywalker (his widow, Arica Grievous), his remaining four children out of the original eleven (a son with Baynetta, Luke; two daughters with Arica, Lacovia and Gabriella; and another son with Arica, Troy) and a grandniece through his deceased sister-in-law (Antellica Grievous) and her daughter's (Anneliese Grievous) daughter (Allana) fled to various locations in the galaxy. Separately to avoid being found out. However, the six were soon joined back together again to bring the power struggle they had with Baynetta to a head. This required extreme endurance, courage, and strength enough to suffer the inevitable: even more loss. Yet the experience only made them stronger and more mature Force users.

Subsequently proceeds the events of the Grievous-Skywalker House's vanquishing of Baynetta...


	123. Forgotten

Author's Note: Just got finished reading the new Legacy of the Force novel Sacrifice. I recommend it and the entire series to any Star Wars fan. I especially liked this one because Mara Jade was finally killed off in it. Call it the evil side of me if you will, I'm just like that. Anyway, read, enjoy, and review!

MissNaye: Enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks

Jax Solo: Hey! Welcome to the story. Jaina's fate details I won't comment on, but I've also been somewhat fond of Wedge's character in the movies and alternate universe. I just haven't been able to fit him into this that much (he was mentioned briefly in Episode VII) until now. You'll have to wait a little bit for him though. Certain things need to build up first before his and others' entrance. But when he shows up, you'll know it. I'd call his role in this supporting.

Twisted Words: No prob, though it'll probably be awhile till you read this. Have fun!

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 1: Forgotten

26.5 Imperial Era

Outer Space, Unknown Regions

Stricken with grief, Arica Grievous-Skywalker – the recently turned 42-year-old one-time Empress of the Galactic Empire – fled into the Unknown Regions with the dead corpse of her husband, the late Imperial Emperor Anakin Skywalker, still donned in his life-sustaining suit, to mourn not only his loss, but that of the others whom also fell within the past five months since the thought dead Padme Amidala aka Darth Lady Baynetta resurfaced from twenty-one years of hiding to inflict vengeance upon the Grievous-Skywalker House: six of her nine children (Philomena, Cole, Dylan, Elektra, Hilton, and River Grievous Skywalker); a stepdaughter (Leila Skywalker Grievous); a nephew (Alexander Grievous); a niece (Anneliese Grievous Kenobi-Skywalker); someone she considered to be a son, and probably would've become a son-in-law eventually (Jacen Solo); a second cousin (Kylantha Escovedo); and most importantly, her twin, Antellica Grievous. And if she and the only five survivors hadn't fled in time, they'd had also been on the list of deceased the Third Battles of Coruscant and Dathomir provided.

Arica's entire life had been taken away from her at the drop of a hat. How the dethroned Empress hated Baynetta. Yet the dolor out did the anger, and many times Arica could be found clinging to her husband's dead form, crying and begging the Force to bring him back to her. She felt so lost and alone, and was a shell of her former self. At times, she thought about suicide, yet never actually attempted at performing the deed. She supposed, despite the pain, there was still a small part of her that wanted to live. The main problem with Arica was while everyone else had accepted their own deaths before the effect, she couldn't and wouldn't, continuing to wallow in the grief with little time for anything else. Agonizing about the past that couldn't be changed.

Arica's choice of hiding in the galaxy was fairly obvious. If any one person knew the Unknown Regions the most, it was her. She'd led an expedition through the entirety of it twenty-five years ago under the command of her husband's predecessor Emperor, Palpatine (Baynetta's father).

It'd all started with the kidnapping of than two-month-old Skywalker twins Luke and Leila (Anakin's children with his first wife Baynetta) at the hands of exiled Jedi Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Empire's first year. Numerous search parties had been sent out for the young royals in the duration of six months, across all regions of the galaxy except the unknown. Anakin eventually decided to journey into it with hopes of finding his children therein. Arica, nothing more than Palpatine's Hand at the time, had soon joined him. They'd discovered a total of four worlds together before Arica continued the expedition alone with half the Imperial Fleet, coming to a total of ten worlds. Yet none had more of her impact on her than the last planet she and Anakin had discovered together: the since destroyed Elderin.

A paradise world shrouded in mystery, it housed a super powerful crystal which had been deactivated, thus having Anakin and Arica's ship crash land in the planet's world-spanning ocean. The crystal controlled Elderin's collective electrical energy, causing all power to black out if deactivated, as it was when the young, not-yet-married couple found it.

The crystal had been deactivated over a millennium previous by a Sith team of five – two masters, one knight, and two apprentices – whom intended to use the crystal in dethroning Darth Bane as Supreme Master of the Sith Empire. Alas, they were not successful. Instead, deactivating the crystal and vanishing into the unknown, presumably dead. Never to be found again, with even the search parties sent after them also disappearing.

Even now, Arica found these mysterious events to be intriguing, and often wondered what had really happened to the Sith group and search parties. But as she told herself so many times before, that was a mystery covered by too many years of nonexistence to even consider finding out the truth.

It'd been Arica's intention to go to the region's third planet, originally dubbed by her as "The World of Darkness" because of its immense dark and forbidding desolate forests and cold winds (it was officially listed as simply Darkness nonetheless). However, just as her stolen Coruscanti ship was passing the region's second planet (dubbed by her as Rocky Hills because of the world's terrain, though officially listed as Rockia), strangely, she heard a telepathic, yet unrecognizable, voice call out to her various times, always repeating the same message:

"_Arica, Arica...come to me..."_

Mainly because of her perpetuated sorrow, it was mostly ignored. Though soon Arica found herself being forced to acknowledge the voice as her ship was being lured off course by a mysterious Force energy and taken out of her control. It abruptly came to a halt and turned about, entering a wormhole just south of Rockia with a slamming jolt.

Arica was beyond confused, not knowing what was going on, and attempted to regain control over the ship. Only she couldn't. Her hands were flying over the control console at rapid speed, yet nothing she did helped. On the contrary, it seemed to only make it worse. More than ever she wished that Anakin was alive beside her right than. Somehow she knew he'd have been able to get her out of this.

Clearing her mind of all thoughts that included her dead husband, which wasn't an easy task, she reached out with the Force and let it guide her hands across the console, willing it to get her out of this situation.

Finally, she began to regain some control of the ship, but this unknown force wouldn't let up. A vicious tug of war soon followed with Arica trying to steer the ship out of the wormhole and the dark force continuously pulling it deeper in. This caused the ship to roughly jerk back and forth, and more than once did Arica lose her footing and fall hard to the floor. But she was always picking herself back up again, refusing to let down against this dark presence.

Suddenly, Arica was being thrown back as if by a wave of Force, and she felt the ship lurch sharply forward beneath her as she flew back through the air. She only received time enough to glimpse an approaching planet she didn't even know existed out here before her head slammed up against the durasteel sliding door, which connected the cockpit to the rest of the small ship, and she blacked out into unconsciousness.

* * *

Unknown World, Northeast Sector of the Unknown Regions 

When Arica came to several hours later, she instantly knew she was no longer aboard her stolen ship, but on the unknown world she'd glimpsed priorly to blacking out. The confusing thing was mostly the planet itself compared to the force that lured her here. The Unknown Regions consisted of formerly ten, currently nine worlds solely. Arica knew this better than anyone, and that's why the appearance of another world out here was interestingly shocking. But then, there was the wormhole. She hadn't seen that before. Was it possible there were numerous other planets in the Unknown Regions that hadn't been discovered yet? It was probable, and Arica found that the prospect sparked her interest. This could be the perfect opportunity to direct her mind onto something else besides grief...or not.

Arica sensed a presence enter whatever room she was in and opened her eyes. Shrouded in darkness, save a single fluorescent light which lined the ceiling, the room was rectangular with bleach white walls. In the center is where Arica laid on a hard, metal stretcher. She wasn't strapped down to it with any type of material device, yet wasn't sure about a Force hold. One abrupt sit up proved this theory wrong, though, and a turn to the left had Arica looking at the mysterious dark sider who lured her here. But like her, there were also aspects of the light side inside them as well.

Arica blinked at the sight of what appeared to be a Human female, only not fully. The life-sustaining chest plate just below her breast was so reminiscent to Anakin's it was mind boggling: the same flashing red and green lights, the same box shape. Arica immediately knew this woman had been through a great ordeal to be part cyborg and developed an instant respect for her, despite the fact that she had more or less kidnapped her. The woman was truly a vision to behold:

A triangular headdress of forest green covered her entire face, except for the emerald green eyes that were intently studying Arica and the eyebrows above. She stood at about 1.6 meters (5.25 ft) and was donned in an aquamarine, pale blue armor that covered a large part of her outer legs and arms elbow down and horizontally across the chest. The rest of her body was covered with a see-through transparent black armor, that if you looked hard enough could see the aqua underneath. A utility belt of the same pale blue surrounded her waist, and a cape of the deepest black imaginable connected to the headdress and flowed around her feet on the floor like a train that ended in tentacles. Her arms were crossed at the chest, and Arica noticed a weapon of some type which reminded her of a whip, only metal, laying curled up on a small white table just to the right of the woman. One quick look down to her own belt assured that all her weapons remained intact. Antellica's orange bladed lightsaber, one of her own, several knives and pocket sized bombs, and her laser ray gun. She didn't bother checking the other hidden areas she kept weapons; the Force told her they were there also. Just as it told her the woman's intent was to help, not harm.

"Who are you?" Arica finally asked when it was clear her kidnapper wasn't going to speak first.

"Lumiya," the woman answered. "A name you've heard before, yes?"

Arica nodded thoughtfully. Lumiya was the Sith name of Sidious' first apprentice before and during the Great Sith War over a thousand years ago. But it was impossible for her to be the same person and still living after all this time. Especially since she died in combat against Exar Kun on Mustafar right after the war's final battle on Korriban. Plus, though she'd only been nine-years-old at the time, she was a vivacious beauty with flaming red hair and emerald green...eyes.

Arica looked into the eyes of the woman before her and gasped. They were the same exact color and texture as the girl warrior from the various old holographs she'd seen of Sidious' former apprentice. Still, Arica called onto the Force to confirm if she was lying or not. She wasn't. It was surreal! This would make her approximately 1,039 years old. And while the age itself wasn't exactly confusing – Sidious had been 1,030 standard years when he died – the odds of Lumiya surviving the duel on Mustafar weren't likely, as she'd gotten her internal organs both in the chest and stomach hacked away by the massive impact of Kun's lightsaber.

"Explain."

"After the duel with Exar Kun at the Great Sith War's end," Lumiya began, "I was better off dead with all the damage that had been brought to my body. Yet despite whatever Sidious might have thought, I was not, and he would've known this had he taken the time to stop by my body and not immediately jet off after killing Kun. He abandoned me; left me to die. And I accordingly made a vow to myself: Sidious would pay for his treachery against me at my own hands." She heaved a disappointed sigh. "But alas, I was not able to fulfill that desire."

"Ah, I see." Arica was beginning to understand Lumiya more and more. "That's why I'm here. But please continue. This is most enlightening."

"With the Force, I was able to nurse my broken body as much as possible and drag myself to Kun's abandoned ship. I was an exceptional pilot at my age of nine; as a Sith I had to be. From there, I fled into the Unknown Regions where I came across this very world we're on, Jen'jein, and met five other Sith that had long been forgotten and thought dead for years."

Arica's eyes a lit with curiosity. "The same Sith team that deactivated the Elderin crystal and never returned from the Unknown Regions." She said this more as a statement than a question.

Lumiya nodded. "One in the same. I was mostly lured here the way you were. And also like you, I ignored my summons. Though not out of grief, but anger and pure rage. The names of the five were as follows: Vito, Tre'lyis, Croix, Talon, and Bled. They helped me on the road to recovery by having my body enhanced with cybernetic parts. What also helped, however, were my body's numerous biological alterations, which if I recall correctly, you too, Arica, also underwent at the start of the Clone Wars."

Arica was startled and a tad bit confused, something she did not attempt to hide from Lumiya. "How would you-"

"I've been watching the comings and goings of the Galaxy for over a millennia now," Lumiya explained. "Intrigued by it all, I've found it as one might an entertaining holodrama: The start and finish of the New Galactic Republic, the birth of the New Order Galactic Empire, Sidious' rule, your husband's, Baynetta's..."

Arica's eyes flashed at the mention of her family's executor, but wasn't sure if Lumiya noticed or not for she continued her tale.

"Naturally, as I grew, multiple adjustments and modifications had to be made to my suit, as I changed from young girl to adult.

"Something you may or may not know, Arica, is that the normal lifespan of a Sith, if not killed in combat first, is no longer than 100 years. Some can reach from two to three hundred, or, as Darth Bane demonstrated, half a millennium, but not most. The secret of everlasting life is not something many knew of during Bane's rule. Darth Plagueis learned it accidentally while researching an entirely different subject in the Force, and passed it down to Sidious, who in turn passed it down to me. I kept this information hidden deep inside myself amongst the others, for I knew if they found out, a war would be started over it. Eternal life is the staple in which all Sith crave for. And as power hungry as those five were, if they even suspected I knew of it, I would've been tortured nonstop until I started talking.

"As the years went by, I silently stood by and watched as my fellows began reproducing to keep their legacy alive, for the ultimate takeover of the galaxy, as they called it. I saw generation after generation come and go. And while at first no one thought anything of it, at the point of the fifth generation and five hundredth year puzzlement began to arise as to why I was still alive, and at the point of the sixth generation, questions began to be asked. At that point, I had no problem telling them everything. Over the course of the centuries, I'd progressed a great deal in my Force abilities, mixing together both the light and the dark for better impact, something that was frowned upon greatly by my fellows, as they felt that the light made one weak. But as you yourself have seen Arica, only when one uses the Force to its entirety does ultimate power come. Of course, naturally, they didn't feel the same, and were enraged as to why I hadn't shared my knowledge of continuous life with their ancestors and demanded that I tell them. I made a bargain with the Order: if any one of them could beat me in lightsaber combat, singularly, I would tell them the secret and allow them to kill me for my 'betrayal' afterwards. In their arrogance it was assumed they could beat me, but it was they who were consequently defeated. I then became the official Supreme Master of the New Sith Order with the seventh generation of descendants under me. And though several other attempts of my dethroning were made in both that and the eighth generation, none amounted to any type of success."

Arica nodded at the information. "So the only way you could be dethroned was if one of the descendants proved stronger than you?" She asked, and then added, "There are still descendants, aren't there?"

Lumiya shook her head. "Sadly no. Arrogance was their eventual undoing in the tenth generation. It was decided they didn't wish to be under my rule any longer, and left to rule among themselves. Only they never got the chance." The pleasure was heard in her tone. "Their ships got caught in a meteor shower and were eradicated. It is such a pity though. But then, things do happen, and they more than deserved it."

Arica nodded again, however, slightly disappointed. Those descendants could've easily been used in an uprising against Baynetta. It really was a pity. Dismissing these thoughts, she brought herself to a cross-legged position on the metal stretcher.

"Tell me about this world we're on; Jen'jein you call it. Obviously, this is another part of the Unknown Regions that has yet to be discovered."

"The section of the Unknown Regions you discovered is merely the northern outer part of the region," Lumiya explained. "A wormhole which, oddly enough, leads back to the Core. There are unlimited numbers of undiscovered bodies in the west, east, and south. And countless societies of life who have no idea of the galaxy around them.

"This planet we're on, Jen'jein, gets its name from the Sithese language translating of the Basic phrase 'hidden darkness,' which is a very good description of the planet. It's almost an exact replica of Korriban with its terrain of mountainous desert and fauna. The only difference is that Jen'jein has no sun, just two moons that shine on either side of the world at the north and south hemispheres. It was once desolate until the 'Five Forgotten', as they came to be called, came to it, and later I and the rest of their descendants. But it has mostly returned to its former state of preoccupation."

"You're not the only person who lives here than?" Arica asked in interest. "The only human I mean."

Lumiya seemed to study her a moment, and Arica began to wonder if perhaps she'd asked too much than was necessary. But she hadn't. If twenty-one years with a part cyborg husband had taught her anything, it was to use the Force to determine a person's mood and feelings, and not pay attention to facial expressions. Some deliberately used them to deceive you. Though it wasn't seen, Arica heard Lumiya vaguely smiling at her beneath the headdress.

"It's nice to be referred to as a human for a change," she said softly, "and not a machine. Yes, there is another that lives here; my apprentice. You'll meet her tomorrow. Or perhaps I should say _re-meet_ her."

Arica rose an eyebrow. "Re-meet."

Lumiya gave an affirming nod. "Oh yes. You've met her before. A long time ago. I assume you'll consider it to be the rekindling of an old rivalry."

At Arica's bemused expression, Lumiya waved this off. "I think that's enough conversation for one day. You're tired Arica, and I will not stop you from getting that rest. Let me take you to my sleeping chambers. They're just down the hall."

"What is this room?" Arica asked, getting off the stretcher and placing her booted feet on solid ground.

Lumiya clapped twice and the entire room was a lit with illumination. Arica should have guessed from the metal stretcher and white walls: it was a medical facility. Though now that the room was a light, it appeared bigger. It wasn't rectangular as she'd originally thought, but circular with several medical droids at various intervals.

"As I'm sure you've already guessed," Lumiya said, collecting her metal whip off the table to the right of her, "this is my personal medical wing." She gestured Arica forward to the right and inside the adjoining room, which served as a dining chamber. It featured a circular bar, two other tables, and a few chairs. Like the medical wing, it also had the decor of white walls.

The lights in the medical wing soon went out behind them, and those of the dining chamber as well as they continued along through an adequate sitting room littered with expensive furniture, a large study consumed with some rather rare and unusual artifacts, and finally the sleeping quarters. It was styled as a condominium suite which could be accessible from both sides or closed off.

"The left condo has been prepared for your use," Lumiya informed Arica as they entered. "I hope you find it to your tastes."

Nicely furnished and decorated, the room was, by far, much more elegant than Arica would've expected. Yet, while it didn't rank up to the state of Kings, she was no royal snob and happy with her lodgings. She had a bed, in-room fresher, desk, closet, meditation pad, couch, mirrored burrow, and shelf full of books. What was there to complain about?

Clearly, Lumiya had picked up on her appraising thoughts for she continued. "The building we're in is the Old Sith Temple, which was built during the rule of the Five Forgotten. You're free to wonder any part of the temple or planet you wish. I feel more than confident you can face any of the savage creatures Jen'jein has to offer and succeed against them. However, most of the fauna stay away from the temple and live in the mountains. They know better than to come anywhere near here. But remember this Arica: you are not my prisoner, but my guest. I want you to feel comfortable here."

And Lumiya left her.

Any other person, or Sith for that matter, may not have trusted Lumiya from the way she lured Arica to this unknown world. Yet Arica did trust Lumiya. Not because of her explanations and experiences, but from the essence that surrounded her in the Force. Like Arica, Lumiya had been through a lot and was a warrior. Plus, there was the fact that she was part cyborg. She admired her for that. She'd survived that way for years, and as far out here as they were, she knew she would be ensconced on Jen'jein. Baynetta didn't know anything about the Unknown Regions, and from the explanation she'd given concerning her twenty-one year exile, she hadn't given much thought to it, merely staying in the Outer Rim.

Settling herself down on the bed, Arica sighed tiredly and closed her eyes, falling into a blissful and long sleep.


	124. Rivals

Jax: Sorry about the spoiler. I thought everyone knew by now. It's like _all over_ the internet. Or at least it was immediately after the book came out a month ago. You may be surprised by the rival apprentice in this chapter. Or then again, maybe not.

MissNaye: She'll come along as time goes by.

Twisterblake: Thanks. First question: Eventually, everyone will be brought back together. Second question: I couldn't quite understand it fully, so I'll answer what I could understand. Originally, Anakin was going to be resurrected (hence the reason his body was brought along), but as I continued to write the episode, it didn't work with the plot too much so I canned the whole thing. Sorry.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 2: Rivals

Northeast Sector of the Unknown Regions; Jen'jein, Old Sith Temple

The entrance hall of the Old Sith Temple was somewhat reminiscent to that of the Old Jedi Temple of the New Republic era. It was large in both width and length – about three kilometers in diameter – and lined with pillars of gray on each side of a central walkway approximately four meters apart. The floor was made of black marble and the walls of durasteel black. Five statues of the temple's five founders stood side by side at the hall's center as a way to "pay contact tribute to the five, one was forced to stop at least twice a day and bow before their holiness," Lumiya recalled as she and her guest studied the elegant statues of pure gold.

Arica had risen early that day and asked for a tour of the temple. She also wanted to meet this supposed "rival" of hers, Lumiya's apprentice, but Lumiya opted to start with the temple first.

"It is a tradition I did not enforce in my rule," Lumiya continued of the statues' tribute. "Much to the outrage of some, yet I did not stop those who wished to continue the homage of their ancestors."

Beyond the entrance hall laid an equally immense hanger bay, where Arica was pleased to see her stolen ship was nicely docked alongside two other unfamiliar ships she assumed belonged to Lumiya and her apprentice.

The next level up was a library filled with holocrons of all sort and numerous other timeworn objects and books. The level above that was a meditation chamber.

"It's from here that I've been watching the events of the galaxy play out," Lumiya explained as they walked about the dark, shadow-filled room that was only illuminated by the few candles which sat here and there on the floor around countless meditation pads.

"This room contains the strongest nexus of Force power in the entire temple. If advanced enough, like myself, one can see anything and everything that ever occurred in any corner of the galaxy."

Closing her eyes, Arica could feel the strong amount of Force the room contained and immersed herself within it. It was an intoxicating, yet attractive feeling.

Arica's tour of the temple came to an abrupt halt two levels later in the sparing division of the training level. Lumiya's apprentice was inside. Clearly practicing some of her lightsaber techniques, for in each hand was a crimson blade, and the way she was fighting was as if it was against an invisible enemy only she could see. But Arica wasn't paying attention to the expert skill of the woman. She was in too much shock at the realization of who Lumiya's apprentice was. Though it'd been over twenty-six years since Arica had last seen the Near-Human female, and despite the fact that the way she was fighting her back was to Arica, the ex-Empress recognized the alien scum bag instantly.

Extending her hands, Arica sent the most powerful Force Whirlwind she could muster at the non-Human, disarming her of her lightsabers and slamming her against the wall directly in front of her. She caught the unusually hooked lightsaber hilts in hand just as her opponent was rising from the floor and making a run at her. With a combination of the Force and two of Arica's daggers, Lumiya's apprentice was pinned up against the same wall she was originally slammed into and Arica took a good look at her.

The same bald head and pale white skin.

The same hate-filled eyes.

The same abhorring glare.

Yes. It was definitely her: Asajj Ventress.

She and the Rattatak had been more than rivals during the Clone Wars. Words didn't even grasp the animosity they'd held for one another, which explained Arica's delight when she learned of her adversary's downfall during the Battle of Boz Pity towards the war's end. And now outrage that she'd been believing a lie all these years.

"Asajj Ventress?" she snarled at Lumiya. "Still living?"

"Indeed Grievous," Ventress sneered, though Arica's attention was still on the placid Lumiya.

"And your apprentice?!" she added, just to be sure.

Lumiya gave a nod, causing Arica to explode in fury. "I feel betrayed! If you've really been watching the events of the galaxy play out as you say you have, you'll know how much I hate her! You could've told me it was Ventress."

"I told you it was an old rival," Lumiya said, her voice calm. "Besides Baynetta, and maybe your sister at a time, you haven't had any other rivals except Asajj and perhaps Dooku. It's not my fault you didn't figure it out."

Arica scorned at the truth of the matter but calmed down, willing herself not to fire up again as she next spoke. "How did you come to have Ventress of all people as an apprentice than? I feel I have a right to know that much."

"More than a right," Lumiya seconded, allowing a glance at the livid Asajj, whom was still pinned to the wall, though not by Arica's power now but her own. She returned her gaze to Arica and explained.

"Asajj did not die on Boz Pity but placed herself in a Sith trance, making it seem that she was dead. She was then loaded aboard the medical frigate, _Bright Flight_, and emerged from her trance not long after, ordering the pilots to alter their course from Coruscant and take her as far away as possible from the war, Dooku, and the Jedi."

Arica couldn't help a deriding laugh at the still immobile Ventress, which Lumiya seemed to be holding back, and waved for the master to continue.

"That is how she stumbled upon me. Because of her rage at what seemed to be everything, I knew I could train her into being the ultimate weapon of the Sith...until now."

Lumiya spared another glance at the apprentice she continued to lay hold of, ignoring her prolonged look of fierceness, and expressed the truth to Arica. "I never told you the real reason I lured your ship off course and to me Arica."

Arica allowed a furtive smile. "And you don't have to. I already know. You want me to replace Ventress as your apprentice."

Lumiya nodded. "Correct. The both of us want the same thing concerning Baynetta: her death. You want to overthrow Baynetta as Empress, and I can help you. However," she rose a gloved hand to emphasize her point, "for this to happen, you must learn beneath me as my apprentice by killing my current. If you succeed, I will accept you. If not..." she trailed off.

"You betray me Lumiya!" Ventress roared, finally breaking free of the hold her master had over her and stalking towards them. "But it is no matter. Soon, there will be only one person alive in this room."

"Correction," Arica ignited both of Ventress' lightsabers, "I think what you meant was 'soon you will be a decapitated corpse.' Let's face it Ventress, you're getting old-"

"And you aren't?"

The counter was ignored.

"-and you're no match for me; you never were."

Ventress had halted her stalk towards Arica and was now circling her and eying the lightsabers in hand, obviously contemplating a way to take them back.

"I see that your given ability to wield the Force has only nourished your arrogance," she finally said, her tone that of venom.

Arica simply smirked. "You could say that."

They continued to circle one another in silence, eyes glaring as Lumiya looked on from the sidelines.

"I've come a long way from that teenager you once hated so much." Arica finally broke silence. "We'll see once and for all whose the greater warrior here."

Ventress sneered. "You're no warrior girl! Merely a grieving widow who'll end up the same way the rest of her egocentric family turned out: dead."

"We'll see."

Swinging both her body and lightsabers through the air at rapid speed, Arica made to cut Asajj in half. Her nemesis ducked and called the lightsaber on Arica's belt (that of her late husband's) to her hand, igniting it and paring the assault that was thrown at her. Arica gave an upward slash; it was blocked. Ventress, a center thrust; it was thwarted. Arica, another upward strike with the combination of stomach jabs; both were evaded.

This fight began to remind Arica of the vicious duels the two of them would engage in whenever their paths crossed during the Clone Wars. Equally fierce and extremely violent, they'd come close to killing each other a number of occasions, only Dooku would usually step in at the last minute and bring a halt to it, or Sidious, via life-size holograph projector, would rebuke them for their pettiness and turn their attention to more important things. Always had there been interruptions. Always had there been the foreshadow of punishment. But this time, there would be none of that. Because this time it was not a duel of rivalry, but one to the death that would not end until either side was bested. No matter how long it took; even if it lasted for hours on end. Neither woman would rest until her adversary was defeated.

It took about two hours of nonstop fighting before Ventress finally found an opening in Arica's format of swordplay. The former military Supreme Commander had abandoned her aggressive mode about an hour previous and was now on the offensive side while Ventress played defensive. The Rattatak was deliberately giving her opponent the false sense that she, Arica, could actually win this. Once this was fully realized, Grievous would be so blinded by her arrogance, consequently giving her, Ventress, an opening. And it was working, for that was what was happening now. At last, Ventress would have vengeance against Arica and bring her life to an end. Yet little did Ventress know that Arica had a trick of her own up her sleeve.

Abruptly abandoning her defensive attacks, Asajj backflipped through the air, her booted feet coming into contact with Arica's chin and flinging her to the floor. Landing on firm ground again, Asajj quickly turned and called the blade that had gone loose in Arica's left hand to her, only Arica caught onto it with the Force halfway. A battle of wills commenced back and forth as both struggled to reclaim the still lightsaber. But as moments soon passed, Asajj began to see and feel the lightsaber loosening from her Force grip and being drawn back to Arica. She couldn't have that, so chose to distract her enemy through taunts.

"Give it up Grievous," Ventress hissed. "You will never win against me! I have foreseen this day for years on end, and have been preparing myself for it the same length of time. I shall defeat you, Lumiya, and afterwards Baynetta. And then I shall rule the galaxy as Empress. Everyone shall bow to my whim and do my will. I shall be indestructible, unbeatable, ultimate-"

"Sorry to disappoint and interrupt your little speech, but there's only one Empress in this room, and that's me. You want the lightsaber, Ventress? Go ahead and take it!"

Arica suddenly let go of her hold on the blade and drove it into Ventress with such force the non-Human didn't have time to react before it was piercing into her lower stomach and she was being thrown back onto the floor. Arica wasted no time as she charged at her nemesis, the remaining lightsaber of Ventress risen above her head, and swung down to chop off the owner's outstretched legs. Asajj moved with a roll, yet not fast enough as Arica managed to cut off her right foot, ankle down. Such a rage rose inside Ventress as she felt the pain of her decapitated leg, having her to lunge a Force slam so powerful that when Arica evaded it via backflip, it crushed the wall behind her instead; chucks of rubble collapsing from what was left of the wall after the effect.

Asajj thundered in retaliation, throwing more Force slams which continued to destroy the wall behind Arica beyond repair as she continued to dodge the throws, until one of the slams aimed true and Arica was thrown into the ruin of the wall; the back of her head and spine coming into contact with the durasteel layering beneath.

Asajj gave a grunt of satisfaction as she pulled herself to a stand with the aid of the nearby still intact wall and used the Force to keep steady as she limped towards the injured, yet slowly rising Arica. Several more Force slams, however, had the ex-royal sharply descending back to the floor and Asajj took great pleasure out of the pain her opponent was enduring; she fed off of it. Though the lightsaber in Arica's left hand was no longer activated, her grip was still firm around the hilt. Nevertheless, Asajj didn't care. The widow would be joining the rest of her deceased family soon enough.

"This is the end of you Arica Grievous," Ventress sneered, practically upon her enemy. "Die knowing that the rest of your family will be joining you shortly."

Despite the several concussions Arica had suffered to the head and spine, she was not immobilized but making it look that way. And the arrogance which Ventress had been hoping to blind Arica with was backfiring onto herself. Arica had been intending to simply plunge the lightsaber in hand up through Ventress' pubic area when the Near-Human got close enough and then let her bleed to death. But the death threat Ventress had given what was left of Arica's mostly slain family set a flame such a murderous spirit of animosity within her for the Rattatak that the original plan was dismissed and replaced with another: To annihilate Ventress until there was nothing left to liquidate.

"I don't think so."

Eyes blazing, Arica ignited the lightsaber in hand and accelerated forward, slicing off both wrists that connected Ventress' lightsaber wielding hands to the rest of her body with a flash of her blade. As Ventress looked on in enraged horror at her stumps of arms with a scream, Arica threw her across the room with a Force push and lunged after her, hacking her body to pieces with heavy, inescapable blows. Blood and guts splashed everywhere, yet Arica could careless. She did not stop slicing until she was satisfied Ventress was indeed dead with no way of coming back.

Finally, battle worn and tired, Arica rose from the mangled form of Ventress and deactivated formerly Ventress', now her lightsaber, clipping that and the other two when called, to her belt.

Lumiya was pleased. Arica had proven herself to be far superior than Ventress would ever be, just as Lumiya knew she would. It was time for Arica's training in the Force to commence as an apprentice.

Abandoning her dead adversary's side, Arica approached Lumiya and knelt before her new master.

"Rise young one," Lumiya commanded. "And welcome into the pathways of the Force..."


	125. Tassels

Author's Note: I had a great deal of assistance with this chapter from the novel Betrayal by Aaron Allston, apart of the Legacy of the Force series. As such, full credit goes to the novel and the author for the elements of the tassels in this chapter.

MissNaye: Hey ya go!

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 3: Tassels

It was midday a week after Asajj Ventress' death and Arica was currently awaiting the arrival of her master, Lumiya, in the temple's second floor library. She was to begin the first aspect of her training today, after the duration of recuperation Lumiya had her endure in preparation for it. Whenever her master arrived that is. Arica checked her watch again in irritation. She'd been waiting for nearly three hours now. But maybe this was the first step, she couldn't help wondering: Obtaining patience.

Arica could be and was patient when she wanted to be. But times like now were not one of them. Nonetheless, she forced herself to be for the sake of her impending tutelage. To take her mind off the continuous waiting, she decided upon her usual patience remedy: meditation. Not only would it help the time go by, but enable her to reconnect with her inner self. Meditation was something that was usually done daily by Arica to keep intuned with the Force. Yet since Baynetta's uprising, the intense dolor Arica had been going through prohibited her from continuing this exercise. Until now.

Adopting a cross-legged position at the table she was seated at, Arica closed her eyes, cleared her mind of all thoughts, and tapped into the Force. Peace, calm, and stillness followed, and Arica found herself falling wondrously into it. For too long had her life been without these sensations. But then it abruptly changed. The feelings Arica so yearned to hang onto were slipping away too soon after arrival. And in their place came the visions of horrid events; terrible, cruel happenings which seemed to be sometime in the future. Somewhat of a distance by the looks of it, as her children and grandniece within them appeared to be in their twenties and early to mid 30s as opposed to their current ages of 19-26 and 3.

The images of the premonition frightened and startled her greatly, and some were even slightly unbearable; yet, Arica forced herself to watch them anyway as they flashed across her mind:

_-Troy, beaten and broken, was being stripped of the vanity of his hair and that of the Force by Baynetta while Lacovia simply stood alongside the Sith Lady and watched with no emotion as her brother yelled and screamed in agony._

_-"I'm sorry Arica," Gabriella was leveling her mother with a glare as cold as ice, which her voice only matched, "but you're not my mother anymore. You've changed into a heartless monster and I want nothing more to do with you."_

_-Battered and utterly defeated on the ground laid Luke with a lightsaber being leveled at his throat._

_-A superweapon the shape of a triangular cone fired at Coruscant, destroying the planet and system in a supernova._

_-Allana fighting side by side Drake Palpatine and a troop of lightsaber-wielding stormtrooper commandos in an outdoor carnage-filled battle amongst strange, almost extragalactic aliens – even saving the ex-Empress' Hand's life in the process after him being stabbed in the shoulder by a pikestaff of some kind by engaging and temporarily disabling the alien that did it before Drake could rise up to finish the deed._

It was too much for Arica. She snapped open her eyes to see Lumiya standing before her, clam and serene as always.

"The future is always in motion Arica," she said, "yet we must be prepared for the coming darkness and chaos that will arise."

Arica didn't even ask how Lumiya knew of the vision; she merely assumed her master had felt it through the Force. "With Baynetta's overthrowing?" she asked.

"Yes...among other things."

What Arica's mind continued to dwell on was the torture she'd seen Troy enduring while Lacovia just _stood there_ and watched. Lacovia would never do something like that. She would rather die than see any type of harm come to her brother. Especially after the events Baynetta brought to the family. Then, there was the sight of Luke near-death and the sight of Gabriella. What she'd said deeply wounded and confused Arica. Coruscant being obliterated by something other than the Death Star? Allana fighting side by side Drake Palpatine and even coming to his defense in battle?

"It's best not to dwell on things that have yet to come to pass," Lumiya presented. "The future will play out in its own accord and should not be changed."

Arica humbly bowed her head. "Yes master."

It wasn't until a moment or so later that she noticed what looked to be a rag of orange cloth in Lumiya's left hand and asked, "What's that you have there, master?"

Lumiya handed it over to her. "I don't know Arica. Why don't you tell me?"

Inside the rag, which was only a bit larger then her fist, was a very strange thing that had little to no weight to it; perhaps half a kilogram.

Arica was confused by what it was. It seemed to be something organic; the dried, stringy fruit of a mutant tree. It was pliant thing with a blue-black central core, perhaps a dozen centimeters long. From that core sprang twenty or more tubular branches, narrowest where they attached to the core and at their tips, only slightly thicker in their centers, each about six centimeters long – and each baring colors, strips and other patterns. One lumpy and knotted, consisted of red and blue strips in a spiral pattern; another was straight, an eye-hurtling yellow with flecks of red and black; a third was creamy tan with jittery, jagged marking in black.

There was biological activity going on inside it, Arica sensed. It just seemed to be an art of bead work. And what an unusual example of bead craft it was. At a closer look it seemed to be a set of decorative tassels, each shaped and colored in an entirely different pattern, each attached to the longer, central strand. At the crown of this central strand was a cord blue-black like the strand itself but unbeaded; it was three or four centimeters and ended in a break, the cord material frayed.

While the entire mystery object was an interest, it was the tan tassel with the jagged black markings that continued to draw her eye. Tiny black threads escaped through its surface, poking out from between the close-set beads. Viewed from the distance of a meter, they made the tassel look as though it needed a shave but on closer inspection they resembled tiny claws. The design of the tassel itself – she could almost read the artist's intent.

_The smooth tan represents peace. The jagged black lines, strife. The curled threads are hooks, or claws. The moral: even a peaceful life will know strife. And strife presents hooks to drag you farther into the strife, a trap for the unwary._

But there was more to it than that, she knew. There was some sort of story involved in the message, but she couldn't puzzle it out.

Arica's eyes were drawn to the one at the very bottom. That was a thought and like writing. A pattern of knots so individualized, so specific that they could carry thoughts the way writing does. It had to be held and manipulated by touch in order for its meaning to become clear. It was in the long forgotten language of Ryloth, the native tongue of the Twi'lek species.

Despite the fact that most alien races were now extinct, or close to it anyway, and those that were still alive banned from the Empire since the Alien War twenty-three years ago, residing in the deep realms of the Outer Rim where they could not be found, Arica continued to retain her knowledge of the numerous alien tongues she'd known to speak since the Clone Wars. Ryloth was one of them.

As closely translated into Basic, the tassel said, "He will strengthen himself through pain," Arica said aloud. "That phrase has echoes of an old Jedi saying: There is no pain where strength lies."

"Indeed. You will find that many remnants of the old Jedi code can be found in Sith sayings..." Lumiya trailed off as Arica continued to study the tassels.

Each were distinct in the way they were made, Arica observed, being fabricated through a different technique. If they all conveyed messages, each obviously did so through a different method of communication; a different world of culture altogether.

"In your time researching the tassels," Lumiya said, breaking Arica out of her thoughts, "you'll find this library to be of assistance."

At Arica's puzzled eyebrow, Lumiya explained. "Only once you have decoded its meaning will your training commence." And she left the room.

For weeks on end, Arica did extensive research – the studying of languages and planets – in which time Lumiya made herself scarce around the temple as a way to, according to Arica's own assumptions, allow her new apprentice the ability to complete the task at hand without the prospect of her breathing down Arica's neck and interruptions.

Finally, after four long weeks of work, this is what Arica came up with:

The tassels were meant to be read top to bottom, so first came the one at the crown. It was from Firrere, a dead world in the Outer Rim, it's population scattered; the knotting technique was originally for recording and, in some superstitious cultures, magically influencing names. It's message: He will remake himself – 'rename' himself. The two concepts being identical in this concept.

The next one down was Bith, a recording method in an isolated race, the Aalagar, that concocted the knotting styles as a means of recording genealogies 'strings of ancestors'. Later the technique was expanded to permit the recording of thoughts and statements. Roughly translated, it meant, He will ruin those who deny justice.

The scarlet and black tassel was fairly easy; a recording technique by the prisoners on Kessel: He will choose the fate of the weak.

The meaning of the next one is sequence, the poisonous-looking yellow and green one: He will immortalize his love.

The red, yellow, and pale green tassel after that was rather tricky. It was actually a representation of a flower arrangement, from the Alderaan language of flowers. Imaging it as a bouquet in a vase, the red and yellow splotches constituting the petals and the green the stems, a sense is gotten of it: He will choose how he will be loved.

Actually, instead of 'he' it should be 'I', but it was assumed that the third person was being used here, as it is everywhere else.

The gray and brown one was from a still-existent Coruscanti subculture of indigents, transients who pride themselves on being jobless, living by theft, and begging. They left messages for others of their kind, symbols on the walls of shops to say various things. A three-dimensional representation of their language states, He will win and break his chains.

The next five were fairly simple since three were in Sithese, one in Naboo, and the other Huttese: He will shred his skin and choose a new skin; He will strengthen himself through sacrifice; He will crawl through his cloak; He will know brotherhood; He will make a pet – by which it isn't meant that he will tame some creature, but that he will _fabricate a pet_.

The tan tassel featuring the jagged black lines was set for last since the actual last tassel was the one that was figured out first. The zigzagging patterns represented the arrays of protruding claws and teeth. In statuary and figurines from the world Ziost it meant something like He will be drawn by peace into conflict or His life will be balanced between peace.

"It's the Prophecy of the Sith," Arica concluded.

She and Lumiya were in the sitting chambers of the Force master's quarters, and Arica had just finished explaining in depth her discoveries of the tassels.

Lumiya was lounged on one of the room's many chairs, a love-seat, but sat up to give her apprentice an appraising nod. "Very good. Go on."

Arica was seated in the couch across from Lumiya. "Just like the Jedi, the Sith had their own prophecy concerning a Chosen One who would endure its 13 Trials:

He will rename himself-"

"Actually, it's 'He will remake himself,'" Lumiya corrected. "Yet through the remaking, he will be renamed with the taking on of a new identity."

Arica nodded. "That's what I thought. Okay:

He will remake himself

He will ruin those who deny justice

He will choose the fate of the weak

He will immortalize his love

He will choose how he will be loved

He will win and break his chains

He will shred his old skin and choose a new skin

He will strengthen himself through sacrifice

He will crawl through his cloak

He will know brotherhood

He will make a pet

He will be drawn by peace into conflict

He will strengthen himself through pain

"These 13 trials must be endured before any type of balance can be brought to the Force. And from what I've figured," Arica continued, "it seems that this 'Chosen One' has some sort of relation to the Jedi's prophesied Chosen One, my deceased husband."

"Correct. Once the Jedi's prophecy concerning Anakin Skywalker ended with his death, it became clear to me that the Sith's prophecy would be fulfilled years afterward through a descendant of the Skywalker line. A male obviously."

"That could be one of three people than," Arica expressed. "Luke, Troy, or little Ben." Then it came to her. "Do you think Baynetta knows of this prophecy and that's why she's so hellbent on keeping Ben?" she asked, remembering how Baynetta never gave a reason as to what her use for Ben was. "Is he the Chosen One?"

Lumiya shook her head. "It's highly unlikely for several reasons on both accounts." She began to count off her fingers. "This prophecy was made by the Five Forgotten in a group effort during the period of their deaths 930-915 NRE. Baynetta was never even told of the Five Forgotten by her father, something he himself told you, Anakin, and no other. The prospect of me still being alive to her isn't possible. Plus, the Chosen One is also the only one who can bring an end to Palpatine's line, which is a double negative in concerns to Ben and Luke who are descendants of both the Palpatine and Skywalker lines."

Arica went over Lumiya's words with much thought. The vision of a much older Troy being tortured by Baynetta came back to mind along with other visions of him being inflicted daily, almost to the point of insanity. That in itself was painful, but then seeing the continued presence of Lacovia there during the torture, simply watching as if it didn't faze her, was even worse.

The last line of the Prophecy of the Sith ran through Arica's mind: 'He will strengthen himself through pain.'

"Troy?"

Lumiya seemed to ponder her query. "Very likely." She spoke at length. "Though it doesn't necessarily have to be a direct descendant. It could be the son of any of your three surviving children or so on."

Arica dismissed thoughts of being a grandmother anytime soon off as nonsense. "You think the Chosen One's Troy just as much as I do," she accused.

Lumiya seemed unfazed by her accusations and merely heaved her shoulders. "As I said, it's possible. But not definite. Remember Arica," she cautioned, "never take what you see in visions as the orthodox truth. They can sometimes be nothing more than distractions from the larger view."

Arica took note of the advice, but didn't spend much time thinking it over. There was something else she wanted to know. "But why train me as an apprentice and not the Chosen One?"

"Because I happen to have a very firm belief that you will play a vital role in the Chosen One's uprising," Lumiya replied. "And if you're going to take him on as an apprentice, you need to know as much about the Force as possible."

"Apprentice?" Arica had good reason to be confused. "The Chosen One will be _my_ apprentice?"

Again, Lumiya nodded. "Yes, which means that if you're going to be a master to anyone, you first must be a master to yourself. And of that I will teach you through your own apprenticeship. So prepare yourself Arica, for tomorrow your training shall begin..."


	126. Tutelage

MissNaye: Thanks.

G-Anakin 13: Glad you think so.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 4: Tutelage

31.5 Imperial Era

Arica allowed a seldom breeze sweep up her long dyed black hair as she strolled through the wilderness of Jen'sai ('Dark caste' in Basic), just south of the Old Sith Temple. Its deep, dark trees and roguish atmosphere were so familiar to her now she could probably walk through it and know her sense of direction blindfolded if need be. This came with calling Jen'jein home for the past five years.

Yes, that's how long she'd been under Lumiya's mastership. She was forty-seven presently and much maturer and accomplished than she'd ever been in life. And though she was nearing the fifty half-point of life, she didn't feel or look much different than she had when she first arrived here.

Arica had learned many a thing during her half-decade tutelage under Lumiya, yet none so much as the four main crucial teachings which stood out the most above the rest, in her perspective anyway:

The Art of the Sith Sword

Sith swords were weapons used by the Sith during the one hundred thousand year era of the Sith Empire. Developed by the ancient Sith, they were soon abandoned about a year into the Great Sith War because of the yearning that was expressed for the Jedi's lightsabers.

"The Jedi wielded them," Lumiya recalled of the very first lightsaber, "and they were elegant weapons. Our Sith swords fought well against them, but it was soon decided by the majority to adopt the new technology 'sword of light', as we called it."

Nonetheless, this was the first skill Lumiya wanted her to learn, because "there were still those who continued practicing the swords while their fellows chose lightsabers – either for tradition, or because they preferred the more visceral feeling of sword cutting through flesh."

Arica found them to be remarkably intriguing, even if she felt they were much too inferior compared to lightsabers. On the plus side, they never dulled, could block blaster fire, and were even able to resist lightsabers. At first, she thought it would be easy to wield the ancient sword. But its featherlight appearance proved deceiving, as she found it to be surprisingly heavy and hard to manage. She learned one of her first apprenticeship memos through the experience of learning to wield Sith swords: "Never underestimate anything, no matter how small or insignificant it may look or seem; appearance is deception and the path of the destruction."

Sith Alchemy

Sith Alchemy was a science which referred to a number of areas under the Sith. Its primary use, however, was to enhance the strength of weapons (such as Sith swords that were made hard and sharper through the science), or genetically engineer and enhance alien species, making them more dangerous and easier to control by the Sith Lords.

Darth Plagueis had been a master of this Dark Art, according to Lumiya, and passed this down to Sidious, who later wrote a book about the subject towards the war's end which she still contained, _The Creation of Monsters_.

It was through the Dark Art of Sith Alchemy, Lumiya explained, that Darth Maul had retained his life during his bisection on Naboo forty-four years ago and was subsequently able to go to Wayland, acting as the planet's Guardian until Baynetta's arrival.

This is another skill which came as difficult to Arica, and it took a long time, six months, for her to get the hang of it fully. During that time, she practiced on Sith swords and the numerous wildlife that could be found outside the temple walls, and thoroughly studied Sidious' book. At the end of this long course, it all paid off. Arica found herself to being higher advanced at the ability than even Lumiya was. And in that aspect alone had the "student become the master."

The Lightwhip

A lightwhip was a rare variation of the lightsaber that only specially trained Force users could wield. Like the lightsaber, it emitted a coherent beam of energy. However, the blade was long, flexible and wielded like a whip. Like lightsabers, most lightwhips came in different colors. Lumiya's was a lightning white. Hers, which was built from a strand of the Kaiburr crystal and Mandalorian iron, was specially modified to include both energy and matter, making it impossible to overcome with just a lightsaber.

The lightwhip Arica had constructed was of violet purple-blue and modeled after her master's design. It wasn't as tough as she'd originally thought to wield when Lumiya had first activated hers and explained the ins and outs of it to her student. Nevertheless, it was a bit of a challenge. Though a welcome one to Arica's eager mind.

The Lightdagger

A lightdagger was nothing more than a lightsaber with a very short blade, built and wielded with great efficiency against a lightwhip. When using a lightdagger in conjunction with a lightsaber to counter a lightwhip, one could actually have a chance against it.

The first time Arica was introduced to this weapon, it reminded her of the deceased Master Yoda's lightsaber, which was small enough to be particularized with a lightdagger, even if it wasn't used as such. She found it easy to wield, even against a lightwhip and constructed hers the color of gold in honor of her late daughter, Elektra.

The years had grown her, changed her, gave her a different outlook on life, and also convinced her once and for all that Troy was indeed the Sith's Chosen One. It'd been becoming more and more clear to her over the duration of time, as she continued to receive visions of him fulfilling the thirteen trials of the Sith Prophecy. Lumiya, however, continued to think nothing of it, simply saying, as she always said whenever Arica's mind would sometimes wander on the images, to "not let things of the future cloud her judgment on what may or may not be. Focus on the now solely."

According to Lumiya, Arica's training wasn't supposed to last any longer than a half-decade. And while at first, it seemed like an eternity, it really wasn't, as Arica kept herself busy with the vigorous training Lumiya had her endure. But at five years, the end of her apprenticeship was drawing near, and already Arica was thinking about what she was going to do after the effect: Find Troy, wherever he may be, and later, the others. But first things first. She had a task which needed completing – the reason she was out in the wilderness of Jen'sai to begin with – and if she wished to be successful, her focus need be on that and _only_ that. This was her final trial – the trial of skill – before she moved onto the rank of Force Master. It was highly important, and failure was not an option. Her task was to take down a clan of Hssisses – dark side dragons – that usually dwelt in an almost battlefield like clearing enclosed in a high-walled rock encasing several miles southwest of the temple.

Hssisses were a lizard species, native only to Korriban and Jen'jein, with the ability to influence Force sensitive beings around them. If bitten by a Hssiss, one would succumb to the effects of a dark side poison. Hssisses also had the ability to conceal themselves and become invisible, possibly doing so through the Force.

As creatures of the Force, they had a limited ability to mask their presence. Hssisses were drawn to suffering and carnage. Unlike the Hssisses of Korriban, those of Jen'jein mainly kept to their own territory – the entire southern half of the planet – very rarely venturing out of it.

Though they were native to Korriban and Jen'jein, Hssisses could be found on many worlds throughout the galaxy, including Ambria and Vjun. Notwithstanding this, Arica had never come across the dragon race before coming to Jen'jein. Not even when she'd gone to Korriban five years ago with the Imperial fleet and some members of ex-the Royal House, most of which were dead now, to rescue her grandniece Allana and oldest son Hilton from Baynetta. Allana had come across them, though, and following her escape from Baynetta, told Arica about them. Yet there was a difference between being told about something, especially by a three-year-old, and actually encountering it.

Imposingly monstrous despite their two meter height, Hssisses were covered in a skin of dark green scales with at least fifteen sharp white horns on its back and tail, and two larger ones on either side of its triangular like head and beak. Two eyes of an evil red glared at you upon sight, and its strong paws and feet were armed with finely pointed claws which would slice you to shreds at contact.

But as Arica came up to the outer wall of the enclosure, she gave no thought to the startling things she knew and read about the dragons over the years. As she climbed the rough, jagged rocks which would lead her inside the arena, and to her prey, she allowed one of Lumiya's many phrases of advice come back to her: "Do no think, do!"

It took a while, but Arica finally reached the top of the elliptical outer wall of rock and slowly rose to a stand. The interior of the dragon nest was epic, at least a kilometer in diameter, and was floored with sand and rocks. The inside surroundings of the rock wall was mostly smooth with a few outer ledges here and there. The only thing that was found remotely strange about it was the peculiar formation shaped at the north center side of the oval field, several dozen meters to her left. What looked to be a cross between a sea crab and a giant night bat, Arica admired the design of the bizarre creature but didn't give it another glance besides that. Through the darkness of Jen'jein's eternal night, by the light of the south moon, Arica could see numerous separate groups of dragons laying among themselves in all parts of the nest. There was no avoiding it. She had to jump down within the middle of them and start the foray like such, as there was no way she could enter amongst them secretly. She let her eyes roam the arena once more. There were about thirty of them total; roughly half being adult while the rest were young. From where she was positioned on the wall, presence cloaked, she could jump down and swiftly take out one of the young males that was wandering by itself with her lightwhip before anything could be done to stop it. Then, the warfare would begin.

She was ready. Taking a deep breath, she jumped off the wall and activated her violet lightwhip. Flinging it at the young dragon upon landing, she willed it to wrap around his neck and tugged hard, choking the life out of its body. It squealed in alarm and immediately the surrounding dragons leaped into action, but the young one's death was in a matter of seconds. It was unavoidable. He collapsed to the ground, and so it began...

Wrathfully, dragons came at her from all directions, ready to avenge their fallen member. She threw a wave of Force at the crab-bat, starting a rock slide that crushed several nearby dragons, infuriating the others even more. Backflipping out of the way of the dozen dragons that came at her from the right, she landed onto one of their backs and ignited her lightsaber through the back of its neck. It howled at the pain and another dragon, in between the stage of young and old, came alongside the one Arica was riding, chomping its beak at her with the intent of biting off a limb. Arica gave a Force enhanced jump off the dying dragon, quickly turning off her lightsaber in time to grasp onto the overhang ledge she was making for. It was approximately twenty feet in the air, but that didn't stop the slew of dragons to jump at her, breathing balls of fire at her dangling legs. Arica flipped up onto the ledge, however, one of the dragons gave an extremely high jump after her, its strong beak coming into contact with the ledge, and causing it to shatter. Arica was already somersaulting through the air and landed in front of the demolished crab-bat formation. The two dragons that were there to meet her, snarling, were soon immobilized, one by her lightwhip wrapping around its center and cutting into it, the other by her Sith sword piercing into its upper chest. The dragons which had pursued her from the broken ledge were running at Arica in rapid precision, fiercely eager to bring an end to this menace that had already taken down seven of their fellows. In response, Arica threw her Sith sword and activated lightsaber and lightdagger at the approaching multitude. It was impossible for them all to duck the weapons, though the Hssisses tried, and three more were taken down as each weapon did their work to either stab, jab, or pierce their owner's foes to death. Just when the rest were practically upon her, Arica did a measured twirl through the air, skyward, her lightwhip slicing along another dragon's neck. But in mid-twirl, one of the Hssisses surprised her. Rearing onto its back legs, the dragon threw its body forward, and along with it a massive Force push. Arica was thrown hard into the remains of the crab-bat, but was quickly up again, throwing her legs back then forward and swinging to a stand, her boots coming into contact with the under chin of a dragon twice as she flipped and then kicked it up aside its head. In answer, the Hssiss vanished into invisibility, attempting to throw her off but Arica wasn't easily fooled. Through the Force, she could still very much see the dragon trying to sneak up around and attack from behind. One lightwhip strike to the right, however, foiled that endeavor.

12 down; 18 more to go.

The remaining Hssisses followed their late fellows' attempt on the invisibility, but as they made a limited ability to mask their presences, Arica could still see and feel them around her. The fight continued. Springing up onto the remains of the crab-bat, the dragons pursued Arica as she Force leap from rock ledge to rock ledge in preparation of her next move. Before she could do so, however, and leap from the ledge she was on at the east end of the arena, the fire of a Hssiss behind her melted it and she was falling through the smoky air, her fingers slightly charred as the dragon continued to emit flames and swoop after her. Turning her body to face the creature mid-air, she threw a wave of Force at the nearly drawing fire, forcing them to return to the sender, resulting in the Hssiss being engulfed in its own flames. As Arica collapsed onto the sandy ground, she swung her body out of the way, for the torched dragon that would've fallen atop her had she remained still. Quickly rising, lightwhip in hand, she sharply revolved her weapon forward, across the body of another opponent, who'd abandoned their invisibility and came at her from an above ledge, fire spewing from its mouth. Jumping out of the way of yet another fallen adversary, Arica did a Force enhanced leap at another fire-breathing dragon who made to swoop down at her, slashing her whip to bisection the creature one limb at a time, spinning and twirling to keep herself afloat.

Abandoning the Hssiss that continued to trail her from the ledges, Arica returned to preparing for her next move. She would need a great amount of strength and energy to perform it, but there was no doubt in her mind that she couldn't do it: Do not think, do!

Centering herself in both the Force and the arena, she absentmindedly turned off her lightwhip and extended her arms on either side of herself at a low arch. Calling onto the Force and ignoring the rapidly approaching dragons, she concentrated. The ground began beneath her began to rumble; she concentrated. The sky above her began to thunder; she concentrated. Lightning began to flash in the sky; she concentrated, until suddenly she threw her arms back and, forming her hands into fists, used them to slam waves of Force energy about the arena.

The outcome? An avalanche of rocks tumbling down into the Hssiss nest from all directions. The dark side dragons hissed and snarled angrily, blowing columns of smoke at the rocks that fell around them. It was no use. Arica used these same chucks of rock to slaughter even more dragons by slamming them into what was left of the wall of stoning them to death. And if they didn't die through her, they did on their own by being crushed to death by the inescapable rock.

Seven were slain by Arica; another seven by the avalanche. But one clearly refused to die, for it evaded every assault Arica threw at it and every rock that fell from the sides of the nearly destroyed arena. She recognized this Hssiss as the leader of the clan and found herself becoming somewhat pleased that it hadn't been killed during the rock devastation. This is a dragon she wanted to defeat personally in direct combat. Reactivating her lightwhip, she met the creature in full on attack at her. A swing to the throat was dodged as it wrapped around the Hssisses' paw instead and the dark side wielder Force threw Arica several meters outside the ruin at a northwest angle. Eager to get back in the game, Arica pulled out a dagger to fight with which could pass as a sword and raced back into the destruction. The Hssiss leader had somehow gotten the lightwhip from wrapped around its paw and was now breathing a heavy amount of flames onto the weapon with the intent of destroying it. Arica almost laughed out loud. Mandalorian iron, a major resource for the laser whip, was virtually indestructible, but the dragon didn't know that.

With its attention span on the lightwhip, the Hssiss didn't seem to be paying much mind to its surroundings...or so Arica thought. Launching the dagger at the creature's thigh, the dragon abruptly ceased fire on the lightwhip and swung its spiked tail at the blade, throwing it back at the sender, who caught it with the Force and pushed it back to its target. The dragon responded by letting loose a stream of fire onto the blade as it came within a few meters of itself. At that same moment, Arica called her lightwhip back to her, catching its hot handle in her grasp, and swung it over her head as she ran at the still fire-emitting dragon.

When the fire ceased and the dragon caught sight of Arica coming at it, it turned and ducked, but not fast enough. The swinging twirl of light cut off the creature's tail as Arica leapt through the air towards her foe, once again blocking the flames that were being thrown at her with an upward palm, she quickened the speed of the whip's spinning and swooped down on the Hssiss, cutting it clean in half. Somersaulting over its collapsing form, she landed upright in the center of the arena to find herself face-to-face with Lumiya. Though somewhat startled, she instantly bowed.

"Well done Arica," her master appraised. "You have passed the final trial of your training. It is complete. Tomorrow you will leave to find your own apprentice: the Chosen One of the Sith, your son Troy."


	127. Apprenticeship

Twisterblake and MissNaye: Thanks.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 5: Apprenticeship

Outer Rim World, Iego

Planet Type: Terrestrial

Climate: Temperate, tropical

Terrain: Rocks, wastelands

Atmosphere: Breathable

Gravity: Standard

Diameter: 2,730 kilometers

Length of Day: Not applicable

Length of Year: Not applicable

Sentient Species: Diathim, Maelibi, mixed-species castaways

Official Language: Basic

Population: 4,500 castaways, unknown number of Diathim and Maelibi

Species Mix: 40 Human, 60 other (among castaways)

Government: Competing tribes

Major Exports: None

Major Imports: None

System/Star: Iego/None

Moons: 42

- Meditative Force Breakdown of Iego

In a Galaxy of untold wonders, seasoned spacers quickly became jaded. But Iego was one of those enigmatic destinations, wrapped in myth and tinged with menace, that could strike awe into the hearts of even the most fearless hyperspace wanderers.

The precise location of Iego was unrecorded on star charts, and facts about its fantastic inhabitants were contradictory. The body of Iego lore was consistent on several points, however. South of the Perlemian, far away from any hyperspace lane, existed a luminous nebular pocket known as the Extrictarium. Inside, the small planetoid of Iego floats amid a motionless host of several dozen tiny moonlets. None of the spheroids orbited one another, nor did they rotate or were crushed together in a rocky lump from mutual gravitic attraction. Blazingly white nebular patches illuminated this suspended tableau with the light of ten suns.

In this implausible environment lived the most fanciful creatures to ever haunt Outer Rim mythology. The Angels, to those who believed in them, were so shockingly beautiful that their appearance can make even the most hardened star traveler weep with rapture. Other, less-benign rumors were also whispered about the Angels, namely that Iego was a quick trip to an early grave.

The legend of the Angels had persisted since the dawn of hyperspace flight, whispered across darkened tables in filthy Outer Rim cantinas. Since no one could supply the coordinates of Iego and most stories were told as something that happened to a "friend of a friend", the scientific community dismissed the whole affair as a spacefarer's myth. Yet, folk lorists at the University of Sanbra pointed out that core elements of the tale always remained remarkably the same through every telling. The "best guess" of facts of the Iego puzzle were numerous: Iego appears to draw travelers to it, no matter where they are at the time or where they had hoped to go. Due to the peculiarities of hyperspace travel and the legendary abilities of the Angels, ships have been said to vanish from the Core and materialize halfway across the galaxy at Iego during what should have been short, routine hyperspace hops.

Whether the new arrivals try to investigate Iego or make a break for the walls of the Extrictarium Nebula appears to make little difference. A host of luminous Angels appeared almost immediately, stupefying onlookers with their beauty. Witnesses claim that pilots will plunge their ships into violent crash-landings on Iego as if hypnotized. Of course, spacers have spun this nugget of information into rich, fantastic yarns, most involving lost treasure galleons rotting on the planetoid like overripe fruit, with gushers of firegems and electrum ingots spilling from their split hulls. Every year, dozens of fortune-hunters hired crews for new Iego expeditions; the vast majority returning empty-handed and disappointed, reluctantly conceding that the world was indeed a myth. Some returned with tales of wonder or horror, contributing to the legend in their own way. Others never returned at all.

The world seemed to exist outside the normal galaxy, unaffected by the Old Republic, Sith Empire, New Galactic Republic, or Galactic Empire. It was as if the ever-changing galactic governments meant nothing to those isolated inside the strange pocket of nebula.

Iego was famed for its Angels (provisionally known among Sanbra University xenobiologists as the Diathim), creatures of legendary beauty about whom little is known. Most accounts describe them as thin feminine humanoids 2 to 3 meters tall, with six blade-like wings sprouting from their backs. Some claim the Angels appear as exotic-looking Verpine, Givin, or similar representations of their own native species. All Angels seem to be composed of searing white light tinged with yellowish aura, making it difficult to identify biological details. Since they glide out of Iego's moonlets to greet arriving ships, it's assumed they live on the moonlets, but so far their dwellings have remained hidden. Angels have no apparent language and convey an aura of overall benevolence, despite their known efforts at sabotage.

Spacers have been winding up at Iego since the dawn of hyperspace travel. The accumulated number of castaways on the planet made up a population thousands strong. Each of the shipwrecked survivors pledged allegiance to one of Iego's competing tribes. Some of the tribes were charitable, some malignant, and others feral in their desperation. Curiously, Iego had no apparent natural resources, but those doomed to live them supposedly no longer felt the effects of age or hunger. According to space lore, Humans who lived during the Old Republic more than two thousand years previous could be found still alive on Iego.

Only a handful of people know about Iego's other indigenous species, and most refuse to tell the tale. Demons, or as they're otherwise known Maelibi, dwell below the surface of Iego. These Demons intermittently pooch the castaway population for sustenance, selecting their screaming victims and casually carrying them below ground under their strong arms. Maelibi are said to be achingly beautiful – even more radiant than the Angels – with bodies like molten gold and lyrical voices that seemed to capture the very essence of song.

There were four locations of interest on Iego:

The Scatter

Despite its standard gravitational field, Iego is inexplicably tiny. Several castaways have circumnavigated and mapped the entire sphere. Most, however, choose to live near the Scatter, a shallow valley many kilometers wide where all starships are intentionally crashed by the Angels. The Scatter resembles a frozen lake glittering fiercely in the planet's omnipresent light, with its metal wreckage evoking jagged packed ice and hulking starship fuselages standing in for glaciers. In the dark shadows cast by the Scatter's larger hip wrecks live Iego's few tribeless outcasts, most of whom are dangerous and quite mad.

Among the thousands of shredded wrecks are many functional starship components and other parts that can be repaired with a little effort. Sadly, the petty tribal organization of Iego's castaways prevents any group from assembling a working ship as means of escape.

Clicksticks Tribe

Most tribes on Iego control patches of territory immediately surrounding The Scatter. The Clicksticks tribe occupied a high mesa with good view of the Scatter and surrounding terrain. Scavenged metal and plasteel sheeting make up a village of makeshift huts. And tribe leader Darubang Yosa could even trigger rockslides to crush any strangers attempting to scale the mesa.

The Boneyard

Curious heaps of bones litter the face of Iego. The largest pile, known to the castaways as the Boneyard, lies north of the Scatter in rocky, inhospitable terrain. Most of the bones are gigantic and unidentifiable, and immense rib cages were positioned directly over holes in the planet's crust. Peering down through the ribs, one could see distant tones of Iego's Demons. An ancient and wise star dragon was rumored to live in the canyons north of the Boneyard. Yet like most rumors, it turned out to be false.

The Choir Alignment

The Diathim of Iego spend their lives on the system's moonlets and in the rarefied space within the Extrictarium Nebula. Nonetheless, there was one place where the Angels regularly touched down on the planet for reasons all their own.

Between the Scatter and the Boneyard was a geologic feature too angular to be natural. Sunken into the rock is a miniature valley 100 meters across, carved into the shape of a nine-pointed star. Those who have stood in the center of the structure report that the moonlets visible from that vantage point seem aligned in elegant geometric patterns. Angels frequently congregate in the area, forming a column of light stretching from the star valley to a point far overhead in space.

Ramshackles were vehicles used by the castaways of Iego. Built from the starship detritus littering the Scatter, they were jury-rigged repulsorlift contraptions. Each resembled a reclining chair made from structural tubes, loosely holding together a mass of scavenged engine components. Though the devices were unreliable, they were greatly prized. Some of Iego's inhabitants were willing to kill for the planet's few scrapes of advanced machinery.

So...who know all of this intelligence about the somewhat unknown world?

Try someone who'd been secretly living in hiding on Iego for half a decade now. Ever since Baynetta retook the Empire: Troy Grievous Skywalker, age 25.

Exile, one-time Imperial Prince, and Force activist that wielded both the light and the dark.

He dwelt in the canyon north of the Boneyard, where the star dragon was rumored to reside (lies!), aboard his stolen Corellian star liner, _Knight Crawler_, keeping to himself for the most part, though he did venture out on occasion.

This leads to the question of "How did he get to Iego to begin with?" and probably also "What has he been doing since then?"

Out of the Third Battle of Dathomir's five survivors, not counting Arica, Troy, then twenty, had taken his mother's abrupt exit and abandoning the hardest. Perhaps this was because out of his family's entirety, it was she that he was closest to, soon followed by his shy-by-one-year sister, Gabriella. He and his mother had always been that way; close beyond the average mother-son relationship. He idolized her for her beauty and past military experience, and she adored him despite his arrogant, rude, and sometimes even snobbish personae. When she left, that on top of Kylantha's recent death and Allana's near death gave Troy the strong impulse for them to leave Dathomir as well. That they did, fighting their way through the thicket of overwhelming stormtroopers, sneaking aboard a docked Star Destroyer and taking its flagship shuttle far, far from Dathomir. The precise location being the Mid Rim world of Malastare. From there, safely landing in one of the planet's distant jungles and trekking to the capital city of Pixelito on foot, Luke, who'd since taken over as head honcho, decided that the five of them, sans Allana because of her young age, should split up to live their lives of exile on distant worlds, as to assure their hidden safety from Baynetta...until the time was right.

"And when exactly will that time be?" Troy had heatedly asked, not at all liking this plan. And he wasn't the only one. Really, none of them were comfortable with it. Lacovia had expressed her point of them all staying together, but this was countered by Gabriella agreeing with Luke. It was better that they stayed separated. Little Allana also wanted them to stay together, but Troy could care less about who went with whom. He just didn't want to go into exile. The five of them were royalty by birth, and royals didn't deserve the expulsion from one's own empire.

In the end, after much arguing, it was officially decided. They were going to part their own separate ways. All chose locations in the Outer Rim that weren't too close to the other. At the same time, if anything were to happen, they could reach one another in a short duration.

At Pixelito, they split up. Each taking a shuttle to a separate destination, and afterwards, stealing a ship upon arriving which would take them to their actual place of exile.

Troy choose Iego because of its ongoing mystery of Angels and secret location. The planet was perfect for him. However, in between his meditations to discover its location, he tried calling out to his mother to learn her location and perhaps join her. She was an emotional wreck when she left and he wanted to make sure she was okay. The thoughts of what a mentally deranged woman of grief might do behind the controls of a rundown star cruiser made him fear for her. He would not lose both parents by the cause of the same person. He just wouldn't allow it. Yet despite his continuous calls to her, she never answered, nor did she ever make any attempt to. This led Troy to grow bitter, though, he was also deeply wounded by the rejection. His remedy for this was dismissing her from his mind altogether. For Troy, it was better to merely pretend she didn't exist than face the pain she'd caused him.

With his mind off his mother, he was able to focus fully on the matter of discovering Iego's location. Within a few hours, he came across his success outside the small, moonlet surrounded planetoid. Immediately, he was greeted by a host of luminous bodies he took to be Iego's angels. He wasn't remotely impressed, finding them to be strange and not at all beautiful. Ignoring them, he proceeded past and down onto the planet. Yet the Angels continued to trail him, Troy didn't care and continued to ignore. He circled the planet once more, deciding that his new home would be the desolate canyon just north of the Boneyard. It happened that this was one of the times the Demons were about to capture castaway victims for food, and upon spotting Troy's still flying ship, some of their numbers joined the Angels in following him.

From that point on, his presence on the planet was known to be respected and feared by all. The supposed beauty of the Maelibi, which Troy found to be distasteful, turned out to be merely a front. Using the Force to keep the Demons at bay as he landed, the true horrid side of the creatures were revealed and they were ugly. While he only killed those, violently, who came to challenge him, a lot of the others also fell to his blade of "laser light", as bystanders came to call it. Eventually, the Demons fled and came to fear him, more and more as their numbers perpetuated to dwindle over the years. The tribes of Iego came to look at Troy as a hero, but he didn't want any of that. All he wished was their reverence and to be left alone; the last request being something they were slightly hesitant over. But once several innocent lives were threatened by Troy's "supernatural powers", he got his demand. The only visitors to _his_ canyon now being the Angels every so often, who brought down enough food and gold to last until their next visit – approximately six months later.

For five years he continued to vanquish the occasional Demon that came his way; study the Angels during their visits; explore the planet to its entirety; receive the many gifts he was given from the tribes and some castaways during his time about them; amuse himself with tinkering with the myriads of crashed ships in the Scatter; and repeatedly refusing the tribes' offers of building him a home that would take the place of his residential ship. He'd stolen _Knight Crawler_ from a wealthy holostar by the name of Regina Galas, an ex-girlfriend of his from several years back, after he arrived on the rainforests/cities world Tiss'sharl from Malastare. Actually, the ship had originally been his, but was soon a gift to Galas when they started going out because she liked it so much. Upon their third and final breakup two years later, however, she did not return the ship as he'd demanded but fled with it to the Outer Rim where she was supposedly filming an upcoming holodrama. Though it had been one of his favorite ships, Troy chose not to pursue Galas over it. It wasn't like he didn't have plenty of other favorites. But when he found _Knight Crawler_ in a hotel hanger on Tiss'sharl, unattended and unoccupied, he just had to take it back. He would prefer _Knight Crawler_ over any home the Iegoians could possibly build him. The Corellian star liner was so nicely furnished it could second as a home.

On the day which marked a half-decade of Troy being on Iego, around midday, the ex-royal could be found meditating in his quarter chambers aboard _Knight Crawler_. It was a fairly large room, decorated entirely in the occupant's colors of choice: black and white. By looking around, however, one could see which color was likened over the other, with eighty percent of it black and the remaining twenty percent in white. There was a nicely cushioned black and white bed, desk, HV, closet, dresser and mirror, and too many other things to name that were otherwise unimportant anyway.

Troy made it a special point to keep himself active in the Force as much as possible despite his hiatus from action. He knew it wouldn't last forever, and when it restarted, he wanted to be ready enough for anything. Meditation was something that usually came easy to him, which is why he was a little confused as to why he couldn't focus properly today. His mind would keep wandering off to the thought that some life-changing event was going to transpire that day. But what? After all these years of secret hiding, had he finally been found out by the Imperials? If so, that was a thought he welcomed, even if it sounded a bit reckless. He was beyond tired of living as an exile. He was over it. At first, it was rather like a nice, long holiday from everything. But now, after five event less years of it, he wanted and _needed_ out of it.

A change of pace.

Anything.

Of course, this feeling could also be a trap. Yet one would never know until the situation was looked into. Troy cautiously exited _Knight Crawler_, black cloak and hood overhead, obscuring most of his face, senses all alert yet presence hidden. He'd just felt that something was amiss. Not simply within the Force, but on the planet as well. There was another Force being on Iego. However, unlike him, they weren't making to hide their signature in the Force. He sensed it clearly, and quite strongly, in the Boneyard just south of him. Clearly, this foe wanted him to come to them.

_So be it then._

* * *

The Boneyard was as it always was: desolate and quiet. Even the distant melodic tones of the Demons could not be heard, as they had nothing to sing about. Troy had killed most of their numbers, and the rest lived in fear that he would also come for them too. Troy enjoyed bringing fear to others. It gave him the sense of superiority that came with being royal and a Sith, even if he was an exiled one. And he was going to bring that same fear to the adversary he had yet to face. Troy was silently walking among the rib cage bones of the rocky terrain, looking, searching for the foe that dared challenge him. And then, he spotted them as he came around the around side of the Boneyard's largest and most central rib cage: a hooded and cloaked figure stood several dozen paces ahead of him, simply standing there as though in waiting. 

_In waiting of their death, perhaps?_

Troy reached onto his belt for his always-present lightsaber, placing his thumb on the activation button but not pressing it. He moved stealthily forward towards the figure that did not move once the closer he came. It was as if they didn't know or care that the very person they'd come to hunt was hunting them instead. Due to some of the modifications he'd made to his lightsaber over the years, the weapon was able to be turned on without the registrable _snap-hiss_ or any sound at all. This was perfect for sneaking up upon prey, such as now. They had no idea your blade was ignited until you rose it at the ready and swung down for the kill...

"Do you hold that much anger within you that you would slay your own mother?"

Troy stopped mid-swing at the voice. It was so familiar. Yet one he hadn't heard for a long time. One he'd yearned to hear though, for so long. It was-

Troy stopped again. How did he know this wasn't a trick? A ploy to lower his guard into a trap? At the same time, the voice had been so like hers he couldn't quite figure out a way it couldn't be. Nonetheless, he was suspicious.

"And I don't blame you," the figure said in its feminine voice, evidently picking up on his thoughts. After all..."

The figure turned and lowered its hood; Troy's guess was confirmed.

"...you probably never thought you'd ever see me again."

Happiness, anger, and hurt.

Three words which aren't usually expressed in the same sentence, yet these were the three emotions Troy was feeling at the present, as he gazed into the familiar face of his mother, Arica Grievous-Skywalker.

There were so many things he wanted to say to her. He was equally overjoyed and enraged, and the old hurt which he thought he'd dismissed was back again at the sight of her lovely face. She was smiling at him, but also looked somewhat apprehensive; as though she was expecting a major reaction from him. She seemed to have prepared herself for anything, and for this he wanted to both embrace and slap her. One question, however, came to him as the right thing to do first.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" He made sure his tone betrayed none of his emotions.

Arica's smile widened. "To see you, of course. And just look at you!" She gave her son an appraising smile as she looked him up and down. "You've grown into such a handsome young man, Troy. And you're taller then me now!"

And indeed he was several inches taller than last they'd been in one another's company, but Troy, mostly, ignored the flattery. "It's been five years," he said, his tone almost bitter. "Were you too busy to see me sooner?"

The smile instantly left Arica's face and her head slowly lowered. He sensed an air of sadness and regret from him. "Troy-"

"Mom, how could you?!" he abruptly bellowed, his level tone long forgotten as the bitter hurt rose up within him full force. "You just left us! You abandoned us for the second time in our lives! And now you think you can just walk back into it as if nothing happened?!"

Arica found herself getting choked up as she remembered back to the events of Dathomir's third battle. "Troy, I know and I'm sorry. I really am. I just..." she trailed off, desperately hoping he'd understand as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

The sight of her crying and the apology caused Troy to open his arms and scope her within them ("Come here."), allowing her to sob into his shoulder. He let go of the animosity, the agony, the bitterness, and let the void she'd once filled back into his heart again.

"I love you mom," he said softly.

"I love you too Troy," she cried. "Don't ever forget that. And I'm sorry for whatever pain I've brought you over the years. It's like I've been running my entire life; from everyone. Whenever a situation became out of my control, I ran, and I knew I shouldn't have. I knew I was causing pain, yet I didn't care. But Troy, I've changed. I met someone, and have experienced a lot since you last saw me. And I promise, I will never abandon you again. Ever. I just...want my son back."

"And you have him back." Troy fought back the few tears that threatened to escape his own eyes with a quip. "Just stop crying mom. It doesn't bode well with your beautiful appearance."

Arica hiccuped a laugh and wiped away the majority of her tears as her face flushed. "Stop it," she giggled. "You're making me blush!"

"That was my intent," Troy teased.

Arica playfully punched him in the chest and hooked an arm around his neck as she stirred them to the Boneyard's northern exit.

"So Troy, tell me of your time here. This is quite the interesting place to stay in hiding." She gave the Boneyard a look around. "But a wise choice because of its galaxy-wide mystery."

"Only after you tell me how exactly you found me," Troy requested, for that was something which had been puzzling him the moment he saw her face.

Arica gave another small laugh. "I'm your mother Troy, and we've always been close. The bond we share-" She backtracked. "Or at least, _used_ to share."

"The bond we share," Troy corrected.

Arica nodded. "Right. That led me to you. And now of your time here..."

* * *

"Is that _Knight Crawler_?" Arica asked a half-hour later as she and Troy came upon the sleek, black ship. Without waiting for a response, she added, "I certainly hope you're not back together with that Galas girl." 

Arica's disapproval of Troy's numerous mistresses was not hidden. She was quite outspoken on the subject. To her, there was no woman worthy enough of her son, something he agreed on. It was as he told his mother countless times, the girls he dated were nothing more than paramours and playthings to him.

"Yes, that is _Knight Crawler_," Troy said in answer to his mother. "But no, I'm not back with Regina. That will _never_ happen. You'll be happy to know I've been single and chaste for half a decade."

Arica gave a nod of approval. "Good. Stay that way."

Mother and son had a lot of catching up to do, to which they did for several hours. Soon, it was like no time had passed at all between them. Arica told Troy everything of her 5-year experience under Lumiya, the Prophecy of the Sith, and her desire to take him on as an apprentice because of it.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that you, Troy, are the Chosen One the prophecy spoke of. I've seen...premonitions of the future that more or less confirm it."

The duo were seated in _Knight Crawler's_ spacious lounge in the same design as the master quarters; the majority of black and some white. Individual small couches of black leather littered the room with white carpeting, and an entertainment holosystem dominated the room's northern half. The precise spot of the duo inside was the only white cloth couch in the center.

Troy was very intrigued by this Sith Prophecy, but somewhat indecisive on the prospect of going back to the rank of apprentice at his age and said so.

Arica gave him a reproving stare. "I went back to that rank at age 42."

"Yeah, but that's you." Troy still wasn't convinced. "It's just, me as an apprentice? And yours no less? No offense mom, but I feel I'm a lot more advanced than you in Force skills."

Arica rose an eyebrow. "Is that so? Why don't we duel and find out then?"

Troy coughed back a laugh. "I wouldn't want to humiliate you."

"I've changed a lot over the past five years Troy," she warned. "You will not win against me. Not in your present state anyway."

And indeed he didn't. The fight was over in a little under two minutes. However, Troy, pride wounded and irritated, demanded a rematch and lost again. Now at the point of anger, Troy threw himself at his mother, violently. She was able to keep up, but was somewhat disturbed by his extreme feelings of hatred and rage directed at her. He was lashing out with the emptiness and abandonment that had already been healed between them, but was obviously returning at the envy and jealousy Troy harbored for her apparent higher abilities. Arica let him strike her to the ground, but after one swift swing of her leg across his ankles, he was also on the ground. She was up, disarming him of his lightsaber and leveling them both at his throat. He glared up at her.

"You must be observant at all times," she firmly stated. "Giving your opponent no openings whatsoever. Only then will you succeed as a master of the Force."

The glare disappeared, and in its place came a gaze that said he was truly impressed. Troy sat up and Arica deactivated the lightsabers, but kept them in hand.

"I guess you really are superior to me now."

Arica smiled. "I did warn you."

"I wanted to see for myself."

"As has been seen."

She wasn't arrogant in the fact that she beat him, merely disappointed that he was so arrogant in his own abilities that he'd thought he was more than a match for her. Troy respected that, and it deeply set a good impression to follow. This was not the old Arica Grievous, but an older and wiser one.

Troy also smiled. "You really have changed."

"And are you okay with that?"

"Yes. Actually I am..."

* * *

The mother-son duo left Iego the next day. Troy, on _Knight Crawler_; Arica, on Ventress' ex-Clone Wars era ship _Hunter_ – it'd become hers at the Rattatak's death, though, she did still possess the stolen Coruscanti cruiser. 

Troy was happy to leave his half-decade homeworld and did not inform the tribes of his departure. He figured they would find out when the Demons started hunting castaways again. The Angels were there to meet the two ships upon exit, however, and fluttered around them. In Troy's study of the luminous humanoids over the years, he'd learned something of their musical language to know that the song they were crooning at the ships' departure was one of farewell.

The twosome arrived at Jen'jein a week later, being met in the Old Sith Temple hanger by Lumiya herself. Before the training was to begin, though, like at the start of her own apprenticeship, Arica had Troy decipher the meaning of the Prophecy tassels; for the only part she'd told him was its eventual meaning, not the thirteen trials the Chosen One endured. Not surprisingly, it didn't take Troy nearly as long as it had Arica to figure them out – two weeks only.

"I'm pleased you decoded its message faster than I did."

Arica and Troy were strolling the length of hallway, which started at the temple's library entrance and terminated at the nearing elevator. Lumiya, meanwhile, was in her quarters.

"Though, I can't say I'm surprised," Arica continued, "since research and investigation has always been more of your area of expertise than mine."

She gave his short dark brown hair an affectionate ruffle at that, bringing a smile to his face.

"Your training will commence tomorrow Troy. Prepare yourself."


	128. Betrayal

Author's Note: Not that long, but obviously necessary. I am wondering if people are losing interest in this though, hence the few reviews. Or perhaps you'd like me to return to daily updates. Whatever the case, please tell me. This is the last episode after all.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 6: Betrayal

36.5 Imperial Era

Another five years pasted.

Arica was now fifty-two, and had a completely new look about her. During the second half-decade on Jen'jein, the former Empress experienced one of the many aspects of growing older: Her dyed black hair became the target of white streaks sparking it here and there. Only to help it along, and escape Troy's ever perpetual teasing, she dyed it a platinum, white blonde that matched the streaks of old age perfectly. It was different, but a nice change from almost thirty-nine years black and sometimes golden blonde.

Troy was now thirty, and had also changed somewhat in appearance over the years. The ex-Third Imperial Prince had always looked like the both of his parents. Yet from the time he was twenty to the present, a decade later, he was beginning to take after his father more. Standing a little over two meters, Troy had Anakin's build, eyes, and skin tone. And he even wore his dark brown hair long like Anakin had during the Clone Wars. He was quite the handsome, muscular man of masculine physique.

It'd been a decade since Baynetta overthrew and murdered the Grievous-Skywalker House as leading rulers of the thirty-six year old Galactic Empire. And as Troy's training was now complete, it was time to change this and bring about an end to her rule and the Palpatine dynasty. Troy had progressed in his training faster and better than Arica could've ever anticipated, elevating past her quickly but with acute precision. She taught him everything she knew of the Force, causing him to become, according to Lumiya, "very likely the most powerful Force being in existence, sans Baynetta herself."

"As of the present, yes. But my power continues to grow and, as it does, I elevate nearer still to surpassing her."

The three of them were in Lumiya's sitting chambers on the crown floor of the Old Sith Temple. These chambers, apart of Lumiya's private quarters, had not at all changed over the decade since Arica first came to see this as her new home: the carpet and walls were the same shade of gray, and the costly leather-black furniture was still finely intact. She was seated on the couch across from the love seat Lumiya seemed to enjoy lounging on. Troy was seated beside his mother.

At his comment, Arica turned to look at him, admiring the lack of ego in his speech. Like her tutelage under Lumiya, his being through Arica, it had deflated his arrogance somewhat. He wasn't as cocky or conceited anymore, which was good, because overconfidence in oneself can oftentimes lead to the path of destruction.

Lumiya was also impressed, because the vanity of his appearance and abilities was something Troy had always, in her time knowing him, had a hard time letting go of. She didn't blame him though, knowing he couldn't help it. It was apart of the package that came with being a Grievous-Skywalker.

Instead of the usual aqua blue armor Lumiya usually wore with her life-sustaining suit, today, as she did on occasion, the millennium-old Force user wore a simple ruby tunic and pants; her feet bare, hair up and out of the way, and a matching veil covering the lower part of her face, nose down.

"Which is why the time has come for our decade old plan to be brought into action," Lumiya said in response to Troy. "Baynetta must be killed, yes, but besides her, there are five others which also need eliminating. They are the other descendants of Palpatine's line."

Though Arica and Troy were both bemused and exchanged a glance, it was Arica who spoke of it. "Five others? Don't you mean three?"

Lumiya shook her head. "I think you'll find that there are now five others."

"What, are there new additions to the Palpatine line we don't know about?" Troy asked.

"The Palpatine _and_ Grievous-Skywalker lines," Lumiya emphasized.

Time seemed to stop for the two. Yet rather then elaborate, she ignored their startled gaze and continued. "In meditation, you will find all the answers you need concerning the matter. Take as long as you like. Though, it really shouldn't take that long, as it's somewhat easy to figure out."

"I don't need meditation," Troy said, slightly thoughtful. "The answer's simple: Leila had twins before she died. That was Baynetta's use for her."

"A boy first, then a girl," Arica added, deep in thought as the information played in her mind. "Natchios and Narcissa. Baynetta named them having an alias last name, Jade: Natchios and Narcissa Jade."

Lumiya nodded. "Correct. The twins are being trained as Hands for the Empress by their granduncle, Drake and fellow Hand, Jaina Solo. They know nothing of their relation to the Empress, of course, or Drake for that matter. But all the same, they, just as much as Luke, Ben, Baynetta, and Drake, must be eliminated to ensure the discontinuation of Palpatine's line."

Troy allowed several thoughtful moments of silence go by before voicing his musings aloud. "The easiest to take out will be Luke, because he won't be expecting it. It'll have to be done without Allana knowing the full truth. But that won't be too hard, as it isn't difficult to outwit a thirteen-year-old. After which, we can move onto making our presence known in the Galaxy again. However, I will be enlisting the aide of Lacovia and Gabriella on that. Together, we shall make an unbearable match..."


	129. Death

Author's Note: Here's a new long and shocking chapter for you guys. Enjoy!

G-Anakin 13: I understood you in the review. It's okay if you don't want to review that often. I was just worried there for a bit if people were getting tired or bored with this or not. That's all.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

MissNaye: This chapter should answer that answer.

arzum: First question: It's hard to say at this point. Second question: Yes. Third question: That was explained in the chapter prior, however, it will be again below.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 7: Death

_He will know brotherhood_

_-Prophecy of the Sith, foretold in tassel artifact_

Outer Rim World, Kinooine

With the terrain of rocky mountains, rivers, and caves, and the state of being uninhabited since the Alien War thirty-three years prior, Kinooine was the perfect place for enemies of the Empire to easily hide. The planet's Near-Human natives, the Nagai, had been executed on their own world in an attack led by Darth Vader near the war's end. They had been one of the most outspoken species of the war, due to the fact that the Nagai were warriors. Pale skin, jet-black hair, angular features. Their appearance had given them the impression that they were dead rather than alive. But the species was extinct now. And in a sarcastic sort of way, it was a pity. The Nagai had been a rare species of power that was irreplaceable to any other. But then, maybe it was better they were gone. For if they weren't, Luke Skywalker and Allana Grievous Kenobi Djo-Skywalker wouldn't have been able to call Kinooine home for the past decade. The Nagai had always been extremely territorial of what was theirs, and did not allow outsiders into their midst.

Luke had first come across Kinooine just prior to the Galactic Civil War with twin sister Leila and Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda; all of whom were dead now. It had once been considered as a base for the long dead Rebel Alliance, but was eventually decided against due to its closeness to the Ciutric Hegemony, an eight-world governmental sector which was infested with Imperials. Luke had chosen to come to Kinooine as a place of exile for two reasons:

It's friendly terrain and secrecy.

Like many Outer Rim worlds, most were either forgotten or dismissed overtime if no recognizable activity happened on them. Nothing had really been done with Kinooine after the Nagai were killed off. Though it was still listed as a planet under the Galactic Empire, it's rule was mainly practiced in word rather than action.

Luke's life with his stepdaughter was quiet during their decade of exile, yet fulfilling. The widower had watched Allana grow up from a small, happy-go-lucky toddler to a young adolescent who secretly dreamed of someday leaving Kinooine behind and being reunited with the other survivors of their family. The young girl was growing to look more like her late mother, Anneliese, and maternal grandmother, Antellica, everyday. So much, in fact, that it was almost heartbreaking. Golden blonde streaks began to grow into her flaming red hair, and her near-caramel complexion was still intact. Unlike Antellica and Anneliese, though, Allana was young for the age of 13. Not just in appearance, but personality as well. First glance, you might think she's 10 or 11. Second glance, 12. Allana could be mature when she wanted to be, yet since her childhood was, in a way, stolen from her at age 3, she liked to hang onto it as much as possible. Nonetheless, she was quite the accomplished Force activist. Luke had made sure of that. He kept her Force training up to the maximum, which fit in perfectly with her overachiever personae.

The duo lived in a rocky mountain cave on the northwest side of Kinooine's only continent, which spread across the planet's entire diameter except for the numerous bubbling rivers every five miles south. Their survival was on Kinooine's many wildlife varieties, banthas included. This required the keen intellect of a skilled hunter; both of which Luke and Allana were. But while Luke had brought home the bacon in their early years, the older Allana became, the more competent and independent she became in the art of hunting and insisted upon doing it all herself. Luke was never one to deny her what she wanted so let her, with only the request that he be "allowed" to hunt on occasion.

"I'll get old and useless if I let you do all the work, all the time," he'd once joked.

Allana laughed this off, but did "allow" Luke hunt once every month while she did the rest weekly. In fact, that's where he was presently. Allana was in their cave all alone, but not bored, for she had ways to keep herself occupied when not training or hunting. She was currently sewing together a new pair of satin cloth pants and a matching dress-top.

Its turns out that the ship she and Luke had stolen, once taking a shuttle from Malastare to Dubrillion, had belonged to a Galaxy-famous clothing designer, Zenon Da'xia, so there was an endless stock of sewing utensils and supplies aboard, as well as many designs, sketches, and holographs of the designer's work. In a way, the entire ship was something of the sort of a workshop, and Allana almost, but only _almost_, felt sorry that they stole it from the teenage designer at her mogul father's hotel. Yet to ensure that Allana had a nice sum of clothing as she grew from small child to young adult, they needed the designer's ship and supplies to make clothes. Besides, Zenon Da'xia was the direct heiress of the Da'xia Suites fortune. Her line of clothes, Allana mused, was probably the work of someone beneath her, and she merely collected royalty checks for something that wasn't hers. The whole "I work because I want to make a living" line was one Allana never bought. Back when the family was still together, Troy had told her all about Da'xia and the heiress' lies. He would know. After all, Da'xia had been his first paramour at her exact age and that was the cause of the split: lies. Allana assumed after a brief freak out that her stolen ship caused, Da'xia probably hired a new designer to continue her line, and to this day was still sucking people dry of their money. But Allana didn't care about that. She was more concerned with finishing up her outfit.

Allana had learned to sew from Luke, whom learned from Leila, whom learned from...Allana didn't know who. So until she started doing it at 6, Luke did all her clothes from the designs she drew him. She'd made numerous beautiful creations over the years, easy and difficult alike. But today she was doing a fairly easy project: a long black halter top which could second as a mini dress, crowned with rhinestones of the rainbow and magenta in a single line, and white stretch pants also crowned with the same rhinestone design. Everything needed was inside the ship, _Zenon_, but Allana usually opted to do it in her room, outside _Zenon_ but inside the cave.

The open mouth cave the exiled duo had called home for the past ten years was moderate in size; something of the sort of a large hotel suite or apartment room. At the very back of it was kept _Zenon_, nicely hidden, while the mid and frontal space was used as residence for the two, split up into three divisions that were sectioned off by sheets of gray lining. Allana's room was closest to the back and _Zenon_, Luke's in the center, and the open mouth entrance – and some yards back – served as a sitting/dining area, complete with small seat cushions and an ever-burning fire. Though as much as they lived in the cave, the duo journeyed about the planet everyday, training in its river clearings, hunting extra food, and oftentimes sleeping overnight outdoors under the starry sky. This had become the norm for them. And however boring it may have been compared to their former lives, they were happy in it because they had each other.

Just as Allana was finishing up her latest of twelve new outfits within the past week, Luke arrived back with an early dinner of reek. He'd already skinned and cleaned it in the river downstream. All that was left was preparing it. Allana helped him with this activity, frying the pieces they wanted to eat now over the fire and putting away the rest in _Zenon's_ freezer for another time. After this was completed, the twosome sat down around the fire to enjoy the fruit of their labors.

"So...you were gone for an awfully long time," Allana noted to Luke once finishing a bite of reek meat. He was sitting beside her at the fire's east point. "Surely it didn't take you that long to hunt one reek."

Luke was only thirty-five, yet Allana enjoyed teasing him about his oldening age anyway. And just as now, he never minded because it was all in jest.

Luke didn't look that different since a decade ago: the same near-brown hair and blue eyes. Though he had let a small goatee grow around his mouth and chin, he was still recognizable.

A light came to Luke's eyes at Allana's playful comment and he chuckled lightly, but soon took on a somber expression as he spoke. "No actually. I just strolled around for a while after, thinking..."

If there was one thing Allana could truly say about her stepfather's growing age, it was that it simply made him wiser, and more intune to the Force. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but be a tiny bit disturbed at the sudden gloominess that was conveying itself on his face.

"About what?" she asked.

Luke seemed to offer her a small smile that didn't reach his check bones. "That's the funny thing." He pointed his fork. "I don't know. I just...sense something amiss...something not right...something..."

As he trailed off, his eyes drifted towards the cave's open mouth entrance. There, on the left side at an angle, stood a hooded figure in a black cloak, arms covered over its chest and observing them. It was about midday, so the form was easily spotted. However, it didn't look as though it was trying to hide.

"Like me perhaps?" The cloaked figure lowered its hood to reveal the last person either of the two ever expected to visit them in their exile.

"Troy!" Allana exclaimed, abandoning her food and racing to her second cousin.

Troy was also smiling and opened his arms to accept her into an embrace. "How are you, my little Dathomiri Witch?"

Allana beamed as Troy scooped her into a hug. ("Splendid now that you're here!") There wasn't one thing in the Galaxy she was more proud of than her Dathomir heritage. Especially since she was the only one left, complimentary thanks to Baynetta whom ordered not one, but two attacks on Dathomir and the native witch tribe. She was the great-granddaughter of Augwynne Djo, the late War Leader of the Singing Mountain Clan of Dathomiri Witches and Queen of Dathomir, and granddaughter of the late Nightsister conqueror Gethzerion Djo. Power and the art of war was clearly in her blood. Plus, with her other family and heritages of Kenobi and Grievous, Allana knew she might just be the only single person who could bring back the line of Dathomiri Witches.

Luke rose from his seated position in front of the fire just as Troy and Allana broke apart, but seemed to hesitate when his half-brother made towards him in an embrace. Troy either didn't notice or chose to ignore it, for his expression remained the same. "Luke-"

"Troy," Luke interrupted, his voice level. "I didn't sense your arrival."

Troy waved this off in a dismissive manner. "I didn't want to alarm you. Besides, this was supposed to be a surprise visit."

Luke was still skeptical. "I see. But why after all these years? You shouldn't be on the move like this Troy. You're giving Baynetta the perfect opportunity to track you."

Troy smirked. "No. I do not fear her. Not after five years in the Unknown Regions training with mom and Lumiya." Stopping briefly to observe their looks of confusion, Troy continued with a mysterious smile. "Sit down both of you, and I'll explain."

The next two hours were spent doing just that, and discussing the many things Troy explained to them. Troy was surprisingly honest about everything over the past half-decade. In fact, the only thing he didn't reveal was the real reason he'd come to Kinooine. Instead, he invited them both to join the uprising against Baynetta with neither of the two having any aware that only one would be leaving Kinooine with him later that day.

Luke and Allana's reactions to his half-decade Force training and the planned overthrowing of Baynetta were as different as night and day. Allana was intrigued ("It's good to know Aunt Arica's safe. The fact of there being a Sith Empire right under the known galaxy's nose throughout the New Galactic Republic's reign is phenomenal; too bad it didn't last.) and delighted ("Finally, we can put Kinooine and the life of exile behind us; it'll be great for the family to reunite."), but Luke, suspicious ("How do you know this Lumiya is who she says she is? What would she gain in keeping herself hidden for over a thousand years? If she wanted revenge against Palpatine, why would she merely stand watch and let him live out his life for so long without doing anything?) and apprehensive (I'm not so sure an insurrection, with just the six of us, is such a good idea. Baynetta has the whole Empire at her disposal. Justice and a practical mind is what will kill Baynetta, not the vengeance of a wrong doing.")

"Oh, don't be such a killjoy Luke," Allana objurgated. The trio was seated in a triangle around the fire with Troy at the topmost point. Early in the discussion, despite his objections, Allana prepared another portion of reek for Troy, which he was just now finishing up. He wasn't exactly hungry when she made it, but couldn't refuse at its delicious aroma and the sweet herbs she topped it off with, native of the planet. She was pleased at his enjoyment of it and couldn't help but be proud at his praise of her cooking skills.

"I'm sure the plan is to take this one step at a time," Allana continued. "Gradually building up until at last our move is made against her."

"Exactly." Troy commended her with a smile before turning back to a still unsure Luke. "And the first step is bringing the family back together."

"But don't you realize, that's just it!" Luke tried to make clear to Troy. "The crucial reason we all split up was to ensure that Baynetta didn't track us down."

"No. The crucial reason the five of us split up is because you took it upon yourself to lead us after mom left and decided that was what we should do," Troy corrected with something of a sharp edge to his voice.

While Allana looked somewhat uncomfortable and took that moment to retrieve Troy's empty plate and take it back to _Zenon_ for washing, Luke regarded his younger half-kin with a strange look, yet waited until Allana was out of earshot to speak.

"You recall our splitting up as though that's not what you wanted."

"Of course it isn't what I wanted," Troy snapped in annoyance. "It isn't what any of us wanted, except you."

"If memory holds correctly," Luke said, "Gabriella-"

"-Merely agreed with you because that's probably what felt right to her at the time," Troy cut across. The irritation he felt was no longer being hidden from his face. "Ask her now, and she very likely regrets it. No one asked you to take over Luke; you just did."

Luke continued to study Troy in silence, and a sign of almost regret came to his face. "You're not here for the reason you say you are, are you?"

Troy smiled. "Sure I am. I'm bringing the family back together – the _Grievous-Skywalker family_ that is, of which you have no part of. You're an heir to Palpatine's line. The main point of this overthrowing is to wipe out Sidious' _entire_ dynasty. With that gone, the galaxy can live on in peace without the every-so-often overthrowing and change of order in the Empire."

Luke seemed to reach the final conclusion of this meeting with a crisp nod. "You've come here to kill me then."

Troy nodded.

The sound of Allana's laughter filled the air and both men turned or looked up to see the young teen standing just outside the room's limits, appearing to be a cross between deeply bewildered and to some extent, bemused.

Luke was instantly on his feet ("Allana! Stay where you are!"), but a simple flick of Troy's finger sat him down again. Though amazed at Troy's show of power so simply, Luke did not give up his attempts of keeping Allana away from their new enemy. However, at another flick of Troy's finger, Luke was lowered to a cross-legged position again mid-rise and held there by Troy's mind. And at Luke's cry of "Allana-", Troy snapped together two of his fingers, disallowing his half-brother access to the vocal box which resided inside every Human being to preform the act of speech. So while his lips moved, no sound came from out of them. Allana was still letting out a puzzled laugh, even in her astonished state. She turned to look at Troy and said, "This is a joke, right?"

"You need to make a decision Allana." Troy's voice was firm without a single hint of mirth in it whatsoever. Because of this, Allana stopped laughing. "You can join me and the others in our uprising, or you can stay, side with Luke and be killed. Because make no mistake Allana, while I know you would make a wonderful asset to our cause, I will not hesitant to kill you if that's what you want. I would hate to see the line of Dathomir end with you but..." He rose to a stand. "You have five minutes to make your decision. Choose wisely."

Upon exit, Troy released Luke from his Force hold. Luke was quick to make after Troy, but Allana held him back. At that, Troy halted and turned back to them. "And don't even bother trying to escape on _Zenon_," he warned. "I installed a self-destruct device on it from the secret passageway behind the ship. You won't even get past liftoff before it explodes in ruination. And the device is so intact on the hull that any tampering with it will also cause explosion. And I'd just hate to see anyone killed in such a horrific way."

And with a sneering smirk, Troy threw up his hood and officially left the cave behind; climbing down the rocky slope which led from the open mouth mountain summit, through a forest of trees, terminating at the first river clearing he came across. And there he waited; waiting for the outcome he knew to expect the moment he arrived on Kinooine.

* * *

"Just leave me alone Luke. I want to think." 

"You can't possibly even be considering his proposal!"

"Luke, just go. I need my space."

Allana's mind was racing with little to no chance of slowing down. Betray Luke? The very man that raised her the past ten years, and had been a major part of her life even before that. What would her mother say to this? Troy and Anneliese had always been close growing up, Allana knew. So she probably wouldn't have cared if Allana went or chose Troy over Luke in any aspect, except the state of death. But it was Allana's dream since witnessing the eradication of the Dathomiri Witches, including her paternal grandaunt Barukka Djo, a decade previous to continue the line and keep it alive. How could she do this if she sided with Luke? If she died before finding any chance at finding a consort for her future offspring, the half-millennium old line was ended. Was it really worth it to sacrifice herself and the Dathomir line for Luke's sake? What was his death in the continuation of life anyway? And as much as it saddened her – as much as it tore her – she knew what decision to make.

Luke had to go.

He never approved of her entertaining ideas of the future Dathomir line anyway. Thirteen, he said, wasn't even close to an age where people begin thinking about children and what their names might be.

Xalvadora, meaning savior, was one she'd always liked. As was Anica, in tribute to her maternal granduncle and aunt, Anakin and Arica Skywalker. Lamaya was another, in tribute to her great-grandfather on her mother's side, Antellica and Arica Grievous' father, Lamar, a simple man from Naboo who had no idea he would take part in fathering the greatest Force sensitive family in the galaxy. Laquinta and Ambrosia also sprang to mind, but what was she doing thinking about names right now? She needed to tell Troy her decision.

No actually. She needed to tell Luke her decision first. She owed him that much after all, right? Of course. Her only hope was that he would forgive her in the long run, and see that it was for the best.

* * *

"I've decided that if your death ensures the continuation of the Dathomir line...so be it." 

Those words of Allana struck Luke like a ton of bricks. There stood the young girl who'd meant everything to him since the death of her mother, his wife. He'd cherished her, adored her, taught her everything he knew. And this is how she repaid him: by sentencing her own mentor to a cruel fate. Did he mean nothing to her? When she spoke, her tone was firm, decisive, and did not waver once. She'd made her decision, and it was heartbreakingly sad. He would die for her; what she not do the same? Obviously, not. All she seemed to care about was the Dathomir line. Never in a million years had he thought that when he left alone to think she would come up with this. She needed to be set straight. Her mind needed to be changed. Did she not see this was simply a trap Troy had set up for her own destruction? Troy had changed, and Luke would not lose Allana to a tragic death the way he lost her mother. He would not break the promise he made to look after her until death. He would make her see reason, and she would listen to him. Then, together, they would drive Troy off Kinooine. He would band the rest of the family together as one, and they would unite against Baynetta in an act of justice. But not until the time was right.

"Allana-"

She abruptly rotated back from her turned-tail stalk and glared at him. "You may call me Miss Djo, if you don't mind," she said icily.

Luke rolled his eyes at the foolishness of the statement and made after her as she resumed her brisk walk, abandoning _Zenon_, which he was trying to relieve of the self-destruct bomb in the process.

He tried again. "Allana-"

"_Miss Djo_."

"The line of Dathomiri Witches is one thing, but I'm a completely different other."

"What significance do you have?" she asked darkly, keeping up her pace as they walked through her room to his to the foyer. "You have a son. If you die, it doesn't matter because you have a descendant. That's not something we share."

Luke wouldn't allow thoughts of Ben to interrupt the present issue. "Allana, you're only 13-"

"And if I want to reach an age where I'm old enough to have descendants, I certainly won't be hanging around you." In the foyer, she stopped to collect the self-woven cloth cloak of hers, as dark as night, that was hanging on a hook at the room's far side. Donning it, she turned back to Luke with a look as dark as her voice. "I'm not about to throw away my heritage because of yours. This conversation is over."

It was in that moment Luke realized he'd truly lost Allana, and it hurt more than he could bear. Yet, he continued to tarry on, trying to convince her of something she now shut her heart to.

"Allana. Allana, don't do this. This isn't what you want."

Allana remained defiantly silent as he trekked after her out of the cave, down the rocky slope, through the trees, and out into a river clearing where Troy was found waiting.

He turned from gazing at the river's splashing blucks – a duck native of black feathers and sharp teeth which enjoyed chopping into fish – to Allana at their arrival.

"Hello again my young Dathomiri Witch." His voice expressed actual pleasure at seeing her again. "I take it your decision has been made."

"Yes." Her tone was strong and serious. "I choose to follow you."

Knowing and hearing where completely different aspects. And accepting...that was the hard part. This was the ultimate betrayal for Luke. After all these years – all they'd been through – it was to end like this. As much as it saddened him, Luke made himself accept Allana's decision. Yet what that didn't mean was that he would go down without a fight. If they meant to kill him, Allana and Troy were his enemies now, and he wouldn't have that.

"So Troy," Luke decided to get right to the point, "you got what you wanted. Allana's on your side now. What's next? My extirpation?"

Troy drew his eyes away from Allana and waved her aside, sneering at Luke. "Clearly." Troy's black-bladed lightsaber activated a moment later, but rather than activate his own, Luke decided to have a few words with his younger half-brother first.

"You mentioned earlier the plan being to wipe out the entire Palpatine line," he ventured. "I take it that means you intend on killing Ben also."

Troy offered him what could be taken as a sarcastic, yet sorrowful smile. "Sadly yes, but all descendants must suffer the same fate."

Luke regretfully shook his head. This was not the Troy he remembered. Obviously, this Lumiya had done a fine job in brainwashing him to do treachery – turning against those who are connected by blood. It was horrible, especially since those who were turned against hadn't done anything wrong to deserve it. Of course, Luke didn't know anything of his son's life since being in Baynetta's company, but at least he knew for himself that he didn't deserve this persecution. After all, it wasn't his fault what family line he was born into; it was fate.

"That includes," Troy choose to elaborate, "yourself, Baynetta, Drake, Ben, and two others whom you haven't met." This sparked Luke's interest. "Natchios and Narcissa Jade, twin children of Alexander and Leila Skywalker Grievous."

Luke was taken aback with shock. So, Leila was pregnant before she died. That was Baynetta's use of her, despite the Sith Lady's denial to the contrary. He had a niece and nephew he hadn't even known about. The thought of Ben having cousins a few months shy of him brought a smile to Luke's face. If all three children were together that meant Ben hadn't grown up alone. However, the prospect of Troy wanting to kill them, children that he himself had never met, just because they were descendants of Palpatine, sparked such an anger within Luke that his lightsaber automatically called to his hand and activated. He began to circle towards his opponent.

"You're not killing anyone if I have any say in the matter."

"True." Troy took up the circle. "But that may be hard, as you'll be dead shortly."

Luke didn't let himself become intimidated. "I don't think so."

Troy smirked. "We'll see."

The fight commenced with a bang of rapid precision. Both duelists were trying to prove to the other that they were more superior, but it was mostly a draw during the entirety of the two-sided contest. The duel was long and grueling; on and on they went, along the river, through the forest trees, and among the native clans of fauna. They stopped for nothing and strived for dominance. Not one thing could tare their eyes away from each other as they fought. Because only one thing was running through their minds at the present: Combat to the kill.

Both men were trying equally as hard to do this, yet weren't having much success in the matter; bringing frustration to the two.

For three straight hours the half-brothers contended; tirelessly struggling against the other in what had turned into a heated war. But this tirelessness didn't hold with one of the opponents, causing the end to draw near.

Troy, who'd been forced to fight on for five hours straight or more under his mother's vigorous tutelage before growing remotely tired, knew from the beginning that Luke couldn't hold out as extensively as he could and that would be his undoing, so wasn't surprised when this was coming true. He simply began to take up his opportunity towards the win.

Though growing weary, Luke continued to push himself onward, refusing to give into his body's cravings of rest. However, when Troy began to take the upper hand for the first time in the duel's entirety because of his weariness, Luke started to find himself falling back to gain some stamina which would allow him to continue on. But Troy wouldn't have any of that and threw himself at Luke even harder with an expression which read, "You're not about to escape from me, even if it is to rest. You're going down."

Luke refused to let himself be killed by Troy – it wouldn't happen – so began to come at him again, paring all of his attacks and reestablishing his own stasis in the fight to equal. But thus lay the perfidy of Troy. It just so happened that the pair was now fighting along a stripe of river that was not only ten miles southeast of where they began, but ended in a boulder crowned waterfall alignment, which ran across the river and the sides several dozen meters. The path the two were dueling on ended in a formation of two large boulders. And because Luke, mostly, was occupied with declining to allow Troy the upper hand, he didn't realize the intention to be trapped in between the boulders until the last minute. Yet by that time, it was too late. Troy succeeded in his goal, and even knocked Luke's lightsaber from his hand to top it off. The safety circuits of the laser sword switched the power off after it dropped to the ground a moment later, and because of the boulder's narrowness, and Troy's hulking figure in front of him, Luke couldn't see, let alone call his most prized possession to him. And Troy's kick of it into the river a moment later didn't help matters. Luke was defenseless. He didn't even attempt his usage of the Force to help him out, for Troy had proven superior to him in that aspect more than once today. Plus, his weariness probably wouldn't have let him. He couldn't go on even if he wanted to. He had lost. Troy would get what he wanted in both instances: Allana and his death. Still, that didn't stop Luke to try talking Troy out of it.

"Troy, listen to me," he reasoned to his satisfied half-kin. "You don't have to do this. It's not like I can help who my mother is or what heritage I'm apart of. I'm not like them!"

"I'm sorry Luke," yet Troy's voice was anything but; on the contrary, it was slightly smug, "but this needs to be done for the good of the galaxy as a whole. No members of Palpatine's line will survive the wrath of the Grievous-Skywalkers."

"Troy-"

But again, it was too late. Troy lunged his blade forward and into the lungs of his victim. Luke gasped for a moment, but without the spongy air-breathing organs that were the lungs, Luke was dead. His lifeless corpse fell limply to the ground as Troy yanked his blade from within it.

It was completed. The first of six deaths from Palpatine's line.

Silently, secretly, watching from the bushes was Allana. She'd gathered up what belongings she wanted and transferred them to Troy's ship, _Knight Crawler_, during most of the duel. Oddly enough, the ship was unlocked and open for her access. Her only assumption for this could be that Troy figured she would use the time he was busy with Luke to load her things aboard his ship. That was pretty smart.

Following her finish of that, she began to trail the dueling duo as they fought, hoping to herself that Troy indeed came out the winner, because she wasn't sure what Luke would do or say to her if he was victor. If that happened, she'd probably flee back to _Knight Crawler_ and simply leave Kinooine behind to go wherever the ship took her. Thankfully, she didn't have to do this and breathed a breath of fresh air at Troy's conquest.

Coming out of the bushes following Luke's death, Allana came up behind Troy very much aware that he felt her presence. He turned to face her with a smile.

"Hello Allana."

She smiled back, but the main fixture of her attention was the corpse of the man she'd come to know as a father ever since she was a small child. Troy moved aside so she could see more clearly. Though her eyes only lingered there a few seconds before she rose them to Troy once more. He looked ready to comfort her if it came to that; after all, Luke practically raised Allana her entire life. But she didn't need comforting. She'd accepted his death before it happened and merely wished to see it in reality.

She offered Troy a question. "Would you really have killed me if I sided with Luke?"

He nodded. "Yes. But I knew you wouldn't. You're too smart for that."

Yet, as her gaze fell to Luke's body again, she found, despite her better judgment, that her eyes had grown a bit teary. Horrified, she quickly made to brush them away, hiding her somewhat sorrow from Troy. Nonetheless, he both felt and saw them, yet rather than condemn her as she thought he might, he seemed understanding and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"You did the right thing Allana," he said. "Never doubt that. Now come."

After disposing of Luke's body over the waterfall, and retrieving his lightsaber out of the river downstream, the cousins left Kinooine behind, never to return, both reflecting on Luke's death.

Allana didn't realize it'd be so hard until she found herself gazing down at the dead body of Luke that would never come back to life. She thought she'd accepted his death and would be okay with it. And she was, only it'd been awhile since she looked upon a dead Human body. Not since Dathomir, or at least that's what she thought it was. She wasn't entirely sure. Not anymore.

"Sacrifice can be a cruel part of life Allana, but if used correctly, can only make you stronger."

Allana smiled over at Troy on the other side of _Knight Crawler's_ cockpit. On the other hand, it would be great for the family to reunite and see each other again after so long apart. And that, to Allana, was the most important thing.

Troy felt mixed emotions at Luke's death. While he was satisfied that it was done, it really was a pity Luke had been a descendant of Palpatine from the jump. He would've been a powerful asset to their cause. Yet maybe it was better he was gone. Luke could be a tad bit controlling at times.

A decade ago, Troy knew he wouldn't have been able to pull off Luke's kill. Not only was he not as advanced in the Force, but his brotherly feelings probably wouldn't have let him. But he was older and wiser now. He knew now not to let his feelings get in the way of things. That was simply the path to defeat.

Glancing over at Allana, he knew this experience had changed her into a new person. And in a way, it had with him too. Through this, he came to fulfill the first trial of the Prophecy of the Sith: He will remake himself.

* * *

Author's Note #2: Bet ya weren't expecting that, were ya? I'm curious as to what your thoughts are concerning this jaw dropper.  



	130. Bitterness

Author's Note: After the bombshell last chapter had to offer, you may find comfort in what this one presents. As always, enjoy!

MissNaye: Yup, though you may be surprised by what happens next.

Tsubasa no Michi: The fact that the first part of this episode is called Betrayal is a dead giveaway of what transpires within it. Let's just say Troy hasn't heard the last of what he did to Luke.

Twisterblake: Yeah, pretty much I guess.

G-Anakin 13: We'll be hearing from them soon.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 8: Bitterness

"_Some wounds tread too deep and can never be fully healed."_

-Lacovia Grievous Skywalker

Outer Rim World, Bakura

At the very edge of known space, just outside the Moddel Sector and not too far from the mobile world Zonama Sekot, laid the pastoral planet of Bakura. As the only inhabitable world in an eight-planet system of the same name, its terrain was comprised mostly of mountain valleys, plains, and small seas. In addition were forests and rivers, all of which received a great deal of rain. In fact, Arica's view of Bakura was very similar to a wetter Alderaan.

The former Galactic Empress' location on Bakura was the planet's capital city of Salis D'aar. Located between two rivers on the east and west sides – the West River and the D'aarmont East River, it was quite the metropolis with crowded streets and magnificent skyscrapers and cityscapes. Salis D'aar was the perfect place to secretly meet someone, notwithstanding its Imperial control. It was so immense and massed with civilians that no one gave anyone more than a moment's glance, as they were too busy with their own lives and careers. The planet's primary spaceport was the exact same way: vast and filled with people going about their own business, not at all caring if the person walking beside or behind them was a triple ax murderer or an exiled royal heir, so long as they did nothing to bother them.

This was Arica's precise location in Salis D'aar, just outside the public stretches of outdoor docking space, which regular visitors were allowed to park on freely by payment. Important guests to the planet, however, docked privately in their own space on the upper class levels. She'd just arrived from Jen'jein some hours before aboard _Hunter_ and was presently waiting for the arrival of another, patiently and silently among the ever-flowing buzz of civilians that passed her by the dozens once every second. Her presence here on Bakura was the first of many plans apart of Baynetta's overthrowing and Arica was eager to get a start on it. But first, there was the waiting process. This lasted about another fifteen minutes until Arica spotted the sleek, black Corellian star liner, which was recognizable to her as _Knight Crawler_, flying in approach to the ship lot and then docking alongside _Hunter_, exactly as planned. Upon her own arrival, Arica had paid for both _Hunter's_ space and the one beside it, so when _Knight Crawler_ did arrive, she and her guests wouldn't have to be bothered by any greedy ticket boys, pestering them for the docking fee and a generous tip.

Arica abandoned her leaning position against the spaceport's outer wall advertisement of Kuat Drive Yards' new line of star vehicles for the coming year to approach _Knight Crawler _and its disembarking occupants: a thirty-something male and a young female of about 12 or 13: Troy and Allana. Arica nearly gasped at the sight of her semi-grownup grandniece. Gone was the red haired toddler she remembered from a decade before. Allana, though somewhat young looking for her age, stood at least 5 ft and her flowing red hair was now streaked with locks of golden blonde. Even at a distance, Arica could see that her twin's granddaughter had retained her Dathomir beauty and the loveliness of Anneliese and Antellica. It was almost painful how much Allana looked like them both. Arica kept herself from rushing over to her grandniece, but could not and did not attempt to try resisting the luminous smile which a lit her face the nearer she got to her. And neither could Allana, it seemed. She was smiling just as brightly back at Arica, but also kept her pace at a brisk walk alongside an equally grinning Troy.

The group met in the center of the docking pad after a few more steps, and the reunion began with Arica taking Allana into her arms in a warm embrace and then repeating the gesture with Troy.

"I take it your mission was a success," she surmised nonchalantly.

Troy nodded. "Quite. I'll tell you about it sometime."

His tone told her to drop the subject, and she conceded for Allana's sake.

The trio left the Salis D'aar National Spaceport like any other family. No one paid any notice of them. They were merely a few of the approximately five million which passed through the spaceport daily. And even if they were trailed, which they weren't, the spies in question wouldn't think of them any different from any other family – enjoying a midday meal, taking in a performance of the Bakuran National Symphony, and later retiring that night to Da'xia Suites Hotel. But, of course, the Grievous-Skywalkers were far from ordinary; they were royals, murderers, and planners of destruction. And as such, their trip to Bakura wasn't merely a joyride vacation.

Late that night, while most of those residing in Salis D'aar were indoors, rather it be a hotel, home, or someplace in the Nightclub District, the ex-royal trio were one of the small exceptions, as they were secretly preparing their getaway and launch of "Operation Wildflower", aka the "terrorist" explosion of the Imperial-controlled Bakur Memorial Building – the center of government on the planet.

Formerly the first headquarters of the Bakur Mining Corporation, then the Bakuran Senate until Baynetta's minions dissolved the council for Imperial operatives, if a statement wanted to made against the Empire from the Outer Rim and on Bakura, this was the place to do it.

It had been late morning, 0900 Hours, when Arica arrived on Bakura; 1400 Hours at Troy and Allana's arrival. In that five hour interval she wasn't only waiting at the spaceport. Soon after her arrival, and being approved by security, she journeyed downtown Salis D'aar, checked into a Da'xia Suites hotel, ate a small breakfast, and headed straight for the skyscraper tower that was the Bakur Memorial Building. Only one thought was in mind: Infect the building with a massively powerful, yet small in size atomic bomb.

Such a task might have been thought hard – sneaking one's self into a highly secured government building to infect the heart of it with an atomic bomb no larger than a regular-sized watermelon, yet noticeable if visible – but Arica pulled it off with a mixture of stealth and the Force. Yet how exactly?

Arica, appearing as any other random person, joined a public tour of the building at 1000 Hours with a group of about twenty other tourists, donned in middle-class clothing of a light color and unarmed, unless of course you counted the atomic bomb, which was hanging invisibly from a chain connected to a golden bracelet wrapped around her wrist.

Asking to take a fresher break mid-tour on the center most level, and influencing several others to desire the same, Arica casually entered the room wished for with two other women and allowed them to go ahead into its only two stalls. During which time of waiting, she visualized the atomic bomb, disconnected it from her bracelet, and placed it underneath one of the room's two sinks in its cleaner stuffed floor cabinets. At one of the women's stall exits, Arica used the fresher like any normal woman and rejoined the tour with the others.

The rest of it continued uneventful and without so much as an ounce of suspicion, and afterwards Arica returned to the spaceport, purchased the spot next to _Hunter_, and awaited _Knight Crawler's_ arrival.

That was the escape vehicle; the reason Arica couldn't pull off this "terrorist attack" alone._ Hunter_ was to be left behind and investigated into. The atomic bomb weapons which it contained would link the attack to a secret smuggling organization in the next city over, as they specialized in transporting explosives close to the ones Arica built on Jen'jein.

Their current position was liftoff, hundreds of feet in the air and above the city. The threesome were in _Knight Crawler's_ cockpit, gazing out of the starboard viewport down at the luminousness of Salis D'aar. Detonator in hand, Arica kept a steady eye on the victimized building which was about to bring terror to all, and gently pressed down on the little red button that changed everything. She could almost hear the seven beeps the atomic bomb made before going off with a bang and disintegrating the building.

_Knight Crawler_ only remained to watch for a moment. It's occupants didn't stay any longer, simply because they had no desire to. Their mission was to explode the Bakur Memorial Building and go. They were sure to learn of the Empire's reaction to it soon enough. But for now, the three could careless and left Bakura as unanimously as they arrived.

* * *

Outer Rim World, Ziost 

The world of Ziost, in the Outer Rim, was seldom visited and made up entirely of an ancient dark forest, which included frozen mountains and an air of aridness. It's existence now largely forgotten, Ziost once served as refuge for several defeated Sith Lords following their war with the as yet to be organized New Galactic Republic – the Great Sith War. The planet had since offered refuge again to one Lacovia Grievous Skywalker, ex-Second Imperial Princess of the Galactic Empire and current exile, age 32, for the past half-decade since her departure from the ice planet Polus, also in the Outer Rim.

Originally planning to spend the entirety of her exile there, once stealing a simple star cruiser from the volcanic island, warm seas, and oceans world of Sembla, what caused Lacovia to go elsewhere was not being found out by the Empire, but her growing desire to leave Polus behind for somewhere with better weather conditions.

Polus was an ice planet with blizzards and ice storms. Its average day temperature was 50 degrees below freezing, and was the homeworld of the Pyn'gani – a Near-Human race. Due to the extreme temperature, Pyn'gani cities were linked to a number of heat generators to help protect them from the freezing environment. There was a warm season, however, when both of Polus' suns shed heat on it at the same time. The planet had a single large ocean with a frozen surface (Beneath the surface of bulk water, nonetheless, remained liquid, supporting many species of aquatic life) and large supplies of carbonate and metal. Mining these materials gave Polus a high credit value.

The consistency of living in a place, if though safely, of never-ending coldness took a toll on Lacovia, even resulting in a brief sickness. And though she recovered healthy, she could not and would not remain somewhere in absolute misery. Her search for a new homeplanet led her to Ziost. What drew her to it the most was the dark side aura which projected from the world itself, as well as its focal point in the Force. It reminded her a great deal of being on Korriban, though, the power wasn't as strong on Ziost. The world was empty and desolate, a major attraction to staying hidden, and because of its rarity of being unknown, Lacovia knew she could dwell here without fear of being found out.

The precise location she resided on Ziost was the majestic, yet decaying Sith Citadel, a fortress built by the Great Sith War's few surviving activists and their slaves before the Jedi tracked them down and murdered them. The fortress never really was completed, though, and with the destruction the Jedi brought to it at their attack, in some spots, it was hard to tell how the building was still standing. But in Lacovia's time of living there, she'd restored it as much as possible given the limited resources she acquired around the frozen wasteland.

Probably out of Dathomir's five survivors, it was Lacovia who took her mother's abandoning not as hard as Troy, yet worse than anyone else. Lacovia was a workaholic, and whenever something was bothering her, that's all she wanted to do. At Arica's first abandoning of the family, when Lacovia was 16, the oldest of the Grievous-Skywalker heirs was busy with her job as Emperor's Hand, but made it a point to come home as much as possible to care for her young family. This was something her father was quite grateful for, as she didn't spend much time at home after her appointment as Hand at 14. When Arica left them the first time, it was painful; but the second was much worse, as they were in the thicket of battle at the time. The way she just left to save herself, not at all caring what happened to the others, still, even now after a decade, put a bad taste in Lacovia's mouth. What would her father have said if he'd seen this?

Disgusted, most likely, at her selfishness, and betrayed that she would just leave them to die. At least that's how Lacovia felt. And it seemed the more time passed, the stronger the bitterness became. Now, Lacovia wouldn't go as far to say that she was immune to the pain which came with the acrimony, but it was anger she felt more than anything else. Anger at her mother, and anger at fate for making her mother runaway on them.

Despite her anger, however, Lacovia had reached out to her mother several times, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she'd simply acted on a Sith impulse, despite their recent discovery of light side mixing, and was sorry for her actions. But her mother never answered, and that's what made her even more bitter. Lacovia had been willing to forgive Arica if she admitted to being wrong and then came back to them. But now she was beyond forgiveness. The years had done its damage, causing Lacovia to want nothing more to do with her mother. It sounded harsh, and also cruel, but Lacovia liked to think that Arica had brought it upon herself, and so felt no remorse whatsoever.

The factor of the family being split apart by Luke's suggestion was never something Lacovia agreed with, but simply went along with it, because rather she, Troy, or Allana approved of it or not, Luke would've made it happen. But it was likely for the best, and she didn't hold anything against him for doing it. It would be good for them to branch out amongst themselves and accommodate their own experiences, so if they ever did come back together, they'd have something to share with each other. Yet Lacovia doubted that would ever happen. No matter how much she hoped the family, sans Arica, could someday reunite, if even for a brief period, she knew the prospect of that occurring was reaching. Plus, knowing Luke, he would never allow or approve of it.

On a day that seemed no different from any other, yet it would later turn out to be, Lacovia awoke and did her usual morning meditative routine of yoga and running; each for an hour. After this came fencing practice for another hour.

Lacovia was never one to give up on sharpening her swordplay skills, no matter how useless it seemed living her boring day in-day out lifestyle. She would not let herself go useless in her time of exile.

Lacovia was accomplished in many forms of swordplay, trained directly by her father since the age of two, alongside her now deceased younger twin brother, Hilton. That had to have been the death that hit her the hardest besides her father. She was close to the both of them, but Hilton was practically her life. The person she could always turn to no matter what. And now he was gone. Never to return. She'd long accepted his death, _both_ of their deaths, yet that didn't mean her mind didn't drift back to them on the rare occasion. However, she did not let Hilton and her father, nor the rest of her family, come in the way of her everyday life. Lacovia practiced fencing in the courtyard beneath and beyond the citadel. Surrounded by a shroud of leafless, bare trees, a score of black cemented land sat unoccupied in the center. This is where Lacovia was. Lightsaber activated, its silver blade blazing as it swung rapidly through the wind in counterattack, the former Emperor's Hand easily took out one, two, three, and ultimately ten test probes with her eyes shut and under ten seconds. For anyone else, this may have been a sharp accomplishment, but Lacovia yearned perfection. Her goal was to slice through all ten of them in a minimum of three seconds. And once her mind was set to something, and she pushed herself enough, she knew she could accomplish the set goal.

Again and again, Lacovia did this; reaching for her utmost patent abilities to the limit of going on for hours on end. She would not stop until success was reached, for a situation could very well arise where she would have no choice but be ready within three seconds, not ten.

Over and over until what seemed like the umpteenth time did Lacovia finally get down this exercise. And to the felicitation of an unknown audience as well.

"Impressive Lacovia," said a voice which caused her to snap her eyes open and intake a gulp of air. "I doubt even I could accomplish that so quickly," her younger brother, Troy, continued. "But then again, maybe I could."

In a flash, the sliced in half test probes were in the air and restored. An instant after that, however, the ten were cut down by Troy's black blade in a record of 1.6 seconds.

Troy looked neither thrilled nor satisfied with his success. "I surprise myself," he said simply, slipping away his lightsaber the same way it was slipped out. "But that isn't to say you're inferior to me."

The nonexistent ego.

No arrogance.

All Lacovia found she could say as she gazed at her all-grownup little brother was, "You've changed!"

Troy seemed unsure rather to take this as an insult or a compliment, so said simply, "I have. But for the better."

Lacovia rolled her eyes at the rather obviousness of the statement. "That's clearly seen. You've grownup, leaving behind your self-centering personae of the old days. I always knew you would."

Wiping away the sweat on her face with a towel, she then threw it across her left shoulder and came forward to embrace her brother.

Close as she had been to the entire family, Lacovia had always been more so with the boys than the girls. But as she was something of a tomboy herself, this surprised no one.

Glancing over Troy's shoulder mid-hug, she spotted a now-teenage Allana standing several feet away and beside her Lacovia's mother, Arica. Despite the change of hair color from black to platinum blonde, Lacovia recognized the forever young face of her mother. Plus, Lacovia had seen the numerous changes from black to blonde and back again during Arica's pregnancies after Troy.

One look at her face, and it all came back to Lacovia.

The anger.

The hurt.

The animosity.

Just all of it.

And despite the racing emotions that Arica had no choice of sensing within her, she still had the nerve to simply smile at Lacovia and wave.

Also sensing a change in his sister's mood, and her tenseness in his arms, Troy released Lacovia with a hint of confusion. He was picking up on furious rage from her all of a sudden, in the place where happiness and delight should have been residing.

"Lacovia, what's-"

"What's she doing here?" Lacovia snarled, her eyes flashing and gaze fixed on their mother.

Troy sighed. He should have expected Lacovia to react this way. She'd never been one who forgave easily – it'd taken a three-hour heart-to-heart between she and Arica following the latter's first abandoning to forgive her fully, so a decades old amount of enmity was clearly not going to go down well. However, Troy felt he could make his sister feel otherwise about their mother and her second abandoning of the family.

Arica knew it would be hard for Lacovia to forgive her, but thought she would've at least given her a chance, to see if she, Arica, had changed. But to get off on the wrong foot at the start was more than a little rude. Arica decided to give Lacovia a return of her own medicine to humor her.

"Hello to you too Lacovia," she greeted sarcastically.

Arica might as well been talking to one of the surrounding trees, for Lacovia not only ignored her but made no move to have heard her as her gaze turned to Troy.

"I don't want her here," Lacovia informed in a heated tone.

"It's considered rude," Arica said before Troy could respond, "to speak of someone as though they're not present when they actually are."

This time Lacovia did look at her, but with glaring eyes. "You need to shut up!"

"Lacovia, that's quite enough," Troy harshly reproved. "You're beginning to sound like a spoiled child."

Lacovia's eyes flashed and lips pursed, but otherwise gave no reaction to this rebuke.

"So Lacovia," Allana took it upon herself to bring an end to the argument, "why don't you show us your home." She gestured to the citadel.

Though disgusted still with Troy and Arica, Lacovia forced herself to smile for Allana's sake. After all, she wasn't mad at her. "Yes Allana, that's a wonderful idea," she said in an almost sweet it was sour tone. Marching forward away from Troy, Lacovia didn't spare her mother a single glance as she took Allana's hand within her own and strolled her towards the stairwell which led up inside the fortress several hundred feet above.

"It's nice to see how much you've grown Allana," Lacovia voiced to her cousin conversationally as they began their trek up the long flight of stairs. "You're the perfect mix of your mother and Aunt Antellica. But I must admit my confusion as to where Luke is." She glanced down at a slightly uncomfortable Allana with some apprehension. "He is here, right?"

Allana hesitated a moment, but finally answered with a simple "No."

"No?!" This confused Lacovia greatly. "Then where is he? And how come he let you journey here without him?"

Somehow, Lacovia couldn't quite imagine Luke letting Allana leave his sight for more than one instant. Unless he changed in his manner of protectiveness since a decade ago, which was possible, Lacovia knew something was up.

Allana answered in a deadly calm voice, nonetheless, her eyes were focused on the ground as she spoke. "I'm sorry Lacovia. He didn't make it."

Mountains of dread came crashing down on Lacovia at those words. "Didn't make it?" she asked frantically. "What are you talking about?"

"She means Luke's dead."

Troy and Arica had been following Lacovia and Allana up the stairs at a distance, but not too far away that they couldn't hear the two's conversation. It was Troy who came to Allana's rescue at the difficult questions.

Lacovia's dread suddenly came screeching to a halt at the announcement out of Troy's mouth. Mainly because it came from his mouth. Somehow, she got the idea that of it'd come out of someone else's, it would've sounded different.

Continuing her stride up the stairs, Lacovia repeated, "Dead? Luke!", in a tone which clearly meant she didn't buy it. "That's nothing to joke about Troy?"

"Whose laughing?"

Sharply and abruptly, Lacovia turned to study her brother. She held his gaze for quite sometime and he steadily looked back at her, unblinkingly. His eyes told her he wasn't lying or cracking a joke. He was serious, and that's what frightened Lacovia. Troy was never serious, at least the Troy she remembered wasn't, unless something big had, or was, happening. And then the realization of Luke's death set in, and Lacovia found she was fighting back tears. It was just like before. It was starting again. The family was being tracked down and murdered by Baynetta.

"So..." Lacovia finally choked up the courage to trust herself into speaking, even if it was so softly, "is that why you're rallying the family back together?"

Troy nodded. "In a way. The Grievous-Skywalkers have been in hiding for the past decade. It's about time that changes."

* * *

"No! Absolutely not!" 

The foursome were no longer on the citadel stairwell, but inside what had been used as the Sith Council Chambers on the crown floor.

Similar in design to the Old Jedi Council Chambers in the since destroyed temple on Coruscant, and an almost exact copy of the council chambers in the Old Sith temple on Jen'jein, the room was circular in structure and a deep navy blue in interior. An equally round table sat in the center of the small, carpeted room, and this is where the foursome was seated – Arica and Troy on one side, Lacovia and Allana on the other; like an opposition of two and two. Upon Lacovia's outburst, however, she was no longer seated, but facing the three others with that of shocked rage and a sense of betrayal.

"If reinstating ourselves as Head House of the Galaxy means killing off innocent people like Luke, Ben, Natchios and Narcissa, then I'd rather stay in exile for the rest of my life."

Troy was appalled. "How can you say that Lacovia?"

"And how could you have killed Luke?" she shot back. "He was our brother!"

"_Half_-brother," Troy stressed.

Lacovia rolled her eyes. "Like that matters. So what Baynetta's his mother! It's not like he could help that."

"That's not the point," Troy sternly replied.

"Then what is Troy?!" she challenged, rounding on him. "Is it that you intend on killing the very people which are our family as well as Palpatine's, because that isn't the answer to this. The answer is Baynetta. Kill her and Drake, and there's nothing to worry about. The galaxy's ours again."

Troy was trying very hard to make his point clear to Lacovia without growing frustrated. He wasn't having much success in the matter. "You need to understand Lacovia," he explained, "the entire Palpatine line needs to be destroyed for that to happen."

"So says this Lumiya of yours," Lacovia bit out, "who just happens to be one of Sidious' ex-apprentices." She shook her incredulously. "Has it ever occurred to you that Lumiya's simply using you to get the revenge craved all these years? And then when the task is done, she'll kill you and take the Empire for her own."

Troy shook his head to counter this. "Lumiya wouldn't do that. She couldn't even if she tried."

"And why is that?"

"Obviously, because I'm stronger then her in the Force."

Lacovia gave another eye roll. "And here I thought you'd changed Troy. You're still as arrogant as ever."

That angered him a great deal. "I have changed!"

"I know you have!" she exclaimed. "But not for the better; for the worse!"

Her eyes then turned to the room at large. "All of you have changed." Despite her better judgment, Lacovia found that her eyes were particularly locked with her mother's, and she expressed a question.

"Mother, what do you think father would've said to what Troy's done?"

"You father's dead Lacovia,"Arica answered without hesitation. "And he's not coming back. That's something you need to accept, so it doesn't matter what he would say. He's not here anymore."

Arica's words were like a slap in the face to Lacovia. Yes, her mother had definitely changed. Tears threatened to leak from her eyes again at the harsh, but trueness of the words, and Lacovia had the powerful urge to be alone.

"I pity you Allana," she said in a stinging whisper to the girl (Allana lowered her head) before raising her tone to a higher note, though, the sting remained. "I want the three of you to leave and don't ever come back. You're not my family anymore."

As expected, this took them all aback, but none more so than Troy. "Lacovia-"

"Just leave! All of you!" Her voice had risen even higher. "I don't ever want to see any of you again. I'm truly disappointed that the three of you would stoop so low to reacquire your previous lives."

"Lacovia-"

She ignored him. "It's disgusting and I want to be left in peace."

"Lacovia, we're doing this as a family," Troy tried to argue.

"I am no longer apart of your Grievous family; I renounce it." Her tone was that of acid. "Because what you did, Troy, is not something a Skywalker would have done. And as a Skywalker, I cannot and will not condone it. You are an embarrassment to the family name and not welcome here. Leave!"

Troy looked ready to protest, only Arica stopped him. Gazing sadly at her daughter, she said softly, "If that's what you think Lacovia, then we won't force you to come with us. We'll leave."

"Thank you," Lacovia replied just as softly.

Troy pursed his lips a moment, but then followed a downhearted Allana out of the tower and down the stairs. Arica remained behind briefly to attempt at patching up things between she and Lacovia before leaving.

"Lacovia-"

"Just go."

Nodding sadly, Arica left the room and went to catch up with Troy and Allana.

* * *

"What a waste," Troy complained as the trio descended the citadel staircase sometime later. "She's so stubborn Lacovia." He sighed. "Hopefully, we'll have better success with Gabriella."

* * *

Lacovia watched them go out through a tower window on Troy's old starship _Knight Crawler_, a cross between sad and relieved. Not being able to stand the tears she was holding back any longer, Lacovia collapsed to the floor and mourned for the family lost – Luke, through death; and her mother, brother and cousin to their lust for power. 


	131. Conflict

Author's Note: This is quite the interesting chapter we have here. I hope you like it.

MissNaye: I guess that's a nice way of putting it.

G-Anakin 13: We haven't heard the last of Lacovia. I can promise you that.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 9: Conflict

"_One can't go on in life holding a grudge. How will they ever move on from the past?"_

-Gabriella Grievous Skywalker

Outer Rim World, Aquilaris

War!

For the past two years now this was what defined Atualris: a city-country at the bottom of Aquilaris, which became unknown from the outside world since the planet-wide thunderstorm that subsequently led to vicious water waves which covered the city and sunk it to the bottom of the ocean five hundred years prior. No one knew the cause or reason for its plunge into the sea. Though, the anger of the gods was a theory, no one had ever found it again after its fall, save one, leading it amongst the stories of legend.

Aquilaris was a world with the primary terrain of oceans, with a few island chains and floating cities dotting it. In addition, it was once famous for its galaxy-wide podrace tournaments until the sport was outlawed at the start of Baynetta's Imperial rule. Now Aquilaris was merely one of the galaxy's many vacation planets with no excitement whatsoever going on within it...above the sea that is. Below, unbeknown to the world above, a war was brewing.

For many years, there had been a fight for dominance between Atualris' two Ruling Houses. There was a time when both could reign together in the peace of their condominium, but strife soon led them apart. It was at the dawn of the Old Republic when the two Houses were joined together through their King and Queen in marriage, and the formerly two city-countries, Atua and Lris, became one: Atualris. Many were not in favor of this and insisted that both Houses remain joint city-countries. After much debate, it was finally agreed upon and the Houses became equal in rule, yet at the same time also separate. The House of the King was one of hereditary rule, but the Queen's House was of electoral rule only, meaning the "Queen" wasn't really royal but a commoner who was simply given the title upon election. That was something the Atuans never liked about their King's choice in wife. They felt she wasn't worthy of the title.

Through the generations and until two years previous, on the war's eve, the Houses' conflicting rules of government had been forced to reach the understanding of ruling side by side to one city-country. But with the growing animosity between the House leaders becoming so public that Atualrisian citizens were beginning to take sides, it was only a matter of time before war broke out. And it finally did in the form of Royal Queen Kidagakosh being murdered by her brother, the Electoral King, Kikosh.

Outrage followed the Royal Queen's public assassination and launched the war between the hereditary and electoral Houses. On the side of the heredities was Kidagakosh's widower, Royal King Kashekim, and son, Royal Prince Kinko; while on the side of the electives was King Kikosh and his son, Nedukah. The city-country of Atualris was also divided in the way it once was before becoming joined together – the Atuans with the royals, and the Lrisans with the electives. Much violence and death ensued, and now two years into it, the war was still as fierce as ever with the only major losses being Kikosh himself in combat against Kinko and the legendary old military Commander-in-chief of the Royal Army forces, Kidagakosh's granduncle, Nigakuh. His replacement, however, was an accomplished warrior who previously led siege to the city district section of Lris, leaving little to none alive; singlehandedly cut down a squadron of over a hundred men, which intended to take Royal King Kashekim hostage; and personally countered an attack on the capital district of Atua via their, as it was called by the Lrisan Nedukah, "witchcraft abilities." So who exactly was this accomplished warrior? Not Kinko, or any other native Atuan or Lrisan that turned to side with the enemy. An exiled Princess from the outside intergalactic domain, Gabriella Grievous Skywalker.

Following her family's exile and separation, the currently aged twenty-nine year old ventured to Aquilaris, after stealing a luxury cruiser from some rich person's home on the snowy forest world of Galidraan, with the intent of discovering the lost city of Atualris and perhaps finding refuge there. It was a hard task to accomplish. Many a time she considered giving up and simply residing in the Old City of Aquilaris, a thousand year old hovering city ship which had since fallen in decay and begun its journey into the depths following the abolishment of Podracing. But that wouldn't do, as to Gabriella it wasn't secluded enough since Imperial Moffs were known to come to Aquilaris from time to time on their rare stretches of holiday. Her quest was to find Atualris. For a year, Gabriella threw herself into its discovery – decoding old messages between islands; reading ancient texts; skimming through history and news reports on the subject; literally searching the ocean for anything which might lead to a clue that may lead to something.

That year of research paid off as the day which marked a year after Dathomir arrived. Gabriella was downhearted and depressed, memories of the day coming back to her as well as the hurt she felt at her mother's abandoning. In no way was she interested in continuing the case, and was just about to throw in the towel when Atualris showed itself to her through a marker suddenly appearing on the tactical display, revealing its location. Traveling through an underwater tunnel that wasn't known to exist 50,000 feet deep into the ocean – all other tunnels were only several hundred feet into the water, constructed primarily of transparisteel and used to travel between islands and cities – it led to a dark, dank cavern which ultimately, after a long journey of trek age, led to Atualris itself: the ancient city-country suspended on a circular mountain of waterfalls.

From the cliff which extended from the cave to the thousands of kilometers across where the city-country laid there was no way to reach either side. And as Gabriella hadn't seen a way to maneuver her ship through the vast, yet at times narrow cave she was kept away from her prize since her harpoon gun didn't nearly reach that far in length. Eventually, however, she found a way across by jumping off the cliff and into the water below. Swimming to the base of the waterfalls, shooting her gun to a protruding rock halfway up, and from there Force-somersaulting the rest of the way.

What greeted her was a breathtaking sight. It was far more beautiful than she could have ever imagined, and far lovelier than any picture could ever hope to capture. Bright colors of green, blue, and white; majestic building structures; lavish gardens; magnificent courtyards; plains of open space for farming; springs of even more waterfalls, ponds, and rivers...it was all too much for the eyes to take in at once.

Gabriella was thought of as suspicious and strange at first by the Atualrisians. But once her story of exile was told, she found sympathy in their midst and was offered refuge in their city. The fact that she was a Princess, even if an exiled one, also led to Nedukah and Kinko both yearning for her hand in marriage. And even though growing close to Kinko over the years made it seem she would become Atualris' new Royal Queen, Gabriella denied both Princes attempts to wed her. However much she found herself falling for Kinko, she would never admit it to him. Also denying chambers in both Houses, Gabriella resided in a simple manor between the two as not to show favoritism for either in the already semi-divided kingdom.

Over the years, she watched how the city-country came to split in two and was present during Queen Kidagakosh's assassination. In the beginning phases of the war, because of her military background, both sides desired to have her in with their forces. But for a while she simply remained neutral as not to involve herself in a conflict which she felt she shouldn't have any part of. However, the Houses wouldn't allow her to remain neutral and threatened to expel her from their land if she didn't choose. She'd grown to love Atualris so much in her time living there, not just the land but the people also, that she couldn't imagine leaving the city-country behind. Nonetheless, she wouldn't be pressured into joining a war if she didn't wish to fight in it. The threat of expulsion was soon proven empty, as both sides confessed to not wanting her to leave but to simply choose which side she was on. But if remaining neutral was the only way to keep her – she readily would've left before they could expel her – the Houses had no choice but to accept her wishes.

What got her to finally side with the royals was not her feelings for their Prince, nor sorrow over their Queen's death, but the fire which was set to her home by Kikosh in his attack against neutralists. Those who were too wishy washy to decide who had their allegiance didn't deserve to live in his eyes. Gabriella lost everything but her life in the flames (she was asleep but awaken by the fire that was then consuming her bedroom chambers), but when one is accustomed to loss, one doesn't react too much in the sense of what was loss, but who caused the loss. Though she would've preferred it that Kikosh died at her hands that day, she allowed Kinko to do the deed to avenge his mother.

From that time on Gabriella served in the Royal Army forces, earning her many titles, victories, and no defeats. Starting out as a Captain, she moved up quickly to Colonel, General, and finally Commander-in-chief at Nigakuh's death by Nedukah a year into the war. It was this high rank which placed her in the scene of battle almost daily, and currently had her hiding among a score of bushes with her troops as they awaited the Irisan Prince Nedukah to walk straight into their trap.

Despite her involvement in practically all of the Royal Houses' victories, thus the electives' defeats, Nedukah had not given up his intent to claim Gabriella as his wife. It was his assumption that with Gabriella by his side, Atualris was his for the taking. Gabriella never liked Nedukah; even from the moment she met him. He just had this overconfident air about him that caused many to think twice before double crossing him, for his vengeance would be great. Nevertheless, only after countless proposal denials did Gabriella finally decide to use his obsession of her to the advantage of the war winning in the Atuans' favor. She'd asked him to meet her in the courtyard which separated the city district from the country via message at the Electoral House. She'd been giving a great deal of thought to his constant proposals, it said, the war, and perhaps a way to end it. The conclusion she'd come up with needed to be said face-to-face.

The courtyard in question was a beautiful sight. It was rectangular in length of about several hundred feet. Trees and bushes lined the country side of the yard while a white bricked wall lined the city side. At the south end laid a small river with a water-spanning bridge overhead, and at the north a grassy plain. With the backdrop of a cascade and building structures at a distance on the other side of the city wall, from where Gabriella was hiding it truly was a view to behold. Her attention was soon taken away from the Atualrisan landscape, however, at the arrival of Nedukah into the courtyard, alone but armed with a sword and spear. Or so it would appear that he was alone. Gabriella sensed an armada of Irisan troops hiding just beyond the wall, armed and ready for battle when called upon. She almost laughed out loud. It seemed Nedukah wasn't as lovesick for her as she thought. If the meeting turned out to be a trap, his troops would more than willingly bombard her in attack and either kill or capture her, though, her assumption was the first. But she far from feared this prospect. Her own troops would overwhelm Nedukah's in no time, as she'd brought the entire militia to act at her disposal; Nedukah hadn't even brought half that number.

Donned in a tight-fitting tube top, mini skirt, and boots that complimented the near-black hair hanging around her shoulders, and unarmed gave Gabriella the appearance of not attending a battle. But just as Nedukah gave the illusion of being alone, Gabriella also gave the illusion of a woman in love as she rushed from the bushes to meet him.

Tall, dark, and handsome. Those were the three words which best described Nedukah, though, muscular could've been thrown in for good measure. He was actually five years Gabriella's senior at thirty-four, however, ten years is probably what would've been thought upon sight. Like her, he'd been a born-warrior since infancy, but unlike her, the art had taken its toll on Nedukah's appearance to make him look older than he really was. Nonetheless, as he also raced to her, his boyish features could be seen within the look of pleasure that had a-lightened his face at the sight of her.

The moment they met, Gabriella and Nedukah's lips were together in a passionate kiss as she threw her arms around him and he scooped her into his own. Sparks of excitement raced through both their bodies as they pressed against one another to be nearer still. Just as abruptly as it began, however, it ended with Nedukah throwing Gabriella from himself to gaze fiercely into her eyes.

"Finally Gabriella," his rich voice declared, "we are together at last."

"Yes Nedukah," her voice was slightly breathy from the kiss, "finally we are together, and I am not being held by Kinko. He wants me so. But I want nothing more than to be with you."

"Dearest Gabriella," he held her at length as though looking for any trace of deceit, despite his obvious satisfaction, "how do I know that this isn't a trick to bring about my downfall?"

"Surely my kiss proved that to you," she answered without hesitation. "But if you need more persuasion, I will show you that indeed this is not a trick."

Warmly taking his lips within her own once more, Gabriella enhanced the pleasure beyond the first kiss through caresses and affectionate rubes all along her plaything. Nedukah groaned under the assault of enjoyment and began to return the favor onto his desires' legs and back.

"My darling Gabriella," he exclaimed, pulling apart from their embrace, "forgive me for ever doubting you. I knew not this was as real for you as it is for me. And now let us be wed. Come with me back to my House and let us bring an end to this war."

"Oh my beloved Nedukah," she begged lovingly, "if only you would kiss me once more, I would do whatever you say. Just one more kiss and I'm yours forever."

Scooping her into his arms once more, Nedukah did the requested task, unaware that in between this Gabriella had silently called her lightsaber from a nearby bush to the left hand that was wrapped around his neck until it was too late. Weapon in hand, she swiftly activated and stabbed it through his collar bone and out through the other side of his chest.

Nedukah jumped away from her screaming in pain and horror that he'd been outwitted by a woman, and rage that she'd fed him deception.

"Treacherous witch! I knew this was trick!"

"And yet you came anyway." The act of a woman in love dropped, it was replaced by Gabriella's usual cool demeanor towards the Irisan Prince. "You truly are a fool Nedukah."

"This will not go unpunished!" he screamed. "My armies await to challenge you in battle on the other side of the wall. I will be avenged!"

"Just as my own armies await to bring an end to this war through the death of you and your forces," Gabriella informed calmly. "You will not be avenged." She called her lightsaber back in hand. "Not as long as I'm here."

"You will not survive this Gabriella!" Nedukah was struggling to keep himself upright in spite of his wounded neck and, at the same time, grab for his sword to bring what vengeance upon Gabriella he could while he still lived. "You will die as I die!"

"I don't think so."

A rapid thrust into his chest and heart was Nedukah's undoing.

Gabriella ignored the scream which uttered from Nedukah's lips as he died and merely gazed on in satisfaction that the first part of her plan had succeeded.

A thunderous roar beyond the city wall alerted the exiled Princess to the second and final part of her plan: The death of Nedukah's soldiers. They came from behind the wall at a mighty charge, but Gabriella was unmoved by their massive numbers in the thousands at least. Her forces were much greater.

"Forward!"

An earsplitting roar a great deal stronger than that of Nedukah's army sounded behind Gabriella and her militia charged out of their hidden positions in the bushes and trees in attack.

In a never ending stream, warriors came out on either side of the courtyard to engage one another, but it was Gabriella's that came out at a charge strong enough to almost immediately overwhelm the Irisans. However, as Gabriella herself joined the battle, more enemy troops arrived, and soon the those who had originally been overwhelming the enemy were the ones being overwhelmed in turn. Plus, Gabriella sensed that this wasn't the only battle going on at the present. More of Nedukah's former troops were leading an attack on the Royal House itself, just not the capital district it was enclosed in. Because if one looked at it in Nedukah's point of view, there was no reason to attack the very people he hoped to conquer and rule, merely the leaders themselves who stood in his way: Kashekim and Kinko.

But Gabriella didn't have time to worry about how the royals were holding up, notwithstanding that the two had none of the militia to aid them, as all Atuan forces were with her as Commander-in-chief. The Irisans continued to overbear she and her forces – cut down left and right; single fighters bombarded by five and six Irisans at a time.

She wasn't sure how they were going to make it through – it was as though the Force was suddenly not shining in their favor today – until she spotted three mysterious and cloaked figures wielding lightsabers to cut down the enemy that is.

The trio seemed to have entered the battle abruptly, for many – Irisans and Atuans alike – had unexpectedly stopped to stare at the new arrivals that were cutting down Irisans like there was nothing to it. Even Gabriella stopped to stare, and for a moment thought she was hallucinating as she recognized one of the trio. It was Troy! Sure, he was older now, but still recognizable. What was he doing here of all places? And who were the others? She wasn't able to get a good look at them. More family perhaps? Yet Gabriella didn't have time to ponder these things. She needed to keep her head in the game of battle, because as abruptly as it stopped to take notice of the newbies, it resumed quickly and continued as fierce as ever.

* * *

Troy remembered Gabriella saying she was going to Aquilaris for her exile to find the lost city of Atualris, but hadn't ever heard from her since then, so wasn't sure if she was successful or not. It'd been nice if she was. It would be the perfect place to hide, especially since search groups had long given up in looking for the city-country centuries previous. 

Upon arriving outside the Outer Rim world instantly told him she was therein and in the lost city-country. The bond he'd shared with her since infancy led he, Arica, and Allana to Atualris itself and an interesting sight once within.

Gabriella was hiding herself and battalions of soldiers among bushes and trees just outside a courtyard, which appeared to lead into another district of the city-country.

As he and others weren't sure what was going on, they decided to stay hidden on the nearby white bricked bridge of small size and simply watch whatever happened next.

Soon after, a dark-skinned Human male of high rank arrived, and the sight of Gabriella rushing out to greet him lovingly turned Troy's stomach to revulsion. It merely startled the others. She was what?

Married?

Dating?

In love perhaps?

The prospect of there being another man in his younger sister's life – one Troy didn't like by the looks of him – fueled within him such a jealousy and disdain over the fact that since there was someone else he wouldn't have his sister/best friend to be with on whatever occasion because she was occupied with another and probably wouldn't have time for he and the rest of the family anymore. Yet another sister lost.

However, Troy's mood soon changed to delight when he discovered Gabriella wasn't with the man, but merely fooling him into believing so as a tool to kill him. Troy was truly proud of his sister at that moment and it continued as a vicious battle ensured between Gabriella and the fallen man's armies.

The pride, though, soon changed to fear for Gabriella's life as the battle heated up and her forces began to be slain left and right. He, Arica, and Allana had no idea, of course, what this battle was about and why it was being fought. Yet that wouldn't stop them from joining into it and aiding Gabriella.

* * *

It was the aide of the trio that did it. Combining the three of them, plus Gabriella, and what was left of her militia, the Irisans didn't have a chance and fell, some even attempting to flee; others, begging for mercy. 

"If we were in your position," Gabriella snarled to one of the beggars, "you certainly wouldn't give us mercy, but spit in our face. Why should I do any different?"

The battle ended soon after the trio's arrival, and afterwards, Gabriella rushed over to meet them, though, her full focus was on the form of her brother Troy. Troy was also running towards her, not realizing how much he'd actually missed her until then.

"Troy!"

"Gabby!" He caught her as she jumped into his arms and held her tight. Gabriella sighed into his chest. She'd missed him, and that of the rest of the family, over the years. And while her mind thought of them on occasion, she had learned to live without them on her own. Even if it was sadly depressing in the process.

Troy broke apart from Gabriella, flashing her one of his signature grins. "It's great to see you again."

Gabriella returned the bright smile. "You too! What are you doing here?!"

Troy laughed. "To see you of course, my little sister."

The laugh was echoed. "Of course."

Gabriella glanced over Troy's shoulder at one of the two other figures. The smaller one to be exact. It was a small female adolescent that looked strangely familiar to her, though, she wasn't sure why. "Who are-" But at a closer look, Gabriella realized, with much delighted surprise, that the girl was "Allana!"

Forgetting about Troy, Gabriella abandoned his embrace to scoop her young cousin up into her own arms. Their reunion was just as warm as the former.

Arica, meanwhile, was making it a point not to be noticed with her back turned in the direction of the reuniting family. She wanted to be over there with them, but was too afraid she'd get Lacovia's reaction from her second daughter also. However, at the warm touch of Gabriella interloping her arm with Arica's and the single-syllabled, yet soft greeting of the word "Hey!" she knew otherwise.

Turning to look at her daughter, Arica smiled. It was returned without hesitation. But all the same, she needed to apologize still. "Gabby-"

"I forgive you mom," she broke across softly. "Let's just put the past behind us."

Arica's face a lit with gratitude at Gabriella's words. "Oh Gabriella." She took her into a hug. "You don't know how much it meant to hear you say those words. Thank you."

Gabriella sighed into her mother's embrace. She'd been hurt just as much as everyone else concerning Arica's abandoning, but that didn't mean she wasn't willing and ready to forgive her. She could never hold a grudge against her mother anyway. Gabriella loved her too much, and was very happy about her being in her life once more.

Arica held Gabriella at length after the embrace to gaze over her adult form. "You've grown to be so beautiful Gabriella," she said with pride being heard in her tone. "My little girl's all grownup now."

Gabriella beamed. "True, but I'll always be _your_ little girl, no matter what."

Mother and daughter shared another loving hug, after which Gabriella hooked an arm within one of her mother's once more and walked her to the rest of the family. From there, she was about to introduce them to her soldiers when a scout arrived with news from the present attack on the Royal House. Nedukah's forces had succeeded in killing Kashekim, while Kinko, in the meantime, was being held captive.

"The King fought vigorously, but was defeated," the lieutenant scout reported with sorrow. "Yet the importance of the matter is that he died trying, and the House attack has led into the capital district, soon to be followed by the city as well if we don't bring a halt to it."

"Where is Kinko being held?" Gabriella calmly inquired.

"It's not known for certain," the lieutenant scout promptly answered, "but I suspect he's with the Second-in-command of Nedukah's forces: Idtin. For it was he who led the assault which killed King Kashekim and was supposed to kill the Prince too."

Gabriella remembered the second commander under Nedukah during multiple battles. He was an experienced warrior of mighty skill, but a little less than an equal matching against the exiled Princess. And now that some of her family was here, Idtin and his forces didn't have a chance against them. Of that she was confident in.

She turned from the lieutenant scout to her family with a grin. "Ready to go to battle again?"

Troy grinned. "Bring it on!"

On the way – out of the courtyard and into the city – Gabriella explained to them in moderate length about the Atualris Conflict and how she became involved. This led to briefings of the trio's own doings of the past decade. But as they were on their way to battle, it was indeed kept brief as they soon became busy upon reaching the capital outskirts. This was the location of Nedukah's other forces, being led by Idtin. Just outside the gates, which separated the city from the capital, surrounded by an armada of men stood the Second Commander himself holding a bound Kinko in his grasp. Gabriella glared and gave the order for her troops to encase the area. Idtin stood by and watched nonplussed with a pleased expression as he merely observed. Kinko, however, though bound, smiled when he saw her and Gabriella couldn't help but smile back. He gave her family a puzzled glance, however, she assured him they were here to help and would explain later.

Troy gave her a startled glance, obviously overhearing her telepathic message to the Prince, but she didn't have time to worry about his jealousy at the present, for Idtin had begun to speak.

"You startle me with your presence witch," he mocked. "I thought you would be dead by now. You have come, and with guests I see." He eyed her family trio with interest. "I've been waiting to kill your precious Kinko in front of you."

This time it was Kinko's turn to glare, but Gabriella merely allowed a sarcastic smile. "How sweet. But you see, there is nothing other than a mutual friendship between myself and your Lord Nedukah's cousin."

Idtin scoffed. "Just as surely as the dead Queen Kidagakosh will rise from the dead! Lord Nedukah knew your meeting with him was a trap, though, he tried to think differently."

"And it cost him dearly," Gabriella replied. "You Lord Nedukah is dead, Idtin, and soon you shall join him."

"You lie evil witch!" he bellowed fiercely. "Not even your powers could defeat the mighty Nedukah."

"Oh really? Then what do you call this?"

Idtin gasped at the thrown forward dead body of his lord by Gabriella, but was then screaming, "Attack!"

The last battle of the Atuan-Irisan Conflict had begun. Kinko fought his way out of Idtin's grasp, and Gabriella was quickly by his side to aide him. Together, the two of them engaged Idtin in the battle that would lead to his death.

Idtin was middle-aged; Gabriella and Kinko, in their late twenties. Yet it wasn't age that proved the better warrior – Gabriella and Kinko alike had seen plenty of apprentices quickly become the master in a short period of time – however, Idtin didn't seem to think this. His overconfidence of succeeding against them was seen in his style of fighting. Maybe it was his accustom growth to winning every duel he participated in that had him underestimating his charges to the length of arrogance. Or maybe it was simply because of his extreme dislike for the two that had him telling himself they were no match against him. Whatever the two, Kinko and Gabriella never knew, for with their combined effort Idtin was beaten quickly and they then joined Troy, Arica, and Allana in driving enemy forces away from the capital outskirts, out of the city, into the country, and beyond in the no longer used rocky wastelands at the city-country limits. From there, they were either impelled or Force-thrown over the waterfall cliffs, hurtling to their death hundreds of feet below.

Thus ended the war of Atualris. Peace returned to the underworld city-country with Prince Kinko as its new leader, but only because the people wanted him to rule. He was ready to step down from his post and turn the government into an electoral body if that's what was wanted. But, it turns out, the people wanted him to rule in a monarchical fashion.

In the aftermath of the war's end, Gabriella introduced Kinko to her family and they liked him, even Troy. The Prince looked a lot like his deceased cousin Nedukah, only he was lighter complected at a medium tone like Gabriella. Plus, he also wasn't as tall – about ¼ less than Nedukah's 2 meters – or muscular. Yet Kinko was no pushover. He was a very accomplished warrior, as was seen during the battle, and would've been elevated to Commander-in-chief of the Royal Army at Nigakuh's death had he not recommended Gabriella to the job instead.

His love for the exiled Princess was obvious. Everyone noticed it. And after that night's memorial in honor of Kashekim, the as-yet-to-be-crowned King called Gabriella to his private chambers at the Royal House to ask for her hand yet again.

"I know I've asked you this many times before but...I need to know one last time rather you will or not."

Gabriella loved Kinko. She really did with all her heart, yet that wasn't enough in her eyes. She was an exiled woman, marked for death if ever found and captured. That was a type of life Gabriella didn't want Kinko to become apart of, for the sake of himself and Atualris as a whole. She would be endangering the entire city-country and everyone within it if they married, and she couldn't do that. She wouldn't. No matter how much may have wanted to, for her own sake. So sadly, for the umpteenth time, she denied Kinko's proposal. However, that didn't stop her from staying the night in his bed upon invitation.

The next morning, several hours before the coronation and still in bed, Kinko told Gabriella of his next choice of a wife in childhood friend/former handmaiden to his mother, Kilea. For as a King, he was required to take a Queen for the sake of heirs.

"Yet my heart will always belong to you Gabriella, never forget that."

"And if ever my life of exile ends," she said to him, "I will come back to you. Would you take me if I came?"

"I would divorce Kilea faster than a tiger catches its prey," he replied.

Gabriella and Kinko sealed their promise with a kiss and another round of lovemaking.

Finally, the time of Kinko's coronation arrived, and was held in the throne room hall of the Royal House. He was crowned King and married Lady Kilea soon after. It was one of the hardest things Gabriella had ever done: to standby and watch as her love married someone else. Yet she made it through. Plus, her family was there for her, but particularly Arica who understood her predicament to some extent, so that helped. What with learning of their plans for an overthrowing against Baynetta, she knew she was to leave Atualris and Kinko behind for a time. But maybe she could actually come back at the end of it and live here for always. She exchanged goodbyes with Kinko in private after the wedding reception and left there after with her family.

The trio was able to speak to her fully about their overthrowing of Palpatine's line. And while she was shocked and saddened by Luke's death, she did see how it was for the best and was disgusted that Lacovia couldn't see the same.

"Maybe I can talk to her," she ventured, in the lodge of _Knight Crawler _while the ship sped away from Aquilaris in hyperspace. "Make her see reason. She'll listen to me. I know she will."

Troy gave a doubtful smile. "You can try-"

"I don't try. I do. And I will convince Lacovia to join into our uprising. Just you wait and see."


	132. Deceit

Author's Note: For all of you Drake fans, he makes his episode debut in this chapter. And quite a debut it is, in the form of shaking things up for the Grievous Skywalkers. What exactly do I mean by this? Read below to find out!

MissNaye: Oh no. You don't have to worry about that. No kids are being born any time soon.

Tsubasa no Michi: Gabriella's closeness to Troy, though, played a role in her reaction to Luke's death by his hand. They've been close since childhood, hence her fierce loyalty. But yeah, the Grievous Skywalkers are a twisted bunch indeed.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 10: Deceit

"_Revenge is a form of sickness; a wound which will never heal so long as you seek it."_

-Lumiya

Three Days Previous: Salis D'aar, Bakura

A terrorist attack. That's what it was being called. However, thirty-two year old Drake Palpatine, Executor of the Empress Baynetta, had reason to think differently. It'd been a week since the explosion of the Imperial-controlled Bakur Memorial Building, the center of government on the Outer Rim world. Upon learning of the violent act, an obvious attack on the Empire, the Empress sent her second-in-command and Commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy (she was Supreme Commander) to investigate into its origin, cause, and the culprit behind it. He arrived on-world the day which marked a week with a team of Intelligence agents in tow. Interrogations were done, surveillance vids were observed, and the Force was called upon to get to the bottom of this case.

Drake accommodated his first suspect midday of the investigation:

Calioai Ranich, an obvious alias.

Description appearance: White blonde hair, blue eyes, middle-aged, medium skin tone.

Something about this woman, to Drake, seemed oddly familiar and interested him. It was as though he'd known her from a past life.

She'd bought a docking space for two ships, side by side, some hours earlier on the day of the attack at Bakura and Salis D'aar's primary spaceport in its public stretches arena. The ship she arrived on, a Clone Wars-era cruiser of small size named _Hunter_, remained in the purchased spot and had not moved once since it touched down a week ago. The other space, however, was only used briefly for a much larger ship. Surveillance vids showed the woman meeting its two occupants at arrival (1400 Hours) and going about the city with them to multiple locations that spoke of no ill-will of any kind: a restaurant, theater, hotel, and shopping plaza to name a few.

The city-wide surveillance system, which worked in the sense of there being a camera at each street corner, tracked the threesome during their stay in the city at wide shots and angles. Nonetheless, Drake recognized the other two, even if it'd been a decade since he last saw them. One nearly shot him to death, and the other tricked him into letting her escape his hold on her. Arica Grievous' son, Troy, and her deceased twin sister's granddaughter, Allana. Which meant the middle-aged woman was the dethroned ex-Empress herself, only in disguise. And when one looked at the name Calioai Ranich closely, it could be seen as an anagram of her first and second names: Arica Nicholai.

So...the exiles were on the move. He knew it was only a matter of time. They couldn't merely sit back and accept their defeat. They had to start trouble within his sister's peaceful empire. For at the discovery of the three, he instantly knew it was they who caused the explosion. And after further digging, this was proven as several Bakur Memorial Building workers recognized the woman to be apart of the building's morning tour the day of the explosion. The only alone time she had being a fresher stop mid-tour; the period she infiltrated the building with the explosive bomb. But to make it not look so suspicious, she influenced others to use the fresher also at the same time she did.

It was clever. Drake had always admired Arica Grievous-Skywalker, and even served under her during the Galactic Civil War nearly twenty years ago as her Hand during the reign of her husband. This made him think back to his time as her Hand, and the missions he went on, usually alongside the Emperor's Hand: Arica and her late husband's oldest child and daughter, Lacovia.

In spite of his disdain for the Grievous-Skywalkers, he couldn't help but allow a regretful smile at the thought of his former best friend. As children and later teens, they'd gone on many adventures together, sometimes with her younger twin, Hilton, but most of the time without. Terrorizing the civilians of Coruscant with their Force powers as children, and foiling plots against the Empire they served as teens and Hands. Together, they were an unbeatable team and accomplished much. And though she survived the decade ago attack against the family, it truly was a pity she was apart of it to begin with. Drake felt she would be a much greater asset to Baynetta's empire than Jaina did.

Jaina Solo presently was, as she'd been the past decade, the Empress' Hand and second best pupil to Baynetta under Drake himself. Naturally, they'd been rivals since the day they met and continued to be to this very day. What he wouldn't give to strike the year younger dark haired woman down. But Baynetta had made it perpetually clear over the years that by no means were the two to harm one another, as they were both of powerful value, and it was not her wish to lose either. Eventually, though, it was clear this wish wouldn't sustain as the two were bound to cross blades and kill the other at some point. Drake received premonitions that someday soon he would achieve the satisfaction of killing Jaina through an act of betrayal. Yet as to what this betrayal could be, he hadn't a clue. That was the, at times, frustrating thing about the visions he received. Because of his intunement connection to the Force, he received the view of future happenings in snippets and clips. Vague glimpses into something too big to fully comprehend at a distance or glance. Yet in the near future, he saw himself fighting in a battle caused by the exiled royals with Lacovia by his side, as well as a time with the two of them observing a torture-stricken Troy in the underbelly chambers of the Imperial Palace.

He began to wonder if his desire to turn Lacovia against her family was what was causing him to see these things, but knew otherwise. He was far from foolish enough to let his mind play tricks on him like that. This would be the undoing of the exiled royals; turning one of their own members against them.

If only there was a way he could get to her before her family did. He had no idea where she, Luke, or Gabriella were, but that didn't mean they couldn't be on the move someplace else with the intent of causing more trouble in the Empire. Yet he doubted it.

Arica had abandoned her family for a second time, thus saith Jaina in her report of the Third Battle of Dathomir's events, and that was something Drake had a hard time thinking Lacovia would forgive. He remembered Arica's first abandoning, the second year into the Galactic Civil War, and how distraught and angry Lacovia was as she attempted at juggling her role as Emperor's Hand and her mother's role as Empress and mother. It hadn't gone down well. And though she forgave her mother that time, Drake knew she could never do it again. Not fully anyway. Lacovia was the type of person who held onto bitterness, and did not easily let go. And unless she underwent a drastic change over the past decade, which he doubted, this is how she would forever remain. And for Drake, this would be the perfect key to success.

The Clone Wars-era cruiser, after investigation into, was recognized as the old vessel of that era's Jedi slayer/pupil of his father's fourth Sith apprentice, Count Dooku: Asajj Ventress. As to how the exiles could've gotten a hold of this nearly forty-year-old ship, Drake hadn't a clue. But to him, this wasn't really important as it harbored no secrets or information. Nevertheless, Intelligence would return the vessel to Coruscant for further examination.

The official word released on the attack, the eighth day after, once the Empress learned of its origin and purpose, was rightfully dubbed terrorist. However, Imperialists were not urged to keep an eye out for the exiles as one might have thought, and as the Empress intended to at first. For the simple reason that Drake wasn't finished yet. His investigation into the explosion may have ended, but his search of the ex-royals had just begun. With the Force, he was able to go back a few days to the world of Ziost, the hidden location of Lacovia, and visit parts of the not-so-successful meeting she shared with the terrorist threesome. From what he could catch, it didn't go or end well, and apparently Lacovia wanted no part of their plans. It was the most perfect opportunity for Drake if he saw one, and wasn't about to blow off this chance of success.

"She hates her mother Baynetta," he informed the Empress via telepathy. "This is the perfect tool to use against the exiled House."

"Very well then younger half-brother. I leave her fate in your hands..."

* * *

Present Time, Ziost 

It'd been a week since Arica, Troy, and Allana had been to see her. Life seemed to move on for Lacovia after the loss of her family, as she was soon returning to her usual routine of meditation, running, and fencing every day. She was miserable, though, and no matter how much she wanted to push them from her mind, they kept popping back up again. She didn't know what to do with her life now. To some extent, Lacovia had always been hanging onto the hope of the family banding together to overthrow Baynetta someday. But not the way Arica, Troy, and Allana wanted to do it. She was still in a state of shock that Troy could do such an atrocity as killing Luke. And actually be successful at it. It was revolting how far some would go to achieve victory, but one of these days she knew it would catch up to him. Troy would pay for what he'd done to Luke. Lacovia's only hope was the she'd be there to witness it.

The thirty-something dirty blonde haired woman was presently strolling the vast dark blue interior of the citadel entrance hall donned in black robes and cloak, her hair down straight as usual. Many times she found that her musings led her to walk back and forth the immense hall, as well as other sections of the citadel and planet in general. The inner peace she craved of her racing mind usually came during these walks, but today, oddly, it wasn't coming to her for some reason. She couldn't pinpoint why, much to Laocvia's irritation, and was just considering to halt her stroll for meditation when she spotted a shadow lurking behind one of the nearby columns the hall was lined with. The presence the shadow belonged to was familiar. Too familiar. And was of a person she was once close to.

No, not a family member; but a friend she once fought alongside in many instances during the near-two decades ago Galactic Civil War before he turned up missing on a mission, which ultimately led him back to Baynetta after fifteen years apart and the semi-extinction of the Grievous-Skywalker House.

"Drake Palpatine."

As expected, the mere hours younger than Lacovia and son of the late Emperor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious with the since deceased Naboo Senator and Moff Charlotte Jovovich, former Empress' Hand to her mother, Drake Palpatine, stepped out of the shadows of the nearby column and offered what could be taken as a sly smile as he walked towards her, his own black cloak billowing behind in his wake.

"Hello Lacovia."

He was still as she remembered him from sixteen years ago: jet-black hair, green eyes, tall and muscular in built, but not overly so. Despite herself, she couldn't help but smile inwardly, though, this wasn't seen from her face. Lacovia made absolutely certain to keep it impassive to her former best friend's arrival. She would betray nothing to him.

"I suppose you're here to kill me then?"

She wasn't overly surprised that it was he who found her after all these years. Their ex-friendship and previous closeness played a role in that.

Rather than answer the question, Drake asked one of his own. "Is that what you're asking for?"

He stepped several paces closer to her, and for a moment they simply stared at one another, each thinking of their time together as children and teens. Funny enough, they'd both had a playful crush on the other growing up, even if neither ever admitted it, or ever would to the other, as they'd each gotten over them quickly and contentedly continued being happy with their friendship alone. There was nothing more to the two than just being best friends. This was something that continued to stand even today, sans the best friends part.

Lacovia finally decided to answer Drake's question. "No," she said at length. "And you didn't come here to, did you?"

He horizontally shook his head. "No."

She continued to hold his gaze, going over her options in mind (run, kill, trick). But then she thought back to the reasons she was strolling the hall to begin with: Luke's death by Troy and the Grievous' betrayal. Here was the perfect opportunity to ensure Luke was avenged and give the Grievous' what was coming to them since the act was performed. Taking one of Drake's hands into her own, Lacovia urged him outside the citadel.

"Come with me. There are some things I want you to know..."

* * *

She told him everything and left out nothing, and Drake listened with earnest to everything she had to say. Her mother's second abandoning; her time on Polus; her time on Ziost; the visit of Arica, Troy, and Allana; the news of Luke's death; Lumiya; and her desire for revenge against the Grievous'. But most especially, the news of Luke's death and Lumiya. Drake was more than a little shocked to learn of Luke's death at Troy's hands, and the survival of his father's first apprentice from the epic Mustafar battle between she, Sidious, and the Jedi Exar Kun at the end of the Great Sith War 1,036 years previous. Baynetta would be disappointed that she couldn't have fulfilled the first set of news herself, but like Drake, she would also be intrigued to learn of Lumiya's survival. More and more, Drake saw how much of an advantage Lacovia aiding in the Empire's annihilation of the exiled royals would be in the best benefit of bringing further vengeance onto her family. This enabled him to devise a plan for Lacovia to work undercover in the Baynetta overthrowing attempt. He made sure to make it quite clear that it was either his plan or death, and to choose carefully. 

"It's appealing, I must admit." Lacovia and he were seated at the base of a frozen mountain and beside that of a small icy river, which only stretched no more than 30 meters. The same leafless trees near the citadel were about the duo to some extent, but they were mainly surrounded by plains of desolate wastelands.

"I'll think about it," she continued after a moment. "But I do not fear you Drake. Do not assay to think that threats of death will help move along my decision."

Drake wasn't at all surprised by her response. On the contrary, he admired it. "Then maybe there's another way I can convince you." She rose an eyebrow. "May I stay the night...?"

* * *

Present Time, Aquilaris 

_Knight Crawler_ returned to Aquilaris soon after it left for Gabriella to go to the world's Old City ship and steal a star cruiser which would enable her passage to Ziost and convincing her older sister into joining their uprising against Baynetta. No matter how much the others wanted to dishearten her courage, Gabriella would not listen to their arguments against seeing Lacovia. The two of them had been semi-close growing up, and Gabriella believed she could use this as an advantage. Sisters had a different connection than brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters, and cousins. The same way brothers have more of a connection than father and sons. It's just the way nature sets it. So while Arica, Troy, and Allana journeyed back to Jen'jein, Gabriella made best possible speed for Ziost and her sister.

* * *

Seven Days Later, Ziost 

Drake was gone.

He'd been gone for about a week now.

Lacovia was presently sitting atop the citadel stairwell alone and lost in thought. She had to admit, Drake was successful in his convincing. What they'd done was satisfying and fulfilling for the both of them, and it ensured her role in their plot against the Grievous'.

Rather than reach out to wherever their secret base was – she only knew it was in an uncharted section of the Unknown Regions – the Force was telling her to wait. Someone was going to come a week to the day after Drake left. That could only be one person: her three-year younger and only remaining sister, Gabriella. Lacovia yearned to bring her into she and Drake's plot, but knew otherwise. Gabriella was too close to Troy to listen to Lacovia. Like the other three, she probably thought there was nothing wrong with Luke's murder either. This was only confirmed upon her arrival.

"Yes. I was sad and shocked by it too," Gabriella said to her inside Lacovia's main living quarters, one level below the council chambers. It was large in size, but like the room above, not overly so with two black couches, black flooring and walls, and numerous artifacts dating back to even the Pre-Old Republic Era close to 126,000 years ago. The sisters were seated on one of the two couches, side by side the other with Gabriella's hands clasped before her in a calmly manner and Lacovia's arms crossed over her chest in frustration at what her sister was saying.

"...but it's something that was done for the best," Gabriella concluded.

"_Done for the best?!" Lacovia repeated in outrage. "How is killing a brother done for the best?"_

"Troy is very confident in what he did," Gabriella replied firmly. "Everyone else seems confident in it too. Yet I don't think that's the real reason you don't want to join up with us."

Lacovia rose an eyebrow. "Oh? And do you know something I don't, little sister?"

Gabriella pushed aside the scowl that threatened to appear on her face at the "little sister" remark and carried on. "Mom's changed Lacovia. She's not the same selfish and abandoning type anymore. You should really give her a second chance."

Lacovia decided to play onto this. "How can you know that? How can you know it isn't all an act? What makes you think she won't do it again?"

"Because she's really changed Lacovia," Gabriella insisted. "Everything about her has. She's older, wiser, and more mature than she's ever been in her entire life. And she'll tell you this if you simply take the time to talk to her. I know I can't force you to join us-"

"No. You can't!"

"-but just think about it," Gabriella continued as though she hadn't heard her inject, "will you?"

For a moment, Lacovia looked unmoving, causing Gabriella to add, "Please Cova. It would mean a lot to mom, and to all of us collectively."

Because Gabriella was practically begging her and had used an old nickname from her toddler years when she couldn't pronounce Lacovia, she heaved a sigh. "Oh all right! But only because you want me to."

Gabriella smiled. "Fair enough."

She then gave Lacovia the coordinates to Jen'jein in case she decided in the positive and hugged her goodbye. "I'll see ya. Hopefully anyway. I love you, you know."

Lacovia smiled for real this time. "I know. I love you too Gabby."

Gabriella smiled one last time and left the room. Lacovia watched her go, glanced down at the coordinates, thought them over, and made her decision.

"Hey Gabriella, wait up! I'm coming with you."

* * *

One Week Later, Jen'jein 

Troy, Arica, and Allana's reaction to Lacovia actually listening to Gabriella surprised, but pleased them. Arica hung back, though, as her oldest child and daughter arrived in a ship alongside Gabriella's stolen one in the Old Sith Temple's large hanger bay. But Lacovia was soon pushing her way through Troy and Allana to reach her. Arica gazed tentatively within Lacovia's face, hoping beyond hope that this time she would forgive her.

"Lacovia, I'm so sorry I've ever hurt you, but it was never my intention."

"Oh mom." Lacovia pulled her into a hug. "Let's just forget about the past and start anew."

Hours later, after both Lacovia and Gabriella were shown to their new quarters in the temple and introduced to Lumiya, Lacovia contacted Drake telepathically.

"_Well?"_

"I'm in."


	133. Heirs

Author's Note: Below commences the return of Baynetta, Jaina, and Ben and introduction of the Jade twins, Natchios and Narcissa. Enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks for both reviews.

MissNaye: Definitely.

G-Anakin 13: I can only promise even more insanity as the episode progresses.

Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil

Chapter 11: Heirs

"_Bellatrix, Braxton, and Blondelle were pitiful Drake; unworthy of the Palpatine title and purely Jovovich. I knew it from the beginning. You and I are the true offspring of Darth Sidious."_

-Empress Baynetta to half-brother Drake in 26 Imperial Era, soon after her crown as the Galactic Empire's Supreme Ruler

Present Time, Core of the Universe

Ten years.

That's how long Dark Lady of the Sith Baynetta, daughter and firstborn of the legendary Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, had been Empress and Supreme Ruler of the Galactic Empire.

Much had changed in that time. Coruscant was changed to being called Imperial Center; Galactic City to Imperial City; the over thirty-years-old Imperial Palace was reconstructed far beyond its original state; and the Galaxy had been turned into the ultimate dictatorship. The Empress ruled with an iron fist so powerful that even the slightest move towards treachery caused the ordered eradication of the person and world they originated from. The thirteen-year-old battle station, Death Star II, the successor of her father's original Death Star project (destroyed during the second year of the Galactic Civil War), was put to good use in this aspect. As that of the Orbital Nightcloaks, which orbited every known world in the known galaxy. Since her time of coming to the crown, over one hundred worlds had been eliminated – Alderaan, Chandrila, and Dagabah being a few among the many – and still counting. Imperialists were expected to show the absolute reverence towards their matriarch or suffer the consequences. No longer did Baynetta play the part of charming Empress; her subjects knew of her active role as a master of the Sith, and she regularly provided demonstrations of death almost daily. For a true leader never hid who they truly were from their subordinates if it would help in assuring their underlings stayed beneath them. This was the downfall of her father before her and success of the thousand year ago hundred millennium lasting Sith Empire, which toppled the 125,000-year reign of the Old Republic before it.

Serving directly beneath the Empress was her second-in-command/Executor and Commander-in-chief of the vast Imperial Navy, the second child and first son of Darth Sidious, her thirty-plus half-brother, Drake. Beneath him was Baynetta's former and second best pupil, ex-Jedi and current Hand, Jaina Solo. And, finally, beneath her was the Empress' Hand Apprentices, Natchios and Narcissa Jade: the secret ten-year-old grandchildren of the Empress herself through deceased daughter Leila and equally late son-in-law Alexander Grievous, the only son and first child of the also deceased Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and treacherous betrayer Antellica Grievous. Only the Empress herself, Drake, and Jaina knew of the twins' true identity and heritage. The truth of it was fiercely kept from the two under pain of death since besides the trio, the only other person who knew of their secret birth on Caamas just previous to Baynetta's retaking of the Empire, Leila, was dead. In fact, no one in the entire Empire even knew of the twins' existence, sans the three and one other person. It just so happened that this person was what had the Empress in her throne room at this very moment. She was waiting for their arrival, and growing somewhat impatient at that. Her Imperial Highness didn't have much longer to wait, however, for soon the slide up doors to the room were hissing open and in walked a red haired, golden blond streaked, blue-eyed boy of about 1.12 meters (4 feet) in height and 10.6 years in age. He was dressed in rags and his bony arms, the result of undernourishment, hung stiffly to the side as he walked through the sunken auditorium beneath the throne and stopped before the dais with a bow.

There were no Royal Guards at the bottom of the throne tower, as Baynetta had no reason to employ non-Force sensitive beings for protection. If she couldn't protect her own self with the Force, then there was definitely a problem. Unlike her father, she was not a security freak. And while there were regiments of stormtroopers and Imperial Intelligence operatives kept around the palace at all times, it was mainly secured by Baynetta's knowledge of Force power.

"You wanted to see me Empress?" the boy asked after a moment.

"On your knees!" she coldly commanded.

He quickly did so and lowered his head.

"Now," she voice was cool and crisp, "did I hear you say something, slave?"

He repeated himself. "You wanted to see me Empress?"

"Ah yes," she replied. "I have more work for you to do. When you're finished dusting my private library, I want you to shine the floors of the Grand Corridor, clean and perfume the rooms of the residential levels, water the palace gardens inside and out, sweep the medical wing, feed the hawk-bats in the aviary, and see to it that today's palace tour goes smoothly enough without anyone getting lost."

It seemed that every time there was a public tour of the Palace – twice a year – one of the tourists ended up getting lost in the immense building upon venturing off on their own. There were multiple tales of people getting lost in the Palace depths and never being seen again, and at least one, Frona Zeffla, a palace worker, died at her desk and was not found for at least one standard year after. It was because of the palace's immensity that its workers, and any others whom insisted upon wondering its unfamiliar halls, were expected to have a comlink with them at all times, otherwise they very well might meet their end at the hands of Jaina or the Jade twins when found.

The slave boy nodded at his orders. "Anything else, my mistress?"

Baynetta thought for a moment. There was something else, yet she couldn't quite remember what it was so shook her head and said, "No. Be gone slave. Enter Drake."

Her slave child wasn't the only one the Empress was meeting. Drake had just recently arrived back from Ziost, and she intended on hearing his report concerning the exiles firsthand. Drake entered through the same way the boy did, and Baynetta abruptly remembered what else it was she wanted her slave to do.

"Oh Ben," she called after the boy, "see to it that the floors in the Grand Dining Hall and Ballroom are also waxed."

The slave boy, Ben, turned back briefly and gave another bow. "It will be done, Your Highness." Then, giving a reverenced bow to the passing Empress' Executor, Ben quickly exited the room.

Therein laid the difference between Baynetta's three grandchildren. Ben Skywalker, the son of Baynetta's first child, the older twin of Leila, Luke, and his wife, Antellica and Kenobi's other child and only daughter, Anneliese Grievous, was not as fortunate as his cousins. First off, he didn't even know he was related to Natchios and Narcissa, nor did they for that matter. And second, he was merely one of the many slaves that worked in the Imperial Palace, though, more of a personal slave to Her Majesty, the Empress. While the twins were given comfortable suites and the delicious delicacies of royal life, Ben was given nothing except a simple, small room to sleep in, several pairs of the rags he wore daily, and a meal of bread and water to survive. While Natchios and Narcissa were given an education, he was given floors to scrub. When the twins were in military training, Ben was used as their dummy to kick, punch, and body slam. While Natchios and Narcissa were treated with some level of respect from the Empress, he was tortured, abused, and mistreated. And it'd been like this ever since he was an infant. The moment he could walk was when the Empress started working him. Actually, the only thing he had in common with the twins was like them, no one knew what his true identity was besides Baynetta, Drake, and Jaina. As each day went by, Baynetta saw more and more of Skywalker and their son in Ben. His appearance; the way he acted; his Force potential, which was by far greater than Natchios and Narcissa's combined. Nevertheless, the Empress refused to have him trained, something that could later turn out to be a mistake. For the single fact that if he was, by the time he reached adulthood, he would be strong enough to overthrow her and everything she'd worked to accomplish with the Empire. Baynetta would not stand to be overthrown again. She would continue to rule the Empire for generations to come, far surpassing the lifelines of her brother and three grandchildren. As Supreme Ruler, she would continue to reign for thousands of years to come. No one would get in her way, for they would be swiftly eliminated if they tried.

"She's in," Drake informed upon approaching the Empress' throne. "All we can now do is watch and wait for their next move. She'll be keeping us updated as developments establish themselves however."

Baynetta knew it was Drake's dislike for Jaina that had him bringing Lacovia into the Imperial Circle of Sith, yet she couldn't be too sure. She sensed no hint of perfidy from him, but then it's not like she could pick up on it even if he was harboring it. He projected his feelings inward too much. But that was a good thing, as one shouldn't wear their emotions on their sleeves. She decided to dismiss her concerns as of the present and focus on something else.

"Very well Drake. But tell me more of your time with her. I get the sense that you're keeping something from me about your and Lacovia's reunion after all this time..."

* * *

Imperial Palace, Residential Level V: Training Center 

Slash! Stroke! Par!

"Excellent Natchios," Jaina appraised of her student. "Keep coming at me with as much force possible."

The ten-year-old Empress' Hand Apprentice held back an eye roll as he blocked more of his Sith master's attacks. This was all too easy.

"Oh really?" Obviously, she'd overheard his thoughts, just as intended. "Then how about this?"

Jaina unleashed a strong new array of assaults, but Natchios was ready and caught them all with an adept ease which wasn't usually found in one so young.

The duel went on several more minutes, but Natchios took over as victor long before it ended. He drove and trapped Jaina into a side corner of the room, disarmed the Hand of her lightsaber via the Force, caught it in hand, and prepared for the deathblow. Only Jaina abruptly dropped and rolled out of the trap, using her legs to wrap around his center and flip him to the floor. Somersaulting to a stand, she tripped his rising form, pulled out a dagger from her pocket and held it at his throat the same instant she deactivated his weapons in hand and Force threw them from his hold.

The match was over; the master had again beat the student.

Natchios was furious beyond words that he'd been bested by Jaina yet again and glared up at her from his knocked down position. Jaina merely sneered back, but did remove the knife from his throat and held out a hand for him to rise up. He ignored it and rose by himself, stalking over towards where his lightsaber was thrown and clipping it onto his belt.

On the sidelines stood his younger twin sister, Narcissa. Brown haired, yet blue-eyed unlike he who had brown eyes, the similarities resumed there. Like Natchios, Narcissa had been training in the Sith Arts since infancy, one-year-old to be exact. At the time their training began, however, they were tutored by Baynetta herself. Until they reached age six did Jaina then take over, and they would continue to train with her until they reached thirteen and the Empress would consequently test them upon becoming official Hands for Her Majesty. Natchios found the honor of serving the mighty Sith Lady, out of all the other recruits she could've chosen, to be awe-inspiring. He and his sister remembered nothing of a life previous to the Empress, and frankly, they didn't much care. The importance of life was thinking about the present, and perhaps musing over the future. Yet not to the point of obsession. Small thoughts every now and again, but nothing more. Thus saith Baynetta herself.

The twins were trained in every single form of combat that existed. From blaster rifles to hand guns, detonators to explosives, vibroswords to lightsabers, the list went on and on. At their current stage on nine years in training, Natchios and Narcissa were far beyond what usually kids their age were trained in any path of succession. Sans Drake, they were making their presence known in the Empress' Circle of Sith and might someday surpass even Jaina. In which case, the twins hoped they could kill her as their test of becoming Empress' Hands. Because like Natchios, Narcissa held a passion of disdain towards Jaina as well. It disgusted them both that an ex-Jedi was within their ranks of Sith, and a master at that. But Baynetta was furiously defiant in the notion that Jaina was as much an asset to her order as Drake.

The Empress' Executor was a completely different topic with the twins. Natchios and Narcissa liked, respected, and looked up to him. Many a time, the duo had ventured the question of why he couldn't be their master instead of Jaina. The way they saw it, Drake used to an Empress' Hand too, even if it was to the previous Empress of the Grievous-Skywalker House. How come he couldn't train them? This was something Drake himself also voiced when they presented this to him. However, Baynetta had her reasons, of which she did not disclose to the twins or Drake. Nonetheless, whenever he was at the Palace, the siblings snuck training sessions with him and he taught them a hell of a lot more than Jaina usually did. If the Empress knew anything about these secret meetings, she voiced nothing to the contrary, which made Natchios think she did know and simply said nothing as a way to create even more of a conflict between Drake and Jaina.

Natchios enjoyed how Drake pushed he and his sister to their full potential whenever they trained. Unlike Jaina, who mainly sneered and taunted them (though she did offer the rare word of encouragement as previously seen from time to time), Drake was a true Sith and had been all his life. Jaina didn't even come close to comparison in this area, as she didn't begin any real Force training until she was fourteen. And it was in the Jedi Arts. Not until she was twenty did she fully begin practicing the ways of the Sith. In the twins' eyes, Drake was, and always would be, a much powerful master than Jaina could ever hope to achieve.

Natchios was pulled from his musings as Jaina joined he and Narcissa at the sparing mat's sidelines, yet was soon wishing death upon her as he observed the leering smile which was presently a lit her face.

"You're angry Natchios," she reproached. "Why?"

"I would've beat you if you hadn't cheated at the end." The words spewed from his mouth before he could stop them. And he realized, all too late, how stupid they sounded.

"Really?" She was humored by his childish words. "Are you requesting a rematch then? Because I didn't cheat. As long as your foe is bested, it doesn't matter how you do it, as long as it's done. You, Natchios, talented though you may be, cannot continue to blame you losses on cheating."

His anger swelled even more, though, Natchios then realized she was testing him. Was he going to explode in a tidal wave of rage and furiously attack her only to be knocked down again, or was he going to simply stand there and give her a scorning smile which said he was over his childish anger and ready to accept defeat for the umpteenth time? He chose to go with the second option, much to Jaina's delight.

"You're learning Natchios. Good." She turned to his twin. "Narcissa step up please. And let us begin."

Much like Natchios, Narcissa started the fight as soon as Jaina finished speaking the readying sentence. Ruby red blade activated, Jaina had little time to activate her own crimson one as Narcissa was engaging her in battle.

The twins were equal in their skills with neither being greater than the other. It'd always been that way and probably always would. Their moves were never predictable, however, even if Natchios was known for his defensive attacks, and Narcissa for her offensive. That's what Jaina liked about her pupils. They were always surprising her, yet not so much that she couldn't keep up.

Narcissa blocked all of Jaina's attacks with an ease that was close to arrogance, yet not quite. Whenever she spared with her "master", Narcissa used the disdain she held towards her to help succeed in her conquest. And it almost always worked, though, the word _almost_ is stressed to the extreme in this instance. Jaina always managed to do something which kept Narcissa from accomplishing her goal of besting her. Rather it be pulling out of the fight to preform some slick move, tripping her up with an added maneuver Narcissa didn't know how to deflect, or throwing her off with an intended attack that turned out to be a par. Jaina always did something to stop Narcissa just when she was making process. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise when Jaina jumped out of the way of a strike Narcissa threw, causing the apprentice to run into a wall and fall on her back. Jaina then retrieved Narcissa's activated lightsaber from her hands with the Force and leveled it down at her throat with a smirk.

Natchios shared the rage his sister felt at this defeat. Jaina had done that on purpose. Nevertheless, Narcissa did not complain or speak words of rage. She merely waited for Jaina to lower the blade, rose, gave a slight bow, and accepted her deactivated weapon when it was handed to her.

"You're also learning Narcissa," Jaina said. "I'm impressed."

Narcissa made no word towards the comment, simply nodded again and joined Natchios on the sidelines.

"That will be all for today children," she continued. "You may go now."

Both Natchios and Narcissa gave a bow and took their leave.

Indeed, the importance of life was with one's mind on the present. But man oh man could the twins not wait until they turned thirteen and hopefully brought an end to Jaina Solo.


	134. Treachery

Author's Note: Thanks to both Twisterblake and MissNaye for your reviews. A big shocker, or maybe not so big shocker, occurs in this chapter. I say not so big because I'm sure there are those of you whom have been anticipating this since two chapters ago.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 12: Treachery

39.5 Imperial Era

"_Betrayal is one of the worst deeds a person can commit."_

-Lumiya

Imperial City, Imperial Center

The Imperial Palace was always a vision to be beheld. It appeared as a hybrid of a cathedral and a monumental pyramid, and reached the height of 3 kilometers, making it the tallest building on Imperial Center. Beneath the structure of the Palace where a series of chambers that held the Imperial Information Center. The immense building was made of polished gray-green rock and mirrored crystals. Even at night, such as now, it never grew dark as blazing illumination from phosphorescent panels, glowspheres, and electroluminescence strips kept the structure in a shower of blazing light. Gardens were also located to the side of the building to add a final touch.

Three years had passed since Luke's death, the terrorist attack on Bakura, the exiled Grievous-Skywalkers joined together, and Lacovia began her undercover act with the Empire. The reason for the three-year period was simple. Troy and Arica wished for Allana, Gabriella, and Lacovia to acquire more training in the Force before they officially began their uprising against Baynetta. The female trio underwent the same training Troy and Arica endured before them, but in a shortened length. Gabriella trained with Troy, Lacovia with Arica, and Allana with Lumiya. Each progressed greatly, and became much better in the Force Arts than they could've ever hoped to have been before.

It was finally time. Time to put their next step into motion. It required that the six split in half and teams of two, but they were more than capable of fulfilling their own individual missions separately. Thus they parted, both teams going to their own separate destinations with the intent at success.

It was Lacovia, Troy, and Gabriella that were observing the luminousness of the Imperial Palace from a far off distance, and yet not too far off. And though the trio took a moment to admire the beautiful structure, it was only for a moment, as their minds returned to the task at hand: Take out Natchios and Narcissa Jade and Ben Skywalker.

The three had arrived on Imperial Center a few hours before at sunset under the cover of a large shuttle and ventured into the city underworld. From there, they laid low a few hours and then, when it was dark enough, made for the Palace in the intrigue of night. This led to their present position.

Moving out from behind a pyramidal shaped museum, which was only a short distance south of the Palace, the trio crept forward with their presences cloaked and minds set on how exactly they were going to infiltrate the high-security building. It came to them as they reached the base of the structure. The Imperial Palace consisted of many small towers around it, some of which grew higher the closer to the peak one came. They would simply have to jump from tower to tower, moving on up until they found where one of their victims resided.

It didn't take long until they came across one, probably after about five jumps each. It was in one of the small towers, actually, which was topped by a triangular shaped skylight. Through it, the trio saw a brown haired girl of thirteen sluggishly entering what appeared to be a bedroom below and collapsing onto its bed in exhaustion. She was out within moments.

Troy averted his gaze from the sleeping Narcissa and onto his sisters with a small grin. The young teen had clearly just endured a grueling training session that took away a lot of energy. Perfect. This should be fairly easy then. Objecting to Lacovia's desire to simply crash through the skylight and into the room below, Troy neatly burned a hole large enough to admit each of them down through with his lightsaber and floated the chuck of glass out of the skylight and onto the plateau he, Lacovia, and Gabriella were crouched on. He dropped down first, slowing his pace to a soft landing as he reached the bedroom floor. Gabriella did the same, but Lacovia didn't, and loudly fell to the floor with a clatter that awoke Narcissa. Catching sight of the trio, the girl's eyes widened. Yet she was off the bed in no time, lightsaber activated and running at them in attack. Troy and Gabriella had just enough time to send an annoyed glare at the rising Lacovia before they were meeting Narcissa's blade assaults with their own.

Previous to falling asleep, Narcissa had indeed just finished another one of she and her brother's private training sessions with Drake in the Executor's residential chambers several floors below. The twins were only weeks away from their test to become the Empress' Hands, and both Drake and Jaina wanted them to be ready for whatever the Empress threw at them. Jaina seemed positive with the idea that Baynetta would challenge them both to a duel, while Drake foresaw Natchios and Narcissa overcoming Jaina in a combat battle. Nevertheless of whatever it was, she and Natchios couldn't be more thrilled. This was something they'd been looking forward to their entire lives; they would make themselves succeed no matter what. Including the long durations of training they were forced to endure. Today's session in particular exhausted Narcissa to the utmost, resulting in her collapse onto the bed in slumber. But the all-day training session was satisfying nonetheless, and she and her brother continued to flourish in their skills, which were currently helping Narcissa as she fought three of the six exiled Grievous-Skywalkers: the ex-Third Prince Troy and the ex-Second and Third Princesses Lacovia and Gabriella. What they could be doing here of all places, thirteen years after their exile, was beyond Narcissa, but she would not, however exhausted she may be, let them succeed.

The trio struck and slammed their blades onto hers and tried every other trick in the book of defeating one's opponent, but Narcissa was there every time countering the attacks, much to their impression, she sensed. Though as the duel continued to become more deadly and violent, and Narcissa's exhaustion increased, it became clear she was not going to win against the three alone. She assayed at calling out to Natchios, only she couldn't. He wasn't dead, no, but she just couldn't reach out and touch his signature. Taking a glance at the smirk on Troy's face gave her an idea that he somehow had something to do with it, yet she was baffled as to how he could disrupt the connection she had with her twin. Deciding not to think about it, she tried at calling Drake. It was the same as her brother. She couldn't touch his signature either. She tried Jaina.

Nothing.

Baynetta.

Nothing.

Natchios again.

Nothing.

And even Drake again.

Still nothing,

Narcissa was frustrated. How could the ex-Prince do this? But she didn't have time to ponder the answer. She was on her own in this fight, yet she knew she couldn't take the three. If Troy wouldn't allow her contact with her fellow Sith via telepathy, she'd just have to do it the hard way: manually. However, disengaging from the fight also proved challenging, as it seemed the trio knew this was her intent and advanced their attacks even more in response. She finally got away, however, by pulling off the drop-roll technique Jaina seemed fond of. But just barely. Narcissa had to evade the throws of Force the trio sent after her before she was able to cut down her bedroom door during the roll and continue it down the spiral staircase, which led to the rest of her quarters on the tenth level of the Palace's residential floors and ultimately the rest of the Palace.

As Narcissa fell down the stairs, she both heard and sensed the trio pursuing her. But she'd already gotten a good head start, which enabled her to jump up from her roll upon reaching the stairs bottom, kick the tower door open, and race through her quarters to the exit. She made it outside just upon hearing the tower door slam shut behind the trio, but did not look back to see how close they were to her. She raced down the golden floor and walled entrance hall of her quarters at Force-enhanced speed and then down the side stairs with the intent of getting Drake's help on the seventh floor. But the trio was gaining on her. She didn't have time to stop and enter Drake's quarters, for that would give her enemies the opportunity to grab her. Instead, she continued to race down the stairs at another idea.

On and on, Narcissa went without cease until reaching the Grand Corridor. The high-ceiled and cut-glass windowed centerpiece was also the Imperial Palace's immense entrance hall and the prospect of people, Imperial agents in particular, being there was more than likely. Though Narcissa had never been in the Grand Corridor before, as she and her brother's presence at the Palace was to remain secret until they became the Empress' Hands. But this was an emergency. The attention Narcissa had hoped to draw to herself upon entrance was noted by several Imperial operatives and they rushed over to her running form.

"Halt! Identify yourself!"

"No time," she panted as she slowed somewhat the nearer she got to them. "The exiled royals, Troy, Gabriella, and Lacovia are here. The Empress is in danger! You must stop them from overthrowing her."

Before any questions could be asked, as Narcissa knew they would, the exiled trio themselves entered the hall, lightsabers lit and Imperial agents opened fire upon them.

The male officer that had spoken to Narcissa moved her out of the battle and off onto the side of the room. "Stay here!" he urged before joining his fellows in the crossfire.

Troy, Gabriella, and Lacovia deflected the bolts of blaster fire that were shot at them with ease, disarming the others with a call of the Force and then taking them down. Narcissa was deeply impressed by the three. Foes though they were, they had more skill than she would've thought possible. Being wielders of the light _and_ dark sides of the Force and all.

"_Narcissa?!"_

"_Natchios!" _she exclaimed telepathically. _"Finally! The exiles, Troy, Gabriella, and Lacovia are here!"_

"_I know," _ he informed. _"Me, Drake, and Jaina are on our way down now. Keep them busy until we arrive."_

"_Actually, I think the Intelligence operatives and stormtroopers are doing a fine job of that by themselves."_

More Imperial agents, uniformed or armored, were storming through the Grand Doors of the Palace past screaming and escaping civilians, rushing towards the exiles in combat. But the trio continued to fight back with the precision which was perpetual in the way it aided them. And then Drake, Jaina, and Natchios arrived, and something happened that had Narcissa and various others of the Grand Corridor's occupants, Natchios and Jaina included, becoming overwhelmed with shock. Lacovia abruptly ceased deflecting blaster bolts and lunged at Troy and Gabriella in an attack that Drake joined. The exiled Princess' siblings were utterly dumbfounded by what she was doing and everyone in the vicinity – agents, Jaina, the twins – froze to observe the scene in front of them.

The way Lacovia started the attack against her siblings and Drake immediately joined in to aide her, one would think this betrayal was prearranged long before the present time. Narcissa knew that Drake and Lacovia had once fought alongside one another years and years ago as teenagers, but that was when everyone was on the same side under Emperor Skywalker's reign. Nearly twenty years ago. Why after so many years of not seeing one another would the two abruptly team up against the very people Lacovia was supposed to be on the side of? Could Lacovia have been working for her family's opposing side in secret? Was this breaking into the Palace actually a set up for Troy and Gabriella? Somehow, Narcissa sensed it was, and couldn't help but smirk at the thought.

Troy and Gabriella seemed to have gotten over the shock of Lacovia's betrayal and were fighting back against their sister and Drake with the utmost hatred imaginable. In fact, the swings of their black and rainbow blades seemed to snarl as they crashed down upon those of Lacovia and Drake's repeatedly. As to how long the four went at it, no one quite remembered. What was remembered, however, was the sudden high kick Drake launched at Troy's face and Lacovia's leg swinging beneath her brother's feet to trip him. It didn't work the first time, as Gabriella helped him evade it. But when she was Force slammed onto the other side of the room by a combination of both Drake and Lacovia's powers, they launched it again. However, this time with the aide of Jaina and Natchios throwing attacks at his middle with their own kicks, yet particularly the ribs. He collapsed to the floor back first and was suddenly being overwhelmed by streams of ysalamiri-wearing Intelligence operatives, which entered through the same side entrance Drake, Jaina, and Natchios had. Though she couldn't much see what was going on through the jumble of agents, Narcissa sensed that Troy was being disarmed, yet also trying to fight against the strong hold the ysalamiri was having on him. But there was a lot in the room. So much, in fact, that it was even having an effect on Narcissa, and she was some distance away from where the action was happening, still in the same corner the agent had shown her to.

With everyone's attention on Troy in the process of being captured, Gabriella took that as her way to escape through one of the corridor's many cut-glass windows. It wasn't really the fact that the Third Ex-Princess was crashing through a window made of transparisteel that surprised Narcissa, but the act itself. Gabriella was abandoning her brother to the fate of the Empress rather than trying to help him.

Unbeknown to the young Empress' Hand Apprentice, however, Gabriella had every intention of rescuing Troy, but he urged her to go, save herself, and warn the others of Lacovia's betrayal. Though still hesitant, she did so, flinging herself out one of the side windows, landing safely in the palace gardens and running at Force-enhanced speed out of the royal complex. She eventually slowed down, however, and took to hiding in Imperial Center's underworld, as the Empress' Executor wasn't allowing any ships on or off-planet until she was found. Gabriella also couldn't contact her mother, Allana, or Lumiya about Lacovia because any Force calls by her would be detected by the Force nexus Drake, Lacovia, Natchios, Narcissa, Jaina, and Baynetta had created. She was stuck. Once again in hiding from the very person supposed to be overthrown, as well as her own sister. Gabriella could not believe Lacovia's betrayal. It was unthinkable and something that had not happened recently. Lacovia had to have been working undercover for Empire sometime now. Probably in-between the time Arica, Troy, and Allana saw her and Gabriella's own visit. She'd met someone else in that two-week period and it was probably Drake. After all, the Navy's Commander-in-chief had been in the Outer Rim at the time following the explosive attack on Bakura. Lacovia and Drake had been best friends once, and Drake most likely used that and Lacovia's anger over Luke's death, their mother's second abandoning, and everything else she held enmity towards to his advantage. Gabriella wouldn't be surprised even if the two were involved in some sort of love affair. One thing was for certain. Lacovia had been playing them for the past three years now. Pretending to be of one mind with the family over Baynetta's overthrowing when she was actually only using them to pass information to the enemy. It made Gabriella sick. And she promised herself, someday soon, she was going to kill Lacovia for what she'd done to them.


	135. Infliction

Author's Note: Thanks again to both MissNaye and Twisterblake for your reviews. They're much appreciated.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 13: Infliction

_He will strengthen himself through pain_

-Prophecy of the Sith, foretold in tassel artifact

Imperial Palace

Baynetta sat atop her throne at the Imperial Palace peak, a satisfied smile playing across her face. The Empress had sensed everything which transpired that night many levels beneath her concerning the exiled trio before and after it occurred. Yet deliberately stayed where she was on top of it all to let Drake, Jaina, and the twins handle it.

Now, while legions of stormtroopers and Intelligence operatives were out searching for Gabriella, her older brother Troy was being brought before Baynetta to face whatsoever judgment she placed upon him.

Would it be death?

Most likely not yet. The Sith Lady wanted to have some fun with Skywalker's only remaining son before ordering his eradication.

It was truly a pity. Troy had already done the honors of killing her own son with Skywalker, Luke. That was something she'd always dreamed of doing herself. Nonetheless, Baynetta felt Troy deserved some type of reward for his accomplishment. But what?

Ah...yes. That was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he'd never see it coming to him.

* * *

A bound and ysalamiri draped Troy was led by an entourage of Drake, Lacovia, Jaina, the Jade twins, and a great number of Intelligence operatives out of the Grand Corridor and up multiple levels to the structure's crown, where he knew Darth Lady Baynetta would be waiting for him. 

The thirty-three year old Force Master had eventually surrendered to the ysalamiri's power over himself and stopped fighting it. He actually found through that way, yielding to the very thing he was being overcome by, that he was able to sustain some type of control over and strength within himself in spite of the ysalamiri wrapped around his shoulders.

Yet to him, the biggest blow wasn't being captured and left to fend for himself against Baynetta and her underlings, but what Lacovia had done to them, and had been doing to them all these years. He'd pretty much came to the same conclusion Gabriella had concerning the matter. The two week period between his and Gabriella's visits to Lacovia caused her to change her mind and join them. It had nothing to do with a good sister-to-sister chat like they'd all hoped. It was Drake. Lacovia and he had come to some sort of a agreement and she went with it. It was heartbreaking, but then it was also apart of her nature. Lacovia never forgave easily, and when she was hurt, she acted on her anger and desire for revenge. Troy should've foreseen something like this beforehand and questioned her more on why she really decided to join up with them. And yet he hadn't. For the obvious reason that she was his sister. He loved her and always wanted to think the best of her, not the worst as she always tried to find in people. And Lacovia used that love he held for her – the love they all held for her – against them for an attempted downfall. But she would not succeed. As much as he loved his sister, Troy would more than readily kill her because of her betrayal if the opportunity presented itself. Lacovia would not get away with her treachery. None of them would. For eventually, what comes around, goes around.

Finally, Troy and his captors entered the room that held many a lingering memory for everyone who'd been present during the battle that preceded Baynetta's taking of the crown: The Massacre of the Grievous-Skywalker Royal House aka the Third Battle of Coruscant. Though five of the family's members had already been killed before this (Philomena, Cole, Dylan, Elektra, and Leila), six more perished in the throne room battle (the Emperor Skywalker, Hilton, River, Alexander, Anneliese, and Antellica), plus another whom had grown close to the family and probably would've eventually become a member if things worked out differently: Jaina Solo's twin brother, Jacen. She'd killed him herself with her own blade and hatred because during their time as Jedi, he and Anneliese had killed the Solo twins' younger brother, Aaron, when he refused to join the Empire's New Order of light side-dark side Force users.

Troy remembered Jacen's death, as well as the others, as though it'd only happened yesterday rather than thirteen years ago. Only thing was, unlike before, he could think about it now without being overcome with grief. He missed his family yes, and cursed Baynetta's very existence for taking them away, but wasn't being driven by revenge as Lacovia was concerning his own murder of Luke.

Baynetta was in the very spot Troy expected her to be: the 100 meter high throne podium, which overlooked the entire structure and planet surrounding it. He was marched to the dais and urged to bow before the Empress, yet he didn't budge and merely stood there, unmoved by the seriousness of the situation. He knew she wasn't going to kill him just yet. She still had uses for him, and the stalling would also prove useful for Troy in a planned escape. But as for the current, he was to stay put. The Force had a purpose for him to be here, and until that was fulfilled, here was where he'd remain.

"Troy Grievous Skywalker," Baynetta announced in a loud, ringing voice, rising from her throne chair and beginning a descent down the hundred stairs that led to the dais. "My, look what thirteen years will do to a person! At my remembrance of you at our last and only meeting, you were yet to become an adult and a lot more arrogant than was probably fitting for one so young, no matter what his status was. And now look at you! A seasoned warrior of thirty-three and one of the most powerful Force beings alive under myself, your mother, and one called Lumiya. Tell me about her, will you."

"What is there to tell?" he asked in a tone of calm. "She was your father's first apprentice during the era of the Sith Empire that preceded the dethroned New Galactic Republic."

"Her survival from Mustafar and Exar Kun's blade," the Empress pressed.

Troy gave a bitter laugh. "I'm sure by now, Lacovia's told you all you need to know concerning the subject."

"She might have. But I wish to hear it from another's mouth."

"And if I refuse because I think it's pointless to repeat facts that are already known...?"

"You wouldn't deny me what I want, would you Troy?" Her tone was overly sour to be sweet. "Especially in the position you're presently in."

"This isn't a social chat Baynetta. So stop pretending it is."

Baynetta smirked. "It seems you really have changed. But then, I suppose you would have to have killed your own brother in cold blood."

"Luke was my half-brother, as you were his mother, not Arica Grievous."

The Empress held back an eye roll. "Do you think that really matters?"

"Actually, yes I do. Just as I think Natchios and Narcissa have a right to know of the reason they're marked for death by the Grievous-Skywalkers, as it has nothing to do with where their loyalties lie, but whom it was that brought them into the Galaxy to begin with."

Troy spared a glance in the twins' direction, and though their confusion was kept beneath the surface, he sensed it nonetheless. He then looked back to the still descending Baynetta. "You don't ever intend on telling them, do you? Of your relation to them?"

The Empress decided to play coy to annoy him. "Relation? To Natchios and Narcissa?! I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Troy."

"Oh, I'm sorry." His tone was sarcastic. "So you mean to say the fact that you kidnapped your daughter, Leila, because she _just happened_ to pregnant with a twin boy-girl set that you intended on using as apprentices escapes you?" He smirked. "Come now Baynetta. You should be proud to call Natchios and Narcissa your grandchildren. They're much more advanced in the Force than I'm sure you were at their age. And they're not an embarrassment to you like Ben is."

"Enough!"

It was Drake, not Baynetta, who'd spoken the sharp command. Troy smirked again,but spared another glance in the twins' direction and winked at the bafflement that they weren't even attempting to hide anymore before turning back to the Empress' Executor.

"Is it Drake? No, I don't think it is. While we're talking about family ties, why don't we add your relation to the twins and Ben additionally?"

Drake let loose a stream of Force-lightning, but Troy merely rose a simple digit to deflect the energy back at the sender. The twins, Jaina, and Intelligence operatives appeared floored at his simple display of power, and even Baynetta was mildly impressed. Drake, however, as well as Lacovia, was furious and made to up the amount and volume of the lightning, only Baynetta stopped him by sending a wave of energy between he and Troy, which evaporated the lightning emitting from Drake's fingertips. By now, she'd reached the dais and was standing in front of the group, though she addressed Troy.

"Enough conversation. If you don't want to tell me what I want to know about Lumiya, so be it. You can rot in the dungeons below until she and the rest of your family make a rescue essay, which will lead to their ultimate downfall."

Surprisingly, all Troy did was smile. "Whatever you say. You're the master here."

Baynetta's expression took on a strange, almost disturbed look. "You really have changed."

"As you continue to tell me," he said. "I get that remark a lot. From you, I'll take it as a compliment, or insult if you like. I don't much care."

"I see there's a lot more of your father in you than I originally thought," she replied, taking note of the dry wit. The Empress then turned to the rest of the group. "Take him to the dungeons. I shall meet you there momentarily..."

* * *

There were a total of three prison complexes in the Imperial Palace. The first was near the peak, just below the throne room. It was known as the Royal Prison, and only contained people of high society whom committed treacherous crimes against the government. It was also the smallest of the three. The second complex was near the core of the structure, right beneath the residential suites. This was a small, but sizable Intelligence prison and somewhat larger than the one above. But the main prison complex of the Empress was beneath the building in an underground Mandalorian iron fitted and ysalamiri decorated facility that was as large as the Palace was in diameter. It was Baynetta's personal prison and a favorite of hers, as it was also a torture chamber as well. 

Metal chains for dangling, rings of fire, and devices of all types to inflict pain with where a small few of the many things that could be found within these walls.

It just so happened that the reward Baynetta had thought up earlier for Troy's accomplishment of killing Luke laid in this torture chamber and she was eager to get the presentation underway. As requested, he was brought to the underground prison and thrown into a dank, dark room of the chambers. With Natchios, Narcissa, Drake, Jaina, and Lacovia as an audience (the Intelligence operatives were told to leave), Baynetta reached out within herself and stripped Troy of his Force sensitivity.

Turning a Force sensitive person into a non-Force sensitive person was an extremely hard task, only capable of being done by those who have at least forty to fifty years of Force training under their belt. It was the same basic technique with making a non-Force sensitive person Force sensitive, only the other way around and harder. The result of the master who performed this, nevertheless, was satisfying. The condition of the one stripped, however, was drastic. It was as though an entire part of their identity had been pulled out from within them with no way of getting it back, as recovery of the Force once it was taken was not likely. Only those who'd been super powerful beforehand had a chance to regain some of their abilities, but never all.

This description fitted Troy perfectly. He felt lost without the Force, and it was then that Baynetta realized without it, the mighty Troy Grievous Skywalker wasn't much of anything. He couldn't deflect Force-lightning attacks, counter Force-chokes, or block massive energy throws from one point of the room to the other. He was merely an ordinary non-Force sensitive person, very much inferior to Baynetta and her underlings, and no different than his own mother had once been before the Force was given to her by Darth Sidious.

But Baynetta didn't stop there, though she could've. She was not at all finished with him and would not stop until he was broken to the near point of death, but not give him what he craved no matter what.

Next came the shaving of his head. A slightly deranged Troy was moved into another room and placed in a torture chair, where coils were wrapped around his wrists and ankles while Baynetta ran a razor along his head, cutting away the long dark brown wavy locks of hair that were as much apart of Troy's identity as the Force was. Because even though he didn't worship his looks anymore, it was still dolorous for Troy to see his hair go.

Afterwards came the stripping of his clothing and sharp whips across his bare skin, dangling above a ring of hot flames via metal chains wrapped around his wrists, and Force attacks onto his mind where he was forced to relive his life's very few worse memories:

The battle in the throne room preceding exile; the viewing of his three youngest siblings' murders via a view-screen transmission from the Outer Rim and Wayland while he was on Coruscant with no way to help them; and his mother's first and second abandoning of the family.

Nonetheless of the fewness of the memories, the perpetual replay of them in Troy's mind finally gave Baynetta her wish of breaking him.

He was battered, bloody, weak, and utterly defeated against the infliction being placed upon him. But Troy didn't fight it, for he knew this was the reason he was captured. It was so he could endure another trial from the Sith Prophecy: He will strengthen himself through pain.

He'd already succeeded in two –

He will know brotherhood

He will remake himself

– and knew that he could get through this one as well if he put his all into it.

Finally, the torture ended and he was robed and thrown into a cell, but by who he didn't know, for by that time he was so out of it that he fell into unconsciousness the moment he hit the hard ground. Following this, the Empress, Drake, Lacovia, Jaina, and the Jade twins returned to the throne room and Lacovia told the assembly of Sith her mother's current plans and location on the Deep Core world Byss with Allana and Lumiya.

And even though Lacovia had served the Empire faithfully in secret for the past three years, Baynetta still had her doubts about the woman. However, these were proven wrong at Lacovia's actions that day. She truly was one of them, and for that Baynetta rewarded her.

"Welcome into the Imperial Circle of the Sith, Lacovia," Baynetta said to the bowing ex-Princess. "May you serve me well."


	136. Confrontation

Author's Note: Here's a nice, semi-long action-packed chapter. Enjoy and review. Please!

MissNaye: It all goes down in this chapter.

G-Anakin 13: Definitely.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 14: Confrontation

"_...what comes around, goes around."_

-Troy Grievous Skywalker on revenge, though mainly his sister Lacovia

Deep Core, Deep Core Security Zone, Beshqek System, Byss: Some Hours Earlier

Near the center of the Galaxy, and discovered no earlier than 26 NRE, was Byss.

The world itself was somewhat of a myth, seeming to be the perfect place to live. Its eerie blue-green glow, caused by its sun, also added to the strangeness of the world. Despite this outward appearance, however, Empress Baynetta's dark side energies were everywhere, corrupting not only the inhabitants, but the planet itself.

Byss was the secret throne world of the Sith Empress and location of her towering Imperial Citadel. Her throne away from throne on Imperial Center.

During the Galactic Empire's expansion into the Deep Core after Baynetta's overthrowing of the Grievous-Skywalkers in 26 Imperial Era, the reinstated Empress selected Byss as her personal retreat and secret throne world. Though later she drew ignorant followers to the planet under the pretext that it was a paradise world. Among them were survivors of the hundred-some destroyed worlds, which she offered to resettle on Byss in a public speech delivered soon after the destruction of half.

Once citizens had settled into their new lives on the pleasure world, the Empress revealed her true plans for Byss. Immigrants lived out their lives in elaborate pageants and amusements, which distracted them from what Baynetta was really doing: draining their life energies to power abominable experiments. This is how Byss was eventually and entirely enveloped in the Dark Side of the Force, the eerie blue-green sunlight that bathed it in a strange glow acting as proof.

A local day on Byss lasted 31 standard hours, and a local year 207 standard days. Its diameter was 10,800 km; atmosphere: breathable; climate: temperate; gravity: 88; primary terrain: lakes, plateaus, and urban sprawl; surface water: 71; and population: 19.7 billion.

The world was also encircled by a field of scanner satellites that would report to Gauntlet Scanner Stations, the name of several Golan III defense platforms responsible for coordinating the space traffic around Byss, any suspicious activity or trespassing space vessels they registered. The stations could then launch an attack, either alone (as their firepower equaled some capital ships), or in conjunction with Gauntlet-class Star Cruisers, which were tirelessly patrolling the system.

In addition to being part of the orbital defensive, the Gauntlet stations also provided headquarters for Imperial officers to supervise the daily operation of the Security Zone. This included control systems for allowing starships to land or depart from the surface of Byss.

Each station also housed a number of TIE fighter squadrons and other defensive forces, ready to fight if any naval force were to try and attack the capital. Though they were heavily armed, these stations also constituted one of the few points of vulnerability in the Security Zone. Yet it would require a highly trained force to actually capture one of the stations. An additional factor was the willingness of Baynetta to order a full strike on any compromised station, thus making any hijacking a risky endeavor.

But why go through all that trouble when one could simply take a public transport to get on-world? That's what Arica, Allana, and Lumiya did, otherwise known as Strike GS II.

The ex-Emperor's golden blonde hair allowed her to blend in without recognition, as it wasn't hard to come across a blonde mixed woman these days. Lumiya and Allana, meanwhile, were pretty much unknown, as both were young children when recognizable. The Millennium-old Dark Lady of the Force was dressed in a casual gray jumpsuit and black boots with her hair hidden in a hat, while Allana was donned in a self-designed purple and black animal print dress-top, which reached a little above the knees in length and covered only a few inches of the black skintight pants she wore beneath it with booted heels.

The teenage Allana had experienced a large growth sprout in the three-year period between Kintooine and the present. Unlike before when she was thirteen but looked several years younger, now she was sixteen and no didn't look several years older, but one could actually guess her exact age by simply gazing at her.

Arica and Lumiya were both exceedingly proud of what they were now taking as a young woman. Allana was as fiery as her blazing red-gold hair and had the skill to back up her fierce demeanor. She was, in Arica's eyes, a mini-me of herself at that age.

So what reason could bring this female trio to Byss of all places?

Simple.

The superweapon projects that were in production at the Imperial Dept. of Military Research: Deep Core Headquarters at the dais of the Empress' Citadel.

It'd been years since the completion of such projects as Death Star II and the Orbital Nightcloaks. And while both were still in use – Death Star II stationed where Alderaan once laid and the Orbital Nightcloaks outside every known world in the galaxy – they were becoming obsolete and outdated. Fresh schematics of new superweapon projects had been viewed over since as early as Baynetta retook the government, but to no avail. Most of the ideas weren't fitting enough for the Empress' idea of an ultimate weapon, and until recently, engineers were continuously told to return to the drawing board. It wasn't until sometime after the terrorist attack on Bakura that an old Clone Wars-era idea was revisited.

From the Dark Reaper to Starkiller, Infinity Wave, and World Devastator, to finally Death Star I, superweapons were a thing of over fascination in the war between the CIS and the New Galactic Republic. But it was at the start of the nearly forty-years-ago war that one weapon, Planet Killer, failed to be used because the prototype was deactivated. The story went as such:

The Planet Killer was a large spherical weapon designed to destroy the world it detonated upon. Its creator built a prototype to show to Count Dooku five months after the Battle of Geonosis, hoping to sell it to the CIS. Just before it was due to be tested, however, Jedi Master Mace Windu deactivated it. And when the planet, somewhere in the Outer Rim, failed to explode, Dooku had the scientist taken away, and decided to continue development of the Ultimate Weapon, Death Star I.

Nonetheless of its size – about that of an old Trade Federation starship – and one-time use, Baynetta found the weapon useful and desired for its creator's location to be found. However, in the event that he wasn't, she ordered that a new design be drawn anyway from scratch. And it was a good thing this decision was made, for it turned out that the scientist had perished during the destruction of Muunilinst, being there on a ecological mission of some kind.

The longtime Imperial Commander Firmus Piett, because of his experience with both Death Stars, was in charge of the Planet Killers' production on Byss, and this was the destination of Strike GS II on-world. It was their goal to gain control of the superweapon productions with the help of Piett, an old friend and ally of the Grievous-Skywalkers, and thus use one of the Planet Killers to blow up Coruscant, or Imperil Center as it now known. The assault Strike GS I were currently leading on the capital was merely a diversion to the real plan. Arica's children were to make it seem their intent was to kill the Jade twins and Ben, when actually it was to draw the Empress and her underlings attention away from all else but what was going on in front of them. The trio would then make their escape off-planet, with or without any of the Palpatine's heads. None the matter, they would all die anyway with the destruction of Coruscant. Because it wasn't a matter of _if_, but _when_ they gained control of the superweapons.

Arica had given Piett his big break within the Empire towards the end of its first year, during the Mission to the Unknown Regions she led originally for the powerful crystal of the destroyed world Elderin but ultimately to expand the government further into the galaxy. The three-years-older officer had been nothing more than a Lieutenant-in-training during the time she was the Navy's Commander-in-chief. It was his warning to her that the crew of her then flagship, the _Executrix_, was planning a mutiny against her for not wanting to turn back to the known galaxy than continue on in a week-long asteroid belt that moved him to the rank of Commander following Arica's kill of the original. And from there he continued to rise on and on in both Palpatine's and the Grievous-Skywalker's empires. Over the years, he'd become a constant dinner guest at the Grievous-Skywalker's table, and was always venturing new ideas to the Emperor and Empress about this or that, though, it mainly had to do with improving the navy. Arica wasn't sure where Piett's loyalties laid since her family's overthrowing and Baynetta's thirteen-year reign, yet she was quite sure if he learned of her continued active existence, the shock alone might very well get him to join them.

The Empress' Citadel, also known as the Imperial Citadel, was a great black and red tinted tower located in the center of Byss' city-spanning metropolis, Throne City. This fortress, only second to the Imperial Palace in elegance, was constructed shortly after Baynetta's reclaim of the throne by Imperial slaves from many conquered worlds – including Gamorr, Toydaria, and Utapau – to complete the Citadel quickly. The majestic structure contained the personal quarters and offices of Baynetta and her officials: the Empress' throne room, cloning facilities, Dark Side Sith alchemical laboratories, the Great Hall, a war room, and libraries filled with dark side tomes to name several.

It was in this citadel, on the Empress' throne world, that Baynetta experimented on a wide range of life with her Dark Side powers, even sentient beings. There were also a series of training rooms in the Palace compound where the Empress once sometimes trained Natchios and Narcissa when they were her official apprentices. Jedi and Sith holocrons, which she had acquired over the years, were kept here rather than at the Imperial Palace for reasons all her own, and the Empress' throne room was also capable of serving as a military command center.

To top this off, there were also sub level breeding facilities, which birthed deadly Chrysalide rancors, aka fortress protectors. Elite Imperial Sovereign Protectors – the best of the Imperial Royal Guard – were also stationed at the Imperial Citadel and Military Research Center at its dais. So it came as no surprise when Arica's trio was met by several dozen of these upon their brisk march up to the two buildings on the plaza-size concourse that led up to it.

"Halt! Identify yourselves!"

"You will take me to whose in charge here, in which case is Commander Firmus Piett."

Arica said this without once slowing her pace, and with the combination of her, Lumiya, and Allana's Force abilities, they were able to gain influence over all thirty Elite Imperial Sovereign Protectors present and be shown into the Imperial Dept. of Military Research: Deep Core Headquarters (IDMR: DCH) without a struggle.

The insides of the five-story military research base, which went down as far as beneath the surface, was typical for an Imperial headquarters of this sort – scientists going this way and that, muttering to themselves, sparks flying from failed projects, etc. In fact, everyone the trio and their guard escorts passed didn't even show one glance of indifference towards them as they were all too busy with their own assignments.

Piett, it turns out, was found in the beneath ground level floors, overseeing the final touches being added to the Planet Killers. Unlike elsewhere, however, the engineers and workers on these levels did stop and stare at the entrance of so many guards, and Piett himself was pushing through the assembly of people to greet whomever it was in the center of so many guards. It could only be one person.

"Empress, I express my apologizes that not all one hundred of the weapons are ready presently," the Commander began, still pushing through a jumble of workers. "But I did specify their approved time being 0100 Hours tomorrow...morning..."

He trailed off at the parting of the guards and revelation of whom they'd brought with them.

"Forgive me for not getting the memo Commander," Arica said. "I am a busy woman after all." She smiled at the baffled shock that was playing across his middle-aged face. "Hello Firmus. Long time no see."

At this, Piett finally seemed to find his voice. Somewhat anyway. "Arica Grievous-Skywalker?! You-how-here-does this mean Baynetta has been overthrown?"

His hopeful voice told her all she needed to know. Again, the ex-Empress smiled. "Not yet. But together, with the containments of this very room, we can make that wish a reality..."

* * *

He was hesitant, yes. Terrified, even. But here before him was the answer to Baynetta's downfall. Most of the Empire had been heartbroken to learn of the Grievous-Skywalker's overthrowing, himself included. Though also cruel, and at times sadistic, the Grievous-Skywalkers didn't come anywhere near the Palpatines. They, or perhaps Baynetta in particular, were merciless killers. Taking out worlds left and right, and for the most ridiculous of reasons. Yes, the Yavin system and Hapes Consortium had been eradicated under the Grievous-Skywalker's reign, but only because if they hadn't, war would've broke out. But simply destroying a world because one or a few of its inhabitants are against the ruling government was non-ethical. And for thirteen years, Piett and many naval officers under him had to put up with this. Put up with Baynetta's iron hand, which crushed everything it came in contact with. But for no more. Yet Piett still hesitated, it was Arica's reminder to him that "if it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't even be where you are today as third-in-command of the navy" that made him finally agree as a repayment, if even so reluctantly. He and the Empire owed it to the Grievous-Skywalkers for a great many things: a thirteen-year period of peace between Palpatine's overthrowing and the Galactic Civil War; ridding the galaxy of the dreaded Palpatines, if even for an all-too-short twenty-one years; and the victory of two wars, among other things. The galaxy was better run under the Empire's predecessor rulers, and it was time they retook what was rightfully theirs. 

This decision of Piett's was made not a moment too soon, for right after his meeting with the ex-Empress and her companions, the base was being swarmed by Imperial forces from the capital led by Baynetta and an unexpected ally.

Arica, Lumiya, and Allana rushed out of Piett's office, light weapons lit to meet the enemy in battle and were enraged to see _Lacovia_ actually aiding Baynetta – the very person she was supposed to be against and had killed almost 75 of the family – in combat.

The moment Arica saw this, she knew her age-old premonition of Troy being stripped of the Force and his hair while Lacovia merely stood watch beside a smirking Baynetta had come to pass. Lacovia had betrayed them, despite her perpetual denials to the contrary. Several times Arica had questioned Lacovia's loyalty over the years and even showed her the vision in question. And every time Lacovia gave her the same answer: "I would never betray you mom. Never."

The backstabbing lier! She'd been betraying them since the beginning, and they'd been too blind to see it because of their _love_ for her. Never again though. Family or not, Lacovia had crossed the line of treachery to no return. Arica could never forgive her for what she'd done to them – encasing them into a trap of death – and knew what had to be done to teach her oldest child a lesson. She had to kill her.

Arica cut through a stream of stormtroopers to battle Lacovia and was met by the skill that only she could've taught her. The mother-daughter team had been training together for the past three years, and obviously had mastered one another's moves when it came to the art of sparring. It was almost impossible for one to beat the other anymore. They were that even. But Arica was still superior and the master here. And that was something Lacovia was going to have to be shown.

Lumiya, meanwhile, was squaring off with Baynetta on the plaza concourse outside the building. Lumiya's lightwhip against the Sith Empress' crimson blade. Baynetta had offered her father's first apprentice a chance to join her, but Lumiya declined that as well as a historical chat concerning how she survived Mustafar, Exar Kun, and all these years. This resulted in Baynetta attacking her, but Lumiya met all of the sixty-plus year-old's assaults with adept ease. The duel wasn't too fast, yet at the same time it wasn't too slow either. A moderate speed for two women up in age. But Lumiya was winning, to no one's surprise and anger but Baynetta's. She would not let herself be bested by this light side/dark side wielder however. That was something she just wouldn't allow. Baynetta would show this arrogant old part machine whom the more powerful one was between them, and take delight in Lumiya's defeat as she begged and pleaded to be allowed to live. Yet by that point, it would be too late.

While Arica and Lumiya kept Baynetta and Lacovia busy, Allana dealt with the legions of stormtroopers, which were firing all about them, with the strong swipes of her emerald green blade. She was able to lure most of them out of the base and onto the plaza concourse Baynetta and Lumiya were dueling on without having it interfere with their own fight for dominance too much.

Left and right the teenage Dathomiri Witch cut down every Imperial who came in her path, deflected bolts of laser fire back at the shooter's, and threw waves of the Force in the form of whirlwinds at her enemies to knock them off their feet and disarm them. Allana was definitely in her element, and getting better by the second.

Lacovia and Arica's duel eventually also led outside the base and onto the action-filled concourse in the thralls of battle. If Lacovia succeeded in killing her mother today that would also give her the prime chance of killing Baynetta, Lumiya, and Allana in addition to everyone else on Byss all at once by darting back into the base, activating one of the ready Planet Killers, and fleeing the world before it detonated in a ball of flames. Then, she would return to Imperial Center and, along with Drake, kill Troy, Gabriella (when found), Jaina and Ben, though Natchios and Narcissa would probably have to remain alive since Drake seemed to have taken a liking in them, and Lacovia would always follow in whatever her paramour wanted. After which, she and Drake would be crowned the new Emperor and Empress, and rule together with no one to stand in their way of power.

"I see Drake already has you brainwashed into thinking you'll be ruling side by side with him if you succeed here."

Lacovia mostly ignored her mother. She would not let herself become distracted with conversation.

"You're a treacherous beast Lacovia," she continued, not seeming to be able to shut up, "and are no longer my daughter. I will never forgive you for hurting Troy and Gabriella, and what you've done to us as a family."

"Good." Lacovia decided to humor her. "That means we're even then, as you abandoned _us as a family_ one too many times to forgive. Ever."

The fight continued, and Arica decided to try a decoy attempt in the act that she was losing to Lacovia's increasing strikes for an advantage. But she should've known better. Even in her arrogance, Lacovia wasn't stupid.

"Get up Arica," she snarled as her mother faked a free fall as result of one of Lacovia's aggressive swings, which nonetheless could've been easily blocked by her standards. "You're not that dumb."

Soon, however, it really did seem that Lacovia did have the advantage, as she continuously swung down hard with as much force possible onto her mother's blade, causing Arica to have a hard time for real in remaining upright. This brought a smirk to Lacovia's lips as she prepared to end it.

"Goodbye mother."

"Goodbye yourself."

Just as Lacovia was about to knock Arica's lightsaber from her grip, she found that instead it was _her_ own blade being knocked from _her_ grip, and with a rapid swing Arica was cutting into Lacovia's chest and through her heart, the mother's gaze as cold as durasteel as her eldest daughter died.

But as the gaze continued, however, Arica was soon regretting what she'd done. Not so much the death itself, but what led to it. The betrayal.

How could she? Arica mused this for the thousandth time. Not about Lacovia, but her own self. Arica had abandoned her children. Twice. Lacovia had forgiven her once. Obviously, she couldn't again. Yet Arica knew this had more to do with than her own self, but Luke's death as well. Lacovia's didn't agree with their way of overtaking the Empire by killing all of Palpatine's descendants. She never had, and no matter what anyone said, she wouldn't listen. So she chose to use them for her own gain instead, eventually in the end, ordering their extirpation. And that was what was so heartbreaking about it in Arica's eyes. She and her first daughter had been so close when Lacovia was younger, because not only was she her daughter but first born child as well. But what Arica did had to be done. There was no going back. And she wouldn't even if she could.

Though it couldn't be seen, as they were busy with their own fights, Lumiya, Allana, and Baynetta all felt Lacovia's death in the Force. It became clear then to Baynetta that she wasn't going to win against Lumiya in combat this-go-round, much to the Empress' disappointment, so she ordered the troops that were still fighting Allana to bombard Lumiya while Baynetta herself went to engage the suddenly unoccupied teen. However, Arica intercepted the attack at the last minute and grievously wounded the Empress by slicing her left arm off at the shoulder blade down. Baynetta jumped back in shock and horror as she gazed down at her sliced off arm and then back up at Arica. Allana kicked the Empress to the ground and held her there by way of a Force grip that she, Arica, and Lumiya were all contributing to, even in Lumiya's battle against the Imperials whom were engaging her.

"You don't know me anymore Baynetta," Arica snarled to the furious but captive Empress. "But you shall not die by my blade today, but Troy's. He is the Chosen One after all. Or did Lacovia cease to mention that to you?"

Baynetta was freed a moment later, but by that time, the enemy trio had already fled the area and were making their escape off-world. The Empress ordered her troops after them, but they couldn't be found. Of course, they'd thought to cloak their presences from Force sensitives. She would've gone after them herself had she not needed medical attention for her empty socket of a left arm. Baynetta cursed Arica for what she'd done to her, but promised herself that someday soon the woman would get what was coming to her.


	137. Undercover

Twisterblake: I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while for that.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 15: Undercover

"_When one's friend becomes the enemy, thus another enemy becomes the friend."_

-Old Proverb of the Sith

Imperial Palace, Imperial City

Baynetta their grandmother? Leila Skywalker's children with Alexander Grievous? That would make them related to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Antellica Grievous, the ex-Emperor Anakin Skywalker, and the rest of the Grievous-Skywalkers.

Yuck!

And what was this about Ben? A cousin perhaps?

Double yuck!

The slave boy was disgusting and dirty. Plus, if they were related to Baynetta, that meant they were also linked to her younger half-brother Drake. Their granduncle?

Natchios shook his head. He began to wonder if Drake was right about Troy's words. They were only said to fill the twins' minds with lies and deceit. Yet at the same time, something about the words sounded _right_ somehow. He didn't know how exactly, and neither did Narcissa, yet both desired to talk to Troy, their "cousin" he shuddered to think, about what he'd said and why he'd said it. This, of course, would be hard to pull off, as Troy was guarded at all times and hours of the day. And even if they tried at cloaking their presences, Jaina or Drake would know something was up. Nonetheless, Natchios and Narcissa intended on paying the exiled Prince a visit. Hopefully bringing answers along with it.

* * *

Drake was left in charge on the capital when Baynetta and Lacovia left for Byss a short time after Troy's capture and torturing (2400 Hours that night: Strike GS I arrived at the Palace at 2200 Hours; Troy was captured an hour later), and already he'd used that power to give Jaina a special assignment concerning the ex-Prince. 

It was 0600 Hours of the following early morning presently, and Jaina Solo, 34, was walking the dark passageway that led to Troy Grievous Skywalker's prison cell, clad in hand with a tray of food, which featured one's usual prison grub: bread and water. She did not want to be here, but Drake's word was law whenever or not the Empress was around. She'd grown accustomed to it. However, what that didn't mean was that she ever liked it. Though thoughts of an overthrowing seldom crossed her mind, she didn't much consider herself overthrowing material without anyone to back her up. And none of Baynetta's other underlings would help her in such a task, as they didn't like her much themselves. Natchios and Narcissa were merely her apprentices; Drake, something of a rival for their master's delight.

One did not receive or were allowed the luxury of friends in this field under such a demanding leader. You worked and worked to please your master until they rewarded you, and then it was the same all over again. With these type of thoughts, one might think Jaina disliked her job as Empress' Hand. That was far from true. She loved her job more than anything. It was one of the most coveted occupations in the galaxy, as everyone desired to serve or be on the Empress' good side in hopes their homeplanet wouldn't be detonated.

Thoughts of her own homeworld, Corellia, reminded Jaina of heartbreaking memories she did not wish to relive, mainly because one of them revolved around the person in question she was playing delivery girl to.

It'd been 15+ years since the Legacy of the Force War and one of the major campaigns within it: the Battles of the Core, a six-battle extravaganza that took place across the region at the same time in five Core Worlds (Corellia, Selonia, Chandrila, Alderaan, and Labore) and just outside the Commenor system in space. One of these battles, the one of Corellia, Jaina herself, as a member of the New Jedi Order, had participated in and fought against Troy and Lacovia as then Sith royals. However, it wasn't so much the battle in general that irked Jaina, but the death that preceded it. For no reason did it need to happen, as it was done in cold blood to simply hurt her. A then seventeen-year-old Troy had shot her father, an ex-smuggler named Han, to death out of jest to humor himself and his sister. Her reaction had been anger and one of her first brushes with the dark side. She could've killed them both right then and there during the battle, yet it was the sacrifice of one of her Jedi pupils whom intercepted their deaths that opened her eyes. Her revenge in killing those whom played a part in killing her father would do nothing to bring him back. It may take away some of the pain for the time being, but it would eventually return. And maybe even greater than ever.

This was a belief she continued to hold, despite her dark side practices, to this very day. No matter how much she hated Troy for what he'd done to her father, she would never give into the vengeance that wanted to see him dead. It wasn't necessary, and in her eyes, uncalled for. So she quietly walked the dark passageway to Troy's cell, food in hand, and upon arrival, unlocked the iron bolted door to enter within. Inside, she found, as expected, Troy up and awake in a cross-legged seating position on the hard, dirty floor. But if she didn't know any better, Jaina would think he was attempting to meditate in the Force. This was impossible, of course, as he'd been stripped of it some hours before, yet that didn't seem to stop him from trying.

"There are other forms of meditation, you know," Troy said into the silence that followed her arrival, though kept his eyes closed. "Besides that of the Force."

Jaina really didn't want to have a conversation with the ex-Prince, but if she was to play out the assignment Drake gave her, it didn't seem she had much of a choice.

"Really?" she asked in response to his comment, kneeling to place the tray of food she was carrying before his seated form. "And what reason would you, a former Force user, have in knowing the arts of this sort of meditation?"

Troy opened his eyes and merely stared at her. "And what reason would you have in knowing this?" he asked after a moment.

Jaina stared back a moment before shrugging. "General interest. Casual conversation."

"With the man who killed your father?"

Jaina's eyes flashed (_Damn it! Why did he have to bring that up?_), nonetheless, she held back her anger. "That was sixteen years ago," she said as though it didn't matter, brushing aside the wave of medium brown hair that fell into her eyes as she leaned forward.

"And yet you keep track of the years," he pointed out.

Jaina was really starting to get irritated so pushed forward his tray of food, only he pushed it back.

"What, are you going to starve yourself?" she asked.

"I'm not hungry right now," he said plainly, simply.

"But you may be later."

She pushed the tray back.

"I doubt it."

He returned the tray at the base of its deliverer.

Jaina was growing more and more irritated by the moment. First, with his reminder of the past. Then, with his difficulty.

"Oh I see," she said, taking another route. "Forgive me for forgetting, but you're royalty and accustomed to food of a higher stature."

This was said in sarcasm, yet Troy seemed somewhat humored by it as he gave a small smile. "True, but I'm really not hungry."

"So save it for later."

"I won't be hungry later either."

"How can you know that?"

He offered a cross between a smile and a raised eyebrow. "You seem awfully desperate to get me to eat that food. It begs one to wonder whether it's poisoned or not."

"Not to my knowledge," she replied without a hint of hesitation, as she really didn't think it was.

"But as I can't use the Force anymore, how am I to know for sure?"

Jaina allowed a moment go by to think of a reply. "Trust."

"Trust?" he repeated. "In what? _You?!_ The very person who played a role in most of my family's murder."

"The only member of your family I murdered was your cousin Kylantha," she objected.

"Only because she jumped in the way of your attack on Allana," Troy pointed out, "who I might add was only a toddler at the time. If you had your way, all of us would've died to your blade on Dathomir. Why don't you finish your rampage now Jaina? It's just you and me here. And since I can't access the Force anymore, you're the more powerful one between us. Take your best shot."

Jaina didn't even try at hiding her exasperation. "Are you asking me to kill you, Grievous Skywalker? Is that what you want? Has the torture damaged you so much that you don't even want to live anymore?"

Troy blew a breath from his mouth. "Please! Don't flatter yourself or your master too much Jaina. Your heads will explode."

Jaina glared. "I see your cracking of jokes remains, even if your arrogance doesn't."

He shrugged. "What can I say? Women like a sense of humor in a guy. Don't even pretend to act as though you aren't attracted to it."

Jaina was on her feet. "You arrogant, self-centered, conceited nerf! You haven't at all changed! You're still the same egocentric, joke cracking bantha you were when I met you."

Troy took on an awe-inspired tone. "Do you actually remember when we met Jaina? It was such a long time ago. Even _I _have trouble recalling it. But then, maybe the reason you remember it so well is because you've entertained the memories so much in your mind, musing over how things could've been if the two of us were average joes off the street."

Jaina exploded in rage and struck Troy to the ground with a stream of Force lightning. "Don't you ever speak to me like that again, you pitiful insect! For you to even insinuate something of the sort is vile and stomach turning. You bring disgust to my eyes and disdain to my person. I wish death upon you Troy!"

But she didn't kill him. Jaina stopped the lightning attack as she finished speaking, gave him one last glare, and stalked out of the cell in a huff, bolting the door shut behind her with the Force. Suddenly, she was hating even more the assignment Drake gave her and wondered if perhaps there was someway she could get out of it, as it wasn't exactly going as plan so far. But knowing Drake, he wasn't going to budge.

Darn men! They could be so stubborn at times. She hated it. Hopefully though, Baynetta and Lacovia were a success on Byss. She sensed a death in the Force from the world, yet had no way of knowing whom it was. Utmost delight came to Jaina at the thought of more pain for Troy, and would continue to come to her at his discovery of the news.

The anguish. The dolor. The sense of uselessness at not being able to stop the death from happening.

Oh yes, Jaina was in for a pleasant treat.

* * *

Baynetta arrived back from Byss with quite the surprises no one expected. 

The death felt in the Force some hours previous was not Arica, Allana, or Lumiya, but _Lacovia_. It turns out the oldest Grievous-Skywalker heir had died at the wrath of her mother's blade in a fierce duel for dominance between the two. Yet this was soon dwarfed by comparison at the discovery that Lacovia wasn't the only thing lost to Arica Grievous in battle. Baynetta's left arm soon followed, forcing the Empress to have a prosthesis, which looked like the real flesh arm prior but not quite, added in its place at the citadel on Byss, much to her distaste. The fact that their master had almost lost in combat against her preceding Empress was enough to alarm Drake, Jaina, and the Jade twins into having a respected fear for the woman. Yet not so much to the point that they were terrified. Just a respect that she and the others were no pushovers, as might have been priorly thought.

The Empress used an early morning stroll around the palace gardens to make these two announcements in an assay to "lighten the mood" Drake assumed. Whatever the case, he took Lacovia's death calmly. His former best friend hadn't meant all that much to him. Though he had hoped to use her as a consort to bare heirs, he never intended on taking Lacovia as an Empress beside himself if their plan on Byss was a success. She would've been a consort only, her purpose being to give he and the Palpatine line more descendants. Nothing more, as she may have thought.

He could still do this, though, but with someone else. There was always Jaina, yet he doubted she would agree to something of the sort. Plus, his hatred for her probably wouldn't let him. Nah. He liked the idea of her dead better than that of she giving birth to his children.

* * *

The Empress sent out more troops to look for the escapees from Byss and also the still missing Gabriella later that day. Baynetta then had Troy taken to the Palace torture chambers again so she could tell him of Byss' happenings and inflict more pain upon him, all the while demanding that he tell her where the four escaped to. Only thing was, he didn't know and made sure to make this point clear to Her Highness. So much, in fact, that he finally snapped, "If you're so powerful in the Force Baynetta, why can't you use it to figure out where they are yourself?" 

Enraged by this remark, the Empress began riping through his mind to the point of insanity. But Troy remained strong-willed, and soon gained some type of control over the pain enough to bathe himself within it, becoming one with it. When Baynetta finally realized he really didn't know where his family and Lumiya were, she stopped the torture and ordered Jaina to take the prisoner back to his cell. This Jaina did by walking beside him. Though while she did this sensed that he was having a hard time staying upright in his walk because his mind was still swimming in pain. She was hesitant to assist him at first. Though when he suddenly collapsed to the ground, too overcome with pain to think or act straight, she fell down beside Troy and helped him to a stand.

They continued the rest of the way to his cell, with he leaning reluctantly onto her shoulder and she with an arm draped around him. At their destination, Jaina helped Troy inside and settled him down onto the hard floor as softly as possible. He was beat, tired, and exhausted. She was going to urge him into eating the tray of food that still remained untouched from earlier, but it seems he'd fallen asleep in her semi-hold of him as she settled him onto the floor.

It was...Jaina wasn't sure what to call.

Charming.

Cute.

Repulsing.

She wasn't even sure why she was abruptly being nice to him. Hours ago, she was wishing death upon, and now...now she wasn't sure how she felt towards the ex-Prince. But it was very odd.

Releasing him from her hold, Jaina laid Troy onto the floor and covered his rag wearing form with her Sith cloak. She then placed the tray of food beside him and left with it a note that read, "Please eat this Troy. It'll help you keep up your strength."

And with one last soft, almost pitying look, Jaina left the sleeping form of Troy to his slumber.

* * *

Some hours later, when Troy awoke, he saw the note and smiled. He also smiled at the gesture of Jaina leaving behind her cloak for him to wear for warmth. Giving the left behind note another glance, he decided to do as it said and eat the still mildly fresh bread, downing the room temperature flavored water afterwards. When it became clear the food, in fact, wasn't poisoned, as he didn't feel any different after eating it than he did before except for the new feeling of strength that came after a long absence of not eating, Troy settled back onto the floor in a sleeping position, wrapped himself tightly into the cloak, and let go of his conscious self to the sweetness of more sleep. 


	138. Opposition

Author's Note: Things start to get interesting here on in. Enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks.

G-Anakin 13: You can count on it.

Jax Solo: Perhaps. Maybe. I'm such a tease!

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 16: Opposition

"_There are many opposed to the Empress, yet few whom are actually doing something about it. And that, Arica Grievous-Skywalker, is where we come in..."_

-Aidel Saxan, Prime Minister, Corellia

On the Arica, Lumiya, and Allana front, the trio successfully fled Byss on a stolen star cruiser, though, for a while weren't certain what to do. They knew Troy was captive on Coruscant, yet as far Gabriella they couldn't be sure. It was assumed she was in hiding on the metropolis world, as the Executor hadn't let up on letting anyone on or off-planet, and could only hope that was so. However, for some reason, the Force was leading them away from Coruscant, Troy, and Gabriella, and to another Core World, Corellia, for something they had yet to figure out. And while Arica and Allana were somewhat hesitant to simply abandon Troy and Gabriella on Imperial Center, Lumiya reminded them, "Troy's captivity is apart of his trials. He must go through it alone. As for Gabriella, she's strong enough to endure whatever Coruscant's underworld has to offer for the time being. The Force is calling us to Corellia. As such, we must answer by going. No one knows what type of help may be found there."

And indeed, neither of the three could've begun to fathom what would be found upon discovering an underground tunnel just outside Corellia's capital, Coronet. At following the tunnel down several dozen miles, secretly with their presences cloaked and for the length of about a half-day in time, the trio finally came across a narrow passageway that led to what could only be taken as a secret military research center and base. Yet it wasn't really this that surprised them, but what was being built within it.

No larger than a starfighter, yet layered with molecular armor – a material so strong that it could resist even turbolaser shots – had to be one of the strangest creations either of the three had ever seen. It appeared as that of an off-white cone, but had the aura of a powerful weapon about it. Though small in size, the trio was able to see through the Force that this craft was nearly indestructible and also capable of unleashing destruction on a magnitude that dwarfed even the first and second Death Stars' capabilities. Unlike the Death Star, which destroyed individual planets, this weapon could destroy entire star systems by causing its sun to turn into a supernova. This invincibility, it seemed, was so strong it could ram its way straight through a Star Destroyer without taking any significant damage. The craft also seemed to be equipped with a hyperdrive and was designed to slip unnoticed into a system, fire its weaponry, and then escape before its presence was detected.

The weapon's primary armament was a payload of 11 energy resonance torpedoes, each resembling an oval-shaped plasma discharge. It became activated upon passing through the weapon's resonance torpedo launcher and then traveled to the system's sun at a near-lightspeed velocity.

Upon impact, the torpedo would burrow into the star's core releasing dense packets of energy that rendered the star's core unstable, initiating a chain-reaction supernova, which forced even low-mass stars to go supernova. The star would be ripped apart in the explosion, sending waves of energy and radiation out across the system that destroyed every planet and life in its path. This weapon would obliterate an entire system in mere hours, because once it was launched into the star, it was impossible to stop the impending supernova.

This told the trio all they needed to know concerning why the Force had led them here. There was only one conclusion: Corellia was building a superweapon of their own to attack the Empire with.

"This could work to our advantage," Lumiya remarked as they secretly gazed upon the near-complete craft.

The Corellian society, in general, had always been known for their fierce independence away from any galactic-wide government. The 5-world system sided with the Separatists during the Clone Wars, and with the rebels during both the Alien and Galactic Civil Wars. And though the system returned to the Empire following the latter war and mainly kept to themselves during the rest of the Grievous-Skywalker's reign, really it was only a matter of time before they officially made themselves independent of any galactic jurisdiction.

Despite this, however, it was the fact that Baynetta obviously knew nothing of Corellia's impending rebellion that Arica found delightfully marvelous. It was perfect and, as Lumiya said, would work to their advantage.

Sneaking out of the passage and tunnel the way they came, again for the length of a half-day, the trio reentered Coronet at 0800 Hours of their second day being on-world. Dodging the numerous stormtroopers that were swarming the urban city either for them or maybe these were the new security measures that had been taken since Baynetta learned the Grievous-Skywalkers were on the move after Bakura.

Stealthily, and through many obstacles, the threesome reached Five World Prime Minister Aidel Saxan's residential suite/office in the center of town and split up. While Allana distracted the guards with a lure of the Force, Lumiya turned off the building's security systems, enabling Arica to sneak around inside undetected and meet with Corellia's de facto leader.

When, during the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War, the Empire had granted the Corellia system with its request of the removal of its Regional Governor for their own political system under the galaxy-spanning government, Corellian-born politicians had been swept into the new offices created by the change. Each of the five worlds – Corellia, Selonia, Drall, Talus, and Tralus – elected its own Chief of State. And together they had created the office of the Five World Prime Minister, charged with coordinating budgets, resources, and policies in negotiations with other mutliplanetary bodies.

Over the eighteen years of this being established, there had been only three Prime Ministers thus far. Thann Dunter, whom held the position from 21 to 29 IE and for two terms; Roan Seyah, whom held the position from 29 to 32 IE and a little less than one term; and finally, Aidel Saxan, whom had been holding the position since Seyah was impeached in 32 IE for having relations with a minor and was three years into her second term. Saxan was the first and, so far, only female to ever consider occupying this post. She was a handsome black-haired woman of middle age and wielded considerable political power even since before her elevation to Prime Minister from 3-term holding Chief of State of Corellia.

Arica had only met Saxan once before, during a visit the then Chief of State made to Coruscant not long after her election. The former Empress took the few years shy of her woman as a well-minded, level-headed politician of professional mannerism. Obviously, this personae remained for her to still be in political office after all these years.

At the present, Saxan was at her desk, reading over what seemed to be reports of some kind. Tapping into the Force, Arica was able to discover they were indeed reports concerning the superweapon building outside town. It seemed to be called "Sun Crusher", but then that could've been a codename. Whatever it was called, the superweapon, as had been previously seen, seemed to be nearing completion and would be ready for launch within the next few weeks. After which, an attack would be made against the Empire with both that and Centerpoint Station, currently sitting at a Lagrangian point between the twin Corellian worlds Talus and Tralus.

That part interested her. From all Arica knew about Centerpoint, it was nothing more than an ancient space station that was capable of moving entire planets with its tractor beams and was created by the Celestials some millions of years ago, before even the Old Republic. In fact, many eons ago, it was used to move the planets of the Corellia system to their current locations in the Core.

And while that information about the station, and the station in general, was incredible, unless major advancements had been made to it over the past thirteen years, which was also secret like Sun Crusher, Arica didn't see how Centerpoint Station could be used as a weapon in battle. But she intended to find out.

Stepping out of the shadows of the large doorway, which led into the Saxan's equally large and lavishly furnished office, Arica made her presence known.

"Hello Prime Minister. Do you have a minute?"

As it was still early morning, about 0830 Hours to be precise, when Arica stepped out of the entrance shadows, she still appeared as a shadowy dark figure to Aidel Saxan. Naturally as the only light in the room was coming from the small lamp on the Prime Minister's desk.

Saxan jumped at the address made to her and quickly dropped the papers she was reading, hurriedly covering them over with a random folder laying nearly. The Prime Minister was then immediately up out of her seat, blaster in hand, and aiming it at the shadow that had spoken. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Steady there Saxan," said a somewhat familiar, though almost forgotten voice. "I didn't come here to kill or harm you, but propose a pitch."

Arica clapped twice and the overhead chandelier lights came on to show the room in its entirety. Saxan was at a large wooden desk, in the backdrop of several immense transparisteel windows. On the right and left of her were two large wooden bookshelves that lined the walls from the desk to the entrance doors, covering a great amount of the green painted walls in the process. The floor was carpeted an off-white color and several many chairs, also wooden with cushions at the seat, littered the room at different intervals, though most were formed in somewhat of a circle around the Prime Minister's desk.

Saxan blinked at the sudden brightness of the room and then at the person who wished to speak with her. It was a woman around her own age, maybe a few years older, though her face was forever young. The strange thing was that Aidel recognized her almost from another lifetime. It wasn't possible!

It was-

She was-

"Arica Grievous-Skywalker!"

The woman gave a simple nod, and for a moment, the Prime Minister was too stunned to speak.

"But," she was finally able to sputter, "but you're supposed to be-"

"Dead?" Arica supplied.

Saxan nodded.

"What is it with people believing everything they hear off the HoloNet?" Not even waiting for a reply Arica continued, venturing further into the room as she did so. "Clearly, the two of us want the same thing: the end of the Galactic Empire. And I'd like to think that if either of us is cooperative of the other, we can achieve this goal. Please Saxan, lower your pistol." Arica handed over her few weapons – lightsaber, lightwhip, lightdagger, laser ray gun, etc. – onto the Prime Minister's desk. "If I can do away with mine, surely you can do away with yours."

Saxan hesitated a moment, glancing between the weapons that had been handed over onto her desk and the person who'd willingly given them up. While a gun was being pointed at her head no less. Aidel finally dropped the gun, returned it to the desk drawer it was kept in for security purposes, and gestured her guest towards a nearby chair.

"Please, take a seat."

Arica smiled, did so, and observed as Saxan did the same across from her, crossing her legs in the process.

"So tell me...what do you have in mind besides Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station?"

Arica detected the smallest hint of surprise from the Prime Minister, though it was masked behind what she always called "the Politician front": a politician's way of keeping their true emotions from showing whatever the situation. Living much of her life around politicians, Arica was easily able to pick up on this and ready to counter the lie that said it wasn't known what she was talking about. But it never came. Arica only picked up on continued hesitation, yet the awareness of the great opportunity her being here was despite the fact that she was a deadly killer. Still...

"Of course, you'd like to know where I've been the past thirteen years," the former Empress said to the thought that had yet to form within Saxan's mind. "I do not blame you."

Arica told the Prime Minister everything and left out nothing. Saxan listened silently and did not interrupt even once during Arica's hours of talking, and finally nodded, venturing forth the information of Corellia's plans of destroying Death Star II and then Imperial Center with Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station. It turns out it was recently discovered that the unique tractor beam system of Centerpoint Station could be used as a weapon; a weapon capable enough to destroy entire stars, making it at least as powerful as Sun Crusher. Once Imperial Center, and Byss since the production of the Planet Killers could also cause a threat to their plans, were eradicated, the Empire would fall into shambles and eventually be wiped out completely, with the two superweapons and vast Corellian fleet that was in production, and had been for the past three years now unbeknown to anyone but those involved, on both Talus and Tralus. The new ruling government of the galaxy would then be the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, referred to as the Galactic Alliance for short.

"It will be the union of star systems under their own free will and a just government," the Prime Minister explained, "led by a Chief of State, as well as the people themselves. With no room for ruling dynasties or self-made Emperors or Empress'."

"So it won't be an exact copy of the Old and New Galactic Republics," Arica surmised, "but close to it."

Saxan nodded. "Precisely."

Arica shrugged. "While I may not completely agree with you on this 'Galactic Alliance', I'm for anything that's against the Empire and Baynetta."

"You're aware that you would not be the leader here if you decided to join," the Prime Minister reminded. "Ever."

Arica laughed at the extremeness of the point. "I'm not here to take over Saxan. I'm merely offering you and your system me and my family's help in this struggle against the Empire." She rose from her seat. "But, of course, if you don't want us..." Arica headed for the door.

"No!" Saxan's tone was a little more abrupt than she intended it to be. "I mean-let me speak with our system's political/military council about this. In the meantime, you and your fellows will be safe staying here in my quarters as guests."

Arica gave another smile, though this one had the slightest trace of satisfaction in it. "Thank you Prime Minister. I feel this is the start of a beautiful partnership."


	139. Sides

Author's Note: My prayers and thoughts go to all of those who suffered from the Minneapolis Tragedy yesterday.

Jax Solo: Thanks. I can definitely promise a lot of Corellia within the coming chapters.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 17: Sides

"_I'd just as surely spy for Baynetta as I would stab myself to death."_

-Arica Grievous-Skywalker

Coronet, Corellia: Prime Minister's Office (Later That Day)

"We're not trying to make another Empire, but a fee alliance for all people."

"And what if no one wants to join the alliance?"

"And why wouldn't they?"

"Because of the Grievous-Skywalkers now having a part of it."

"Sith spawn General! That's the most ludicrous thing you've said tonight."

"More to the point, what if star systems choose their own independence over that of a galactic government? It could lead to even more war."

And on and on the arguing went.

Allana, with both Arica and Lumiya in tow, was standing outside the closed doors of Aidel Saxan's office, eavesdropping on the conversation transpiring within, as she had been for the past half-hour.

Since her grandaunt's meeting with the Five World Prime Minister, she, Arica, and Lumiya had settled into their temporary quarters in Saxan's residential suite/office quite nicely. For Allana, it was like the elegance of her royal childhood all over again. Each of the three were given a room of their own, and two others had been prepared for when Troy and Gabriella joined them here once escaping Coruscant. Whenever that happened. When Saxan learned of Troy being held captive on the capital and Gabriella being forced to hide within its underworld depths, she offered the opportunity for a spy team to sneak on-world and perhaps try at rescuing the brother-sister duo. Yet this was denied by Arica, though she did thank the Prime Minister for offering. Her two remaining children weren't babies anymore but thirty-something adults. And accomplished at that in everything they did. She had more than a little faith that the two would pull out of the hold they were in. And it was this that Allana agreed. While at first she too was a little hesitant that leaving them on Coruscant without even attempting to do something was abandonment, Troy and Gabriella were far from being pushovers and their help would only worsen the situation, as they themselves could end up captive. And if that happened, who would be there to rescue them? No one. Plus, now that they were teaming up with the Corellians, their minds needed to be focused on the matter at hand rather than their captive fellows. Troy and Gabriella would rejoin them when the Force so willed it. But until that happened, things were to remain the way they were.

By now, the arguing inside Saxan's office had gotten pretty loud and intense. Though it wasn't currently over rather or not the Grievous-Skywalkers should be apart of their insurrection or whether any other star systems outside their own would join the Galactic Alliance, but over the matter of something Allana felt should've been dismissed long before the present.

"With Sun Crusher and using Centerpoint Station as a weapon, I feel we're as bad as the Empire."

"I object!"

"Stop speaking nonsense Donner. We're using both for the good of the galaxy."

"But the innocent on Coruscant-"

"I wouldn't call anyone nestled on Imperial Center innocent. When they die, it's their own stupidity for living there to begin with."

"Hold your tongue Sal-Solo! You're speaking like a savage brute."

And they were at it again. Insults being spewed back and forth, tempers flaring, name calling. It got so bad that Arica finally decided to enter within the room and bring an end to the foolishness. Instant silence followed this move with some of the room's eleven occupants appearing irritated at the interruption, while others, including Saxan herself, seemed genuinely relived that an end had been brought to it. Allana took this moment of silence to observe each of the meeting's members at the round table they sat at in front of Saxan's desk.

The man who'd voiced "What if no one wants to join the alliance...because of the Grievous-Skywalkers now having a part of it..." was none other than Wedge Antilles, war hero of the twenty-some year ago Second Rebel Alliance and present General of the Corellian Defense Forces (CDF). It was he who'd taken part in the destruction of Death Star I, along with two of his wing mates, since deceased, in 20 IE, nineteen years ago, and had also helped the Second Rebellion in many other wins against the Empire in the three-year Galactic Civil War.

Antilles, it turns out, was one of the few rebels to escape the wrath of the Empire at the war's end, as he was experiencing a rare forced holiday from the war effort during the final battles of Mimban, Ilum, Tamnaz'an, and Zenoma Sekot. Since then, he'd gone into hiding on his homeworld of Corellia with a different last name, Dunter; married a former CorSec agent sometime later, Iella Wessiri; and had two daughters, Syal and Myri, ages 13 and 11, soon after. Antilles himself was in his early forties and had since reestablished the use of his famous last name. It was only natural, Allana assumed, for him to be against the Grievous-Skywalkers having apart of Corellia's insurrection. He was bound to still hold bitterness towards the family for having his one-time best friend Luke Skywalker turn his back on the Rebellion for the Empire. It was no surprise he was one of those irritated by their entrance.

The man who'd been called a "savage brute" just prior to their entrance was Thracken Sal-Solo, Chief of State of Corellia and, interestingly enough, the second cousin of Empress' Hand Jaina Solo, as her late father and one of Thracken's parents were siblings. The sixty-something politician actually looked something like his famed smuggler cousin except for the white beard and hair which adored his head. But as a younger man, clean shaven, and perhaps with the hair color brown, Thracken would've probably been an almost clone of Jaina's father.

From the various comments he made in the meeting ("Sith spawn General! That's the most ludicrous thing you've said tonight"; "I wouldn't call anyone nestled on Imperial Center innocent...it's their own stupidity for living there to begin with") Allana chose to identify him as a wisecracking scoundrel like his cousin Han, only worse it seemed. He had no problem with eliminating people if their death ensured the greater good of the matter. Rather or not they be innocent or guilty. Allana liked that, and also picked up on a sense of greed for power from Sal-Solo. Immediately, she knew he was an ally for the Grievous-Skywalker's cause, not only from this, but the delighted smirk that a lit his face at their entrance.

The man whom voiced Corellia's desire to "not make another Empire, but a free alliance for all people" was Denjax Teppler, the dark haired and handsome ex-husband of Aidel Saxan, but also the Prime Minister's personal assistant, as after the divorce the two remained cordial. Also, another reason for his presence in the court of Saxan was since his brother was a CorSec agent assigned to protect the Prime Minister. He generally seemed interested in bringing back peace to the galaxy and did not seem to bode well with chaos, hence his relieved expression at the trio's entrance.

The female who'd called Thracken Sal-Solo a "savage brute" was the Mon Calamari Admiral of the CDF, Cha Niathal. According to a file Allana read on the non-Human officer, Niathal had always been known for her cutting reprimands and icy deposition. She was one of the many survivors of the Alien War thirty-some years ago and was previously an advisor to the predecessor Admiral of the Corellian Defense Forces until he was reassigned the post of Supreme Commander a short time ago. Like Antilles, she was one of those irritated at Allana, Lumiya, and Arica's entrance.

The Supreme Commander of the CDF, meanwhile, the one whom expressed rather or not star systems would choose "their own separate independence over that of a galactic government," Gilad Pellaeon, actually smiled at the trio's arrival, as he was once an Admiral in Palpatine's and then the Grievous-Skywalker's Imperial Navy. He retired at the dawn of 26 IE and the age of 84, much to the relief of most, as for a while it seemed as though he was going to work himself until death. However, Pellaeon wasn't your usual elderly gentleman. He'd taken excellent care of himself over the years. So much that he looked no older than 65 when actually he was in his late 90s. Allana was somewhat surprised to see him here among the Corellians, but then remembered a bio she read on the former Imperial officer. He was born on Corellia, though raised on Coruscant. Yet despite this, still considered Corellia his homeworld as he had family that resided in such.

With someone like Pellaeon leading the military of this uprising, it was bound to be a success. He was renown as the leader of many Imperial victories, and was as much as a supporter of the Grievous-Skywalker's as the since deceased Piett, whom was shot down in the battle on Byss, was.

Beside Pellaeon at the round table was the man whom objected to the comment concerning Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station making Corellia as bad as the Empire, and for good reason. Toval Seyah, son of second Five World Prime Minister Roan Seyah, was the scientist/spy behind most of Sun Crusher's designs and would understandably be insulted at the comment made against his mastermind project. The thirty-something rust haired designer was also relieved at the threesome's entrance and was presently gazing at them curiously.

A feeling not shared by the forty-something woman seated next to him. Drall's Chief of State, the dark-skinned Madeline Donner, and person Seyah objected to, looked furious at their unannounced arrival and was having a hard time remaining silent to not speak against it.

Another who shared this irritation was Selonia Chief of State Greggory Socona, the second to rebuke Madeline Donner's statements against Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station. Like her, he was also dark-skinned and looked to be in his early 40s. The only difference between his irritation and Donner's was that he wasn't making an overly large show of it, just a simple scowl.

The room's other two occupants, sans the Prime Minister herself and the numerous guards that were littered here and there, were Talus and Tralus' Chief of States, Baton Craig and Lynod Baxton. Both were male, light-skinned, middle aged, and equally as relieved as the woman sitting between them: Saxan. They hadn't spoken much during the meeting, as Allana remembered no memorable comments from the two, or the Prime Minister for that matter. For everything they seemed to say was knocked down by another more vocal council member.

Saxan was the first to greet the female trio's entrance. "Arica Grievous-Skywalker. Allana Djo. Lumiya. Welcome. Please take a seat and join us. Hopefully either of the three of you can bring a head to this discussion."

As the trio made to do as requested towards the few empty chairs at the table, Chief of State Donner couldn't seem to contain her irritated fury any longer and rose from her seat to address those responsible for it.

"How long have you three been standing outside listening in?" she demanded.

Arica offered the woman a wry smile. "Long enough to know that the longer this assembly talks, the more confused you all are becoming."

"I don't think any of us are confused, Lady Skywalker," Antilles said with a sharp crispness to his tone. "Perhaps you are, but we aren't."

"That's no way to talk to a one-time Empress, Commander-in-chief, and Supreme Commander," Sal-Solo rebuked harshly of Antilles and turned to Arica with an apologetic smile. "Please excuse Antilles, Your Highness. I don't think he's used to being around royalty to the extent of knowing how to interact with them."

"Clearly," Arica commented as she seated herself at the table alongside Lumiya and Allana, her tone dryer than intended. "But it's no matter. Why don't we do it this way? Each of you express the problems you feel are wrong with either the overthrowing or my family in general, and we'll work around that. General Antilles, why don't we start with you?"

Antilles straighted in his seat and addressed Arica, whom he saw as an enemy. "I simply don't approve of you, the other Grievous-Skywalkers, and whoever you say that woman is with you, aiding us in our insurrection."

"We've established that," Arica said. "May I ask why?"

"Why? _WHY?!_ Do you realize how much pain and suffering you've brought to the galaxy over the years?"

"So this is mainly about me?" Arica asked.

"No, it isn't just about you," Antilles argued. "Your entire family-"

"-gave the galaxy thirteen years of peace," she interjected, "the victory of two wars in the name of peace-"

"-and the destruction of two perfectly innocent star systems." Antilles returned the interjection. "Yavin and Hapes. Or does that suddenly slip your mind?"

"Hapes' declaration of independence from the Empire would've led to another war," Arica pointed out.

"True, but that was still no reason to destroy the cluster," Antilles argued. "And what of Yavin? That was merely done to have an example be made out of it."

"It's fascinating that you're confronting me on these issues when Supreme Commander Pellaeon is as guilty of these things as I am," Arica said. "I don't see you shooting reprimands his way."

"You leave him out of this!" The General's tone had risen somewhat and was becoming colder by the moment. "Gilad Pellaeon is a Corellian and-"

"Oh I see! So it's okay that he led some of the Empire's greatest victories in its prime, resulting in the deaths of many innocents just because he's Corellian. And since I and my family are not, you feel you can pass judgment and overlook the things of the past to start anew. You know very well Antilles that I don't have to be here. I could kill each and every one of you at the drop of a hat if I so wished it. Yet I've chosen not to. I've chosen to help you in your uprising-"

"And for that we thank you and are very appreciative," Denjax Teppler said, hoping to calm down the ex-Empress with words of thanks. It didn't work.

"It certainly doesn't seem as though Antilles is very appreciative," she snarled.

"Well he should be," Toval Seyah said to Arica, though his eyes were on Antilles. "It's not everyday this kind of opportunity comes a knocking!"

Antilles seemed undeterred by the council's majority against him, and kept his head held high in the midst of it.

"I feel Antilles is only acting cautious because he doesn't want to endure another betrayal, Your Highness," the calm, but strong voice of Gilad Pellaeon defended of his General to Arica. "It's not so much what we've done in the past as Imperials, but the nonexistent assurance. He needs to know you three are really on our side and not working behind-the-scenes for Baynetta."

"I'd just as surely spy for Baynetta as I would stab myself to death," Arica said. "Betrayal is something I also don't take lightly, as my deceased daughter Lacovia has since learned."

"Deceased daughter Lacovia?" Antilles repeated. "I thought Lacovia was one of the survivors of the Grievous-Skywalker overthrowing."

"She was," Arica said, her voice cold. "However, she betrayed us in the form of acting as spy for Baynetta the past three years. The reason Troy is prisoner at the Imperial Palace, Gabriella is in hiding in the capital underworld, and our plan to explode Imperial Center with one of the Planet Killers from Byss has failed. My oldest child and daughter was given the punishment worthy enough of such a betrayal: Death by the person she betrayed."

Most of the council, including Antilles but excluding Saxan as she already knew, seemed floored at this information and didn't even assay at hiding it.

"You-you killed your own daughter?!" Chief of State Donner asked in horrified disbelief.

"Yes," Arica said sadly. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in life, but I will not condone treachery such as betrayal."

"What would drive her to turn against you though?" Gilad Pellaeon wanted to know.

"A family matter," Arica said concisely. "You'll forgive me for not wanting to disclose it."

"And why not?" Allana suddenly asked before Antilles could. "If we want this council's full trust, I don't see any room for secrets."

"I agree," Antilles said with an approving glance at the red-haired teenager. "There can be no room for secrets in a mutual trust."

Arica heaved a sigh and gave her grandniece a somewhat irritated stare. "Very well Allana. If you feel they should know, why don't you tell them?"

"Gladly." And so she began. Allana told them of she and Luke's time on Kintooine after Dathomir, Troy's visit to them, the reason for the visit, the outcome, and their plan for the rest of Palpatine's descendants.

"So Luke's dead too?" Antilles asked. Allana noticed there was a note of sadness in his tone.

"Yes," she confirmed. "But only because he was a descendant of Palpatine. Lacovia never once agreed with our plan of ridding the galaxy of Palpatine's line. She only acted like she did after coming to an agreement with former best friend Drake Palpatine, whom I assume became something of a paramour to her before death, that she would work undercover within our midsts to keep Baynetta informed of everything we were up to and all our plans. And for that I feel no remorse whatsoever at her death."

"As you rightfully shouldn't," Cha Niathal said in much appraisal of Allana. "The Second Princess deserved what came to her. I myself would've willingly done the same at the double crossing."

Several others nodded, Antilles, Pellaeon, and Donner included, and Talus' Chief of State Baton Craig then asked, "So the only Grievous-Skywalkers left are you two," he pointed to Arica and Allana, "Troy and Gabriella?"

"Actually, there's also Ben," Allana informed. "Luke's thirteen-year-old son; my half-brother. Plus, there's Natchios and Narcissa, Alexander and Leila Skywalker Grievous' twins, who are also 13. But as they're also descendants of Palpatine-"

"Alexander and Leila have twins the same age as Luke's son?" Antilles asked in much surprise. "I don't remember hearing about that. What, are they shadow heirs?"

"In a way, I suppose you could say that," Allana said to the second question. "They're five months younger than Ben and were born in secret, as Leila was in captivity at their birth and killed soon after. The pair are set to replace Jaina Solo as the new Empress' Hands sometime from now and were given the false surname Jade to not connect them to Baynetta herself."

"What would happen to Jaina then," Chief of State Sal-Solo asked, "after their appointment?"

"No idea," Arica shrugged, joining the conversation once more. "Though my assumption is death."

"As she rightfully deserves," Allana commended.

"And whys that?" Sal-Solo demanded.

"Cousin she may be to you Thracken," Allana said, "she's still an active Imperialist. Plus, I have my own reasons for wanting her dead."

"Which are?" Sal-Solo asked.

"She played a major role in the extermination of my family of Dathomiri Witches in not one, but two major attacks on the Dathomir tribes. And was even almost successful at killing me herself at age 3 had our Grievous cousin Kylantha not thrown herself in front of me at the last second. You wouldn't even begin to know how much hatred I harbor for that woman. So if Natchios and Narcissa don't kill her, there's a good chance I will instead. If the opportunity arises, that is. I'm simply not going to go on a revenge spree hunting for her."

"The Djo last name was also that of Hapan Queen Mother Teneniel and her daughter, Tenel Ka," Socona pointed out. "Any relation per chance?"

Allana nodded. "Yes. Tenel Ka was my cousin, as her mother, Teneniel Djo, and my father Anon Djo, were also cousins and their mothers, both Dathomiri Witches, sisters."

"Interesting," he commented.

"But of course, you were probably never able to meet Teneniel or Tenel Ka because of Hapes' destruction," Antilles surmised, his tone again bitter.

"No, I met neither," Allana confirmed, "which is somewhat of a pity. However, I've read bio files on them both so it's like I know them...somewhat anyway."

"You could've known them personally if it wasn't for that blasted Death Star II," Antilles muttered.

"What was that General?" Arica asked.

"Nothing," he said with a dismissive wave of hand. "But returning everyone to our topic in question – rather or not the Grievous-Skywalkers should be allowed to aide us in our insurrection." He turned his gaze to Arica. "I am more than aware, as I think everyone else in this room is, of how much of an opportunity your family's help would be. I merely need to know – we all need to know – that once we're successful in our goal, you won't assay at taking our victory from us."

"If you desire it," Arica said, "I can draw up a contract stating the Grievous-Skywalker's full-fledged allegiance to none other than the Galactic Alliance, which gives the government permission to prosecute anyone of us should we defy this agreement."

"I think something like that would be assuring for us all," Tralus' Chief of State, Lynod Baxton said and the rest of the council expressed their agreement by nodding.

And so it was done. The contract was drawn not by Arica, but Prime Minister Saxan, and everyone present signed their names to the official document.

"This contract is legal, binding, and unbreakable under no means," the Prime Minister announced after the signing. "As this council and the Grievous-Skywalkers have come to agreement, let us rise and shake hands with one another."

"Just one moment," Madeline Donner interrupted. "There's still the issue of Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station."

"If you don't agree with the use of these factors so much," Lumiya spoke up for the first time during the meeting, "then what do you suggest be done in the case of eliminating Baynetta and her underlings?"

"There has to be something that can be done besides exploding Coruscant and Byss," Donner argued.

"Why don't we call it at a vote?" Allana suggested. "Clearly, nothing anyone in this room says is going to change your mind, Madame Donner. So we'll vote on rather the superweapons should be used or not."

"Good call," Teppler said approvingly. "We just might make a politician out of you yet Miss Djo."

Allana laughed. "That you very well may."

"All in favor of Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station's use-" Saxan called out.

The entire council, sans Donner, rose their hands in agreement, much to the Drall Chief of State's disgust. But as her point of not wanting to liquidate countless innocents, even if it was in the name of justice, was not going to be seen, rightfully held her tongue before and after the pronouncement was made by Saxan that the use of Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station would continue as originally planned.

"Any other questions or objections?" the Prime Minister asked.

"Whether or not star systems wish to join the alliance can be dealt with when or if it happens," Gilad Pellaeon said. "As of the present, our minds need to be focused on the completion of Sun Crusher and formation details of the alliance itself."

"Well said Supreme Commander," Arica felicitated. "The future is always in motion after all. No one can ever be too sure with what is to come, no matter what the situation..."


	140. Perfidy

Author's Note: Long, long, long! This has to be by far the longest chapter I've ever posted to date. And the next one's even longer! I do hope this will generate a substantial amount of reviews, because I've grown somewhat bored with posting this of late. It doesn't seem as exciting anymore. And though I'd never simply leave the story hanging without finishing it, I'm just saying.

Jax Solo: Thanks. I tried to keep Thracken as much in character as possible in this. Though being as the only books I've read him in are from the _Legacy_ series (I did do some research on wookiepedia however), I guess maybe I was a little off. Sorry. He is slightly eviler in later chapters nonetheless.

Twisterblake: Thanks for both reviews.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 18: Perfidy

"_Loyalty or curiosity? Those are what need to be decided upon concerning Troy."_

-Natchios Jade to sister Narcissa

In the weeks to follow, in the Corellia system, construction on Sun Crusher and the vast Corellian Defense Force, and tests on Centerpoint Station continued. As did the formation plans of the Galactic Alliance, all in the secrecy of the Corellian High Council (CHC), which the Grievous-Skywalkers plus Lumiya were now apart of. The ex-royals and their thousand-year-old Lady of the Force companion helped out a great deal with the many tasks needed to be done prior to the attack on Coruscant.

Allana, after the suggestion of Gilad Pellaeon, joined the CDF as an X-wing fighter pilot in General Antilles' Rogue Squadron. Taking on the wing name of Rogue Seven, also R7, the teenager soon proved that she was no rookie when it came to piloting a ship. She flew circles around many older and more experienced pilots, much to Antilles' surprise and amazement. The ex-Rebel Alliance hero eventually warmed up, somewhat, to the trio through Allana, mainly because of his perpetual praise of the girl for her exceptional skills and abilities behind the controls of a starfighter. He often told her how his nephew, Jagged, commonly called Jag, who happened to be only a year older than herself, would love to meet someone as gifted as she, since he himself was an usually gifted starpilot. But as Jag lived deep within the Unknown Regions with his family of five siblings and parents (Wedge's decade older sister, the famed but since retired Holoactress Wynssa Starflare, though her real name was Syal Antilles Fel, and her husband, Soontir Fel, a since retired Imperial officer and Baron) that was near-impossible. Especially since Jag's father, whom was once counted as one the Empire's greatest pilots during the Galactic Civil War and after, upon being asked to aide them sometime before, utterly disagreed with the uprising Corellia was making against the Empire and would not place his family in danger simply because Wedge wanted to do so with his own.

Notwithstanding her slight disappointment that she couldn't compete against someone with as much piloting skills as herself around her own age, Allana soon forgot about Jagged Fel and turned her mind to other things.

Arica, also under the suggestion of Gilad Pellaeon, was second to join the Corellian Defense Fleet. And though she started out as a wing mate to Allana in the beginning, the Supreme Commander soon gave Arica the command of her own squadron, which she took to naming Twin Suns. The ex-Separatist General was a fair leader. Not harsh, but strict and did not take well to comments such as "I can't do it Commander; I don't feel I can push myself that far to pull off the maneuver." She trained her 20-wing squadron in the arts of advanced piloting that made the CIS so successful in the Clone Wars, and the Empire in the Alien, Galactic Civil, and Legacy of the Force Wars. Slowly but surely they progressed, and soon, Twin Suns was being ranked as the second best squadron in the CDF besides Rogue.

Lumiya, meanwhile, took a different route in aiding Corellia. She joined the military research group which was bringing together Sun Crusher and Centerpoint Station, by correcting several design errors that could cause destruction to both projects and offering alternative ways they could be done in the stead of errors. This caused her to work closely with Toval Seyah. And while at first he'd been, to some extent, insulted at having correction come to his projects by a female, he soon realized, as Lumiya harshly reminded, that it didn't matter whom had corrected his mistake, as long as it was corrected and not repeated in the future.

During this same period of time, on Imperial Center, the Empress was growing increasingly frustrated over her enemies' vanishing act. She felt the trio and Gabriella. Knew they were were still about, and close by at that, but couldn't quite reach them. It was extremely irritating.

Baynetta continued to torture Troy day and night, refusing to kill him because he was still valuable, and also some sort of "Chosen One" according to his mother. When she presented this information to him, rather than crack any jests as half expected, he remained defiantly silent, denying her what she wanted to know. His mind telling her nothing. Baynetta searched every type of holocron she had – both that of Sith and Jedi, meditated endlessly, but came up with nothing on any kind of Chosen One that was the son of the Jedi's fabled Chosen One. Eventually, she decided it was a trick that was pulled over her and she fell for it.

"I shall live eternally boy," she snarled to Troy as she struck him with continuous Force lightning in his cell. "No one shall extirpate me. And most certainly not you."

On the Jaina front, the state of her visits to Troy had changed drastically over this several week period. It seemed ever since that night she left behind her Sith cloak to keep Troy warm in his rags and a note pleading him to eat, she found herself, if even still reluctantly, coming from feeling somewhat sorry for him, to admiring his courage at staying strong in the face of so much torture, to finally enjoyment in his company and actually looking forward to their meetings.

This was a long process, however, and didn't start overnight but in a natural self-efficient pace. The two were able to have civilized conversations now without Jaina firing up in rage, stalking out, or inflicting pain upon him with Force lightning. She made herself grow unmoved by his dark, and sometimes insulting, humor, as his main purpose of doing it, as she soon discovered, was to simply provoke the person it was directed at to anger in the form of a test to see how much they could take before exploding. According to Troy, it was the perfect form of showing one's self endurance in the face of enmity. Jaina was soon seeing how as she grew to ignore his jests and take them in stride.

It was amazing how she used to hate brining Troy food everyday – it continually reminded the woman of their 16-year-ago meeting, which led to her father's death. She found herself learning a great deal about the Force from the year-younger ex-Prince, which Baynetta would never even dream of teaching her, or Drake for that matter. Of course, to the Empress and Executor, Jaina was merely working undercover to earn Troy's trust into talking, yet secretly she felt that a real acquaintanceship was developing between them. The two would talk in his cells for hours on end, something which didn't go unnoticed by anyone, especially Drake. The Executor grew to find their chatting sessions pointless and felt that perpetual time spent in Troy's presence might change Jaina.

"This is purely professional to me," she assured after he confronted her on the matter; and in front of Troy no less. "There is nothing going on between us that shouldn't be."

"See that it stays that way," he severely commanded and angrily stalked out of the cell with a bang.

Jaina got the idea that her continued time with Troy was making Drake jealous, in spite of his hate for her. He would deliberately intrude upon their meetings, barging into the cell unannounced with commands that Jaina leave and attend to the twins or some other lame excuse. She knew better than to talk back or disobey – at the risk of being punished painfully until her lesson was learned – so left Troy after each of Drake's demands with the prospect of returning the next day. Or if she was fortunate, later that day in secret.

Baynetta, it seemed, had no worries of Jaina's loyalty, despite her Hand's consistency of spending time with the prisoned Troy, as she continuously told Drake the countless times he brought it before Her Excellency. Jaina had proved her loyalty numerous times over the years and the Empress was more than sure her Hand knew what she was doing on the matter of Troy. It was probably her intention to make him think she was growing close to him, only to then hurt him at the last minute.

"Jaina's a smart woman Drake," Baynetta told her Executor after yet another of his questionings of her Hand's loyalty. "And clever too. Do you honestly think she would attempt at betraying me under my very nose?"

Just as Jaina grew to enjoy Troy's presence, so did Troy come to enjoy Jaina's. Notwithstanding the fact that she was merely there to grow close to him in exchange for information and they were enemies, he came to know her a lot as a person and see her as much as adversaries could, as something between acquaintances and friends.

Everyday when he was tortured, he could depend on Jaina at the end of it to talk or just be with. It really was too bad they were enemies.

On a happier note, little by little Troy was re-achieving his abilities in the Force through meditation. He told and revealed this to no one however. Not even Jaina. No matter how much he liked the Empress' Hand, he didn't trust her. Not enough to inform her of his regaining powers that is. This was something he would keep to himself until the time was right.

Natchios and Narcissa's curiosity on Troy's words continued so much during this several week period that it interfered with their training preparations for the test of becoming the Empress' Hands. Because of the twins' distant muses in the middle of sparing and meditation sessions, Drake put them both on a hiatus as punishment for entertaining the deceitful thoughts. Only thing was, that's kind of what the pair wanted to achieve – more free time to themselves to somehow figure out a way of smuggling themselves into the Empress' personal prison without either being seen or appearing suspicious. However, something better than talking to Troy presented itself on the day which marked a month of him being captive, while in what was known as the "Mock Memorial of the Grievous-Skywalkers."

Following the Third Battle of Coruscant, in 26 IE and just prior to Baynetta's reclaiming of the throne, six of the seven that died in the throne room battle (Alexander, Antellica, and Anneliese Grievous; River and Hilton Grievous Skywalker; and Jacen Solo) were burned and their ashes placed in elegantly marbled shrines in each person's likeness with a plague beneath identifying whom each was and their place and rank within the Empire prior to Baynetta's reign.

This moderate sized room was just above the Palace's 600, 6-person red repulsorlift booth Senate Chamber and decorated in the colors purple and black, with the latter being that of the marbled floor and the other that of the stone carved walls. There were no windows in this room or chairs. Or any sense of a homey or sad touch to it. This was purely a respected memorial to those in the past fallen, whom were admired enough by the Empress to make monuments of them. Natchios and Narcissa had, of course, been in this room before. Once to be precise. When they were very young and several years into their training under Baynetta. They couldn't have been any older than 5. Anyway, though the late Emperor Skywalker had been taken from the throne battle as it's only survivors escaped, two other members of the Grievous Skywalker House had been brought to this room following the battle and aftermath. One from Caamas; the other, Dathomir: Leila Skywalker Grievous and Kylantha Escovedo.

The First Imperial Princess and daughter of the Empress with Skywalker was in the captivity of her mother for the three months leading up to her death, with no knowledge of whom her captor was until seconds before the death itself. While Baynetta voiced the only reason she held Leila so long without killing her was because the Princess was still useful, as to what this use was the Empress never revealed. The only comment ever said being "there are more ways than the obvious that a person can be useful."

Could it be though?

Was it possible?

Nah. It wasn't likely. But then, anything was possible. Troy voiced how Leila Skywalker Grievous, his half-sister, was pregnant with a boy-girl twin set, which were conceived through her husband and Troy's cousin, Alexander Grievous, the eldest child and only son of Antellica Grievous, the twin sister of ex-Empress Arica, Troy's mother, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the former Jedi Master of the late Emperor, Troy's father, and a legendary old warrior of the Clone Wars and beyond until 26 IE when he also was killed by Baynetta's own hand on Dantooine.

If this information about the as-yet-to-born twins was so, whatever happened to these heirs of the Empire? Did they die with their mother, or were they born and then Leila was killed as no further purpose could be found of her?

As much as they still wanted to deny it, the second guess seemed more logical, ethical, and could've actually happened. For Natchios and Narcissa both found the prospect of Baynetta killing off Leila, daughter or not, while still pregnant to be a waste, as the offspring could've been used to be trained as apprentices. And it seemed that that's what had happened. Nonetheless, the two wanted some type of proof, besides the word of mouth, to back the claim. Or perhaps should be said, _the obvious._ It was this that brought the twins to the Mock Memorial of the Grievous Skywalkers late one night, 2300 Hours at least. The continued desire for answers.

This was one of the many rooms of the Palace that was always kept unlocked, as it was open to tourists when they came. However, as of recently, Drake was keeping the room under close surveillance, for he knew as well as they did that it was only a matter of time before they ended up within it. But Natchios and Narcissa were too smart for the Executor's traps and secret alert contraptions and disabled them all before entrance into the room.

The marble shrines of each eight persons were situated on metal upright stoles connected to the wall with a plague beneath them and a holoportrait above of the person in question not long before death. The monuments were placed from entrance to further in in the order each died. So it came as no surprise when Natchios and Narcissa found themselves coming up to Leila's shrine first, as she died just previous to the Third Battle of Coruscant during Baynetta's 3-month hiatus of conflict in hiding on Caamas.

The brother-sister duo had seen pictures of the First Imperial Princess before (here she was seated and dressed in a black, flowing sleeveless gown; her dark brown hair falling far beneath her shoulders and intertwined with tiny braids, and her fair, white face shaped in a small smile that didn't reach her equally dark brown eyes), but to now look at one with the thought that she could actually be the observer's mother was much different. She wasn't viewed as a fallen enemy like before. Yet not a friend or acquaintance either. Perhaps merely the person whom brought them into existence.

Also, looking at her now, a stream of nearly forgotten, though not fully gone memories came back to them of a long time ago. A bright white room; Leila on a birthing table screaming in pain and agony; a woman in shadow beside her, hissing for the Princess to be silent and push; two trapped, tiny forms feeling endangered as they left the warm comfort that was their mother's womb. While one couldn't fight the hold that was pulling it out, the other could and did as much as possible until they too were being pulled out.

As abruptly as the images started, they ceased, and Natchios and Narcissa were utterly startled and confused by them. The abruptness of their appearance. What could they mean? The siblings exchanged a glance between each other and the portrait of Leila again and linked hands atop the marble shrine at the Princess' ashes, willing their mind to elaborate on what they'd just been shown. And it came to them.

All of it:

Leila's discovery of being pregnant and then learning of youngest half-siblings kidnapping and later death by a mysterious shadow woman who swore revenge on the entire Royal House and promised to kill each and every one of them by the year's end; the discovery that the trio's kidnapping was pulled off by a fake solar eclipse via the Orbital Nightcloak outside the capital in space; her mission to Dathomir with Luke and Anneliese, which resulted in the death of many witches by Jaina Solo and Braxton Palpatine, yet also his own death at Anneliese's hand, having Jaina escape to Wayland where another battle was fought, but with the Emperor, Alexander, and a swarm of Imperials in tow against the Shadow's millions of clone forces;

the group of five's retreat to Axxila with the rest of the family, as Anneliese and Luke's young children were kidnapped from the capital; Alexander and Leila's undercover mission in the Outer Rim planet's underworld; the duel with Bellatrix Palpatine soon after, which ended in Leila's captivity; waking up in a cell with half-siblings Hilton and Elektra; her meeting with the Shadow and horror at discovering the evil woman knew of her pregnancy and intended on speeding it up to being ready within three months; the toddler Allana's escape and Elektra's death to save Hilton's life as a result; the Shadow's rage at Allana's call for Imperial help and fleeing Korriban with Leila and baby Ben, while Hilton was left behind to inform his arriving family of Elektra's death; Leila's 3-month captivity in a Caamas cave while the Shadow used her influence in the Force to speed up her pregnancy; Leila's use of that same time to care for her infant nephew and occasionally muse over possible names for her own babies: Kol, after her youngest half-brother Cole, and Kyleia, after her former alias in the Alderaan Royal Court as an adopted Organa, Leia seeming to be favorites. However, most of the time was spent pondering ideas of escape. Something that was rather impossible as the Shadow never let Leila from her sight once during that period. Where the Dark Lady went, her prisoner followed.

And finally, the day that ended it all: the news coming to Leila that she was ready to give birth; the birthing itself – and it was here that Natchios and Narcissa felt a great connection to the Princess – with the male twin being born outright while the female fought to stay back; Leila's twins being taken away from her before she could so much as hold or gaze at them; the Shadow revealing herself as Leila's mother; and with that, finally, Leila Skywalker-Grievous' tragic death at the age of 26.

Natchios and Narcissa let go of the marble shrine of the First Imperial Princess gasping and both collapsed to the floor at the sudden disconnection from their mother's ashes.

Yes. It was true. Everything Troy had said was true. And it was then that they realized no matter what words could've been exchanged between they and their second cousin/half-uncle nothing would've convinced them of the truth more than this. They didn't need to see him now. They'd discovered the truth on their own. It'd been inside them all this time, or at least part of it had been.

The Empress, Baynetta, their master and mentor from infancy, was their maternal grandmother; Drake, their granduncle; and Ben, the Empress' hand servant aka personal slave but also grandson, their cousin. It was odd how Baynetta would use two of her grandchildren as apprentices while the other as a rag doll, in a sense. The twins always assumed Ben was some random child off the street, brought in by his parents to serve the Empress in exchange for an odd debt or simply for the honor. How wrong they truly were.

All these years, ever since they were introduced as infants, Natchios and Narcissa had been nothing but cruel and cold to Ben. But that's only because they saw everyone else treating him like that and so followed suit. They thought it was the correct thing to do and that he was beneath them, when actually the three of them were all on the same page. Under the Grievous-Skywalker's rule, Ben would've been, and once was, the Second Generation First Imperial Prince. As such, Natchios would've been the Second Imperial Prince and Narcissa the First Imperial Princess of the Second Generation. The twins often wondered, simply to muse over it, what it was like to be royal. And here they already were and never even knew it. Though now that the siblings knew of their true heritage, what were they supposed to do with the information? It didn't change them really, or at least it shouldn't. And yet it did. Was Baynetta ever intending on letting them know who they really were? Would she ever tell Ben? And furthermore, why would she keep something like this hidden from the three all these years? As Troy said, she should be proud to call the two of them her grandchildren. She, Jaina, and Drake had trained them well. But why was Ben not also trained? He was Force sensitive too, even if he never used his potential (Natchios began to wonder if Baynetta would even let him if he wanted to). And why was he an embarrassment to her, as Troy said?

So despite their large discovery, they still had so many unanswered questions that neither the two held their breath on getting answers. At least not from Baynetta, _their grandmother_ Narcissa was quick to think, anyway.

It was strange to think of Her Imperial Highness as their grandmother. They'd looked up to her so much over the years as anything but that, and to actually discover that she was, well...that was more than a little odd. But where did this place them with the Grievous-Skywalkers? According to Troy, the twins were still marked for dead by the ex-royals because they were also Palpatines as well as Grievous-Skywalkers. Or maybe since it was a Skywalker that married a Grievous instead of the other way around that made them Skywalker-Grievous'. Yet whatever they were to be called, what if Natchios and Narcissa wished to choose one family over the other? And that's when they realized it. Baynetta probably assumed that if they learned of their mixed heritages, a time would come when they would have to choose one family over the other, and she didn't want that. So simply not telling them about their heritages at all was obviously better in her eyes. It was twisted and deceitful, but Baynetta at best. Either that, or they were shadow children, hidden heirs to the throne so if the Royal Family was wiped out they, and Ben they assumed, could step forward to continue it and the rule of the Empire. This scenario sounded better and more probable to the two, but at the same time it didn't. Say Troy and his sisters' assault on the Palace was a success, but instead of being after the twins, they managed at killing Baynetta and Drake. How were they, and Ben, supposed to know to step forward and, after avenging their masters, assume the throne? Jaina perhaps? She also had to know of their true identity. But say she ended up getting killed too (to which Natchios and Narcissa would give the killers their congrats, not vengeance), who then would tell them? Did Ben remember his pre-Baynetta days at 5-months and younger, or had the Empress erased them from his mind?

Most likely, the second guess, but he could still know about their positions as shadow heirs if that's what they really were. It would make sense for him to know and tell them if the reason presented itself. Who would think a little slave boy could be of any value? But then, who would also listen to what a slave boy had to say and not dismiss it as nonsense? Before today, if Ben had presented them with such information, they'd probably have spat in his face and knocked him down. And because of this, they knew he, like them some hours ago, had no idea of his true heritage, or most likely it was near forgotten at the back of his mind, or erased altogether. But perhaps if he came in here and laid his hands atop his own mother's shrine, it would all come back to him the way it did to them. Yet even then, what would they be accomplishing? So what they were the hidden heirs to the Imperial throne. That was no reason to bring a hiatus to their Empress' Hand training and come in the way of everything else. They'd have to apologize to Drake, Jaina, and Baynetta; though preferably, Baynetta.

"But we did nothing wrong," Natchios argued to the thought in his sister's mind. "We have every right of knowing who we really are. And for that, there is no reason to apologize."

"True. But the Empress and Drake will probably find fault with it," Narcissa said.

"Let them," he shot back. "I'm not entirely sure I much care."

"You'll care Natchios," she stressed reprovingly, "when it's us in the prison block below being tortured alongside Troy."

"Oh pish Narcissa." Natchios rolled his eyes. "You always are good at spoiling a mood. Let's not worry about Baynetta and Drake at the present. Now that we know a little bit about our mother, whom I might add you look somewhat like, let's see about our father, Alexander."

"I _do not_ look like her," Narcissa denied, but upon gazing up at the holoportrait of Leila Skywalker-Grievous once more, she saw how wrong she really was. It wasn't entirely like gazing into a mirror, but close to it. Narcissa's hair was slightly lighter than Leila's dark brown, and she was also blue-eyed unlike her mother whom was brown-eyed.

"But Alexander's blue-eyed," Natchios's pointed out, and Narcissa turned to see her brother four shrines down past Hilton Grievous Skywalker, Jacen Solo, and River Grievous Skywalker, gazing up the holoportrait of their father. She soon joined him.

Like the First Imperial Princess, both twins had seen pictures of Alexander Grievous before. But just like with Leila sometime earlier, this was different. In the wide-angled picture Alexander was laying on his side along a couch dressed in black royal robes, right arm propped up and hand formed in a fist as it rested on the side of his lightly smiling face. He was very handsome, though some months younger than Leila, and that could be seen clearly in the holoportrait. His face had that of a forever young look to it despite only being twenty-five standard years at the picture's taking. Looking at their father, Narcissa could see as much of Alexander in Natchios as he'd seen of Leila in her.

"You hair's close in color to his," she noted as her eyes darted between the portrait of their dirty blond haired father and the light brown haired Natchios. "Only yours is a tad bit darker and you have Leila's eyes unlike me, whereas I have Alexander's eyes unlike you."

Natchios shared the notes Narcissa made in comparison with them to their parents and nodded. Also like Narcissa concerning Leila, looking at their father's holoportrait wasn't exactly like gazing into a mirror but close to it. His hair was a light brown that was close to dirty blond. However, there was a difference.

Nonetheless, the two couldn't see how they could've missed the similarities before. It was probably Baynetta clouding their minds from seeing it, Narcissa suggested in their mental bond, and Natchios had to agree. For some reason, the more they were learning about their parents, the less they wanted to do with Baynetta. But why? She was their master and grandmother. The person whom raised them since infancy. Their parents were dead and not coming back.

_'No thanks in part to Baynetta,' _Natchios thought scornfully, though quickly cleared his mind before it could be picked up on.

Too late! Narcissa heard it, only it seemed she was thinking the same thing.

"Who cares about Baynetta and Drake?" she said. "Let's just stay in here a little bit longer. Maybe we can see some type of memories from Alexander...father too. Even if we never met him, we're still connected by blood."

Natchios nodded. "I don't see any reason against the attempt. Why not?"

Together, as one, the twins linked hands atop their father's marble shrine and welcomed the memories that flooded their own minds and became their memories in excitement. Not at all caring, or even knowing, that one of their masters was standing just outside the room, and had been ever since they made their discovery, presence blocked.

_I should've known it'd only be a matter of time before they discovered the truth. Especially since the comment Troy made and their non-stop thoughts on the matter._

It wasn't Baynetta, nor Drake, but Jaina.

The Empress' Hand had been somewhat under the weather earlier that day, so kept herself scarce around the Palace. Staying inside her quarters for the most part. Because of this, she hadn't been to see Troy at all today, instead having food sent down to him via stormtrooper. But she was better now right, or was she?

As much as Jaina wanted to deny it, the sickness she'd been feeling today and the past few days wasn't a physical ailment but that of nervousness. Nervousness of what she was planning to do.

Over the past month since Troy had been captured, Jaina found herself growing increasingly frustrated with her life on the capital and Drake treating her like a criminal so much that she wanted to make him happy by actually doing what he so yearned for her to do: Betray the Empire. Plus, there was this feeling she just couldn't shake. She'd been getting it ever since two weeks ago and even presented it to Baynetta once or twice. But the Sith Empress didn't share this feeling to the length of not sensing anything amiss. This caused her to tell Jaina to "put your mind at rest on the matter." Yet that was just it. She couldn't. She simply could not shake the feeling that something big – and having to do with the capital – and horrid was about to happen. And the more days went by, the stronger the feeling became.

When Jaina first felt this, it was as though the event, as she was now calling it, was still sometime off. However, presently she felt as though it could happen any day now, and what was so annoying about it was that she didn't even know what it was she was fearing. Jaina expressed these feelings to Troy numerous times and he listened intently, taking her words seriously, unlike Drake who seemed to think she was merely making a fuss for attention. She mainly ignored the Executor, yet his disdain for her, Jaina felt, had gone on thirteen years too long and she was tired of it. But forgetting about Drake a minute, Troy seemed to think her feeling might have to do with where his mother, Allana, and Lumiya had been all this time.

It was possible. Though troops were still out looking for them, and Gabriella, no trace had been found of the trio since their flight from Byss. It wasn't known where they were. But like the Empress, Jaina felt they were still nearby. Perhaps even somewhere in the Core.

But regardless where they were and rather or not it had to do with them, Jaina was disturbed. And if she was in danger on Imperial Center, she most certainly wasn't staying. And if she wasn't staying, then neither was Troy. The past few days she'd been conducting, secretly in thought and with no one being the wiser, a plan of how to break Troy out of his cell. It wouldn't be easy, and would have to be done at night. Tonight to be exact. Despite her nervousness, the sick in bed thing was mostly an act to direct the attention off her for a change, as an inactive warrior was just as much as a useless warrior in Baynetta's eyes and court. Mostly, this meant Jaina would be left alone until announcing she was better. It was the perfect opportunity, and she wasn't about to pass it up.

So leaving behind Natchios and Narcissa to the discoveries of their parents and other fallen relatives, which she found nothing wrong with and would not tell Baynetta if that's not what they wanted (naturally, they didn't), Jaina ventured down onto the first floor and then into the Empress' personal prison complex, where she found, as usual, a squad of troopers scouting the entirety of it. Presence still cloaked, Jaina crept through the always brightly lit foyer unnoticed and then darted to the right, into the dark hallway which led to an even darker passageway, and ultimately Troy's cell.

* * *

Troy felt Jaina coming before she actually arrived, but didn't want to act as though he was expecting her no matter how much he actually was. 

She'd surprised him greatly that day by not coming down to see him and for no reason. His food was brought to him by one of the scouting stormtroopers, but Troy wasn't about to ask the clone where she was. He felt she was still in the building somewhere, inactive most of the day, and couldn't help but be a little worried. Yet he tried not to too much. Jaina was a strong woman. He was sure there was a satisfactory reason as to why she was wherever and hadn't been to see him. And there was. He was able to figure out what it was she was planning about midday and it made his heart soar. As much as he knew it was required of him to endure the trials of the Sith prophecy, at the same time the Force was telling him that his time of captivity was coming to a close. It was time for him to rejoin his family and Lumiya wherever they were. So even if Jaina didn't offer a proposal of escape to him, he would've found a way out himself. Yet now he didn't have to, and that made him feel a lot better. He wouldn't have to go alone and leave her here.

It was late, maybe 0100 Hours of the following day, which marked a month of him being here, so wouldn't seem odd that he was laying down, wrapped in formerly Jaina's, currently his cloak, appearing to be asleep.

The door to his cell opened a moment later and in came Jaina. She seemed to observe him a moment before kneeling beside him on the floor and gently shaking him 'awake.'

"Troy. Troy, it's me Jaina," she said. "Wake up."

Troy opened his eyes and faked a yawn of tiredness as he sat up on the floor. "Jaina." He couldn't help smiling as he gazed into her beautiful face. "Where were you today?"

Rather than answer the question, she took on a mock baby tone. "Aw, did the Prince miss me?"

His smile widened and was surprisingly honest when he answered. "Actually, I did."

Clearly, this wasn't the reply she was expecting. Jaina's posture grew uncomfortable and she lowered her head. "Right...well, I'm here now."

"And not so much to visit me. Not this late." His tone was matter-of-fact, though Jaina only shrugged. "It's only 0130 Hours." However, at his leveling stare she sighed. "Oh all right! So I did come here for a reason. Happy?"

He ignored the question with one of his own. "Being?"

She hesitated, but knew the more time she wasted, the higher the risk was of getting caught. She needed to get straight to the point.

"I've come to set you free."

"Why?"

Jaina blinked. "Why?!" she repeated in some surprise. "I'm offering you freedom and you're asking me why?"

Troy's answer was plain and simple. "I want to know what reason could've drawn you to this. Besides the feeling you keep getting about this event that's going to occur. Why not simply save yourself?"

That was a surprisingly hard question. She chose to dismiss it. "What does it matter-"

"Oh but it does matter." Troy moved closer to her cross-legged form, and though the uncomfortable manner from earlier returned, Jaina did not move away but looked intently back into the eyes that were staring into hers.

"Would this be the reason...?"

Troy leaned his face in towards her own and kissed Jaina warmly on the lips. Though somewhat startled at first, Jaina slowly began to kiss back into Troy's mouth and soon found herself melting into the tenderness he was expressing to her.

However much she tried to deny it in the beginning, Jaina was, and had been, attracted to Troy ever since they met as teenagers. But she wasn't about to say that to him or anyone else for that matter. Yet somehow it was already clear, and Troy knew and felt the same way.

"Yes," she said finally, softly, almost hesitantly after the kiss. "Yes it is...But," she continued, her tone turning serious, "in my time getting to know you, Troy, I've discovered another side of you. A side that isn't self-centered and arrogant, but loving and kind. As much as can be expected anyway. (Troy smirked.) Notwithstanding everything that's happened, you're still holding on. I admire that and you've earned my respect."

Troy nodded and gave a thankful smile to her sincereness, for she wasn't lying. With or without the Force he could've known that. Her words, feelings, and thoughts, and their kiss spoke for themselves.

"Besides," she added as an almost after thought, "I'm not sure I'm liking this bald look on you."

Troy grinned at her quip and ran a hand over his nearly hairless head. "It's growing back somewhat..."

"But it'll take a while..."

"True."

"And I want to be with you when it does."

Jaina became embarrassed by her words and lowered her head in shame. _Did I actually say that out loud?_

"Yes, actually you did."

Jaina snapped her head up and gaped at Troy in great surprise. He'd read her- He could- "You can use the Force again!" she stated more than asked in an awed tone.

He smiled and nodded once. "Yes. Quite well. And while I have yet to require my previous status, I'm quite competent nonetheless."

"For how long?" she wanted to know.

"The past 2 1/2 weeks."

"But when I asked you a few days ago, you said you still couldn't."

Troy smirked at her point made. "I say a lot of things Jaina. You job is to decipher which is true or false."

Jaina returned the smirk with one of her own and another kiss on the lips, but made this one more passionate.

"I thought you only found holostars attractive," she teased at its ending.

Every single female the ex-Third Imperial Prince had ever been involved with, too many to count since Zenon Da'xia at 13, was in the entertainment industry, rather they be a model, actress, or socialite and beautiful.

Troy flashed her another smirk. "That was before I met you."

The forbidden couple shared another smile before Troy pulled them both to a stand. "Come on. Let's get going."

* * *

Natchios and Narcissa left behind the Mock Memorial of the Grievous-Skywalkers with one thought in mind: 

No longer was it their wish to serve under Baynetta and become her Hands. For all the twins cared, the Sith master could choke on her own dust. They were going down to see Troy, and somehow between the three of them, after making him see how much of an asset they'd make to the Grievous-Skywalker's cause, a way would be figured out of how to get him out of the Palace and maybe even Ben too if they were fortunate. Though that was hardly likely, as Ben's living quarters were on the same level as Baynetta's. Nonetheless, with or without Ben, they and Troy were leaving. And what a mighty shock that would bring Baynetta, as she'd never see it coming. Or Drake for that matter. The twins didn't much care about Jaina. She was supposedly "sick" anyway, so shouldn't be too much of a bother or interference.

So what exactly was it that brought them to this decision of not wanting to be apart of their grandmother's empire any longer?

Well, after the two had linked hands atop their father's ashes and were able to view memories from his life, even as far back when he was their age and a small child, they repeated the same with their mother again to see more memories of her, then with their paternal grandmother Antellica (who was by far a better person than their other grandmother in the twins' eyes, no matter her many betrayals), aunt Anneliese, cousins/half-uncle and aunt Hilton and River, second cousin Kylantha, and even Jaina's twin brother, Jacen.

The more memories they saw, the more bitter they became. There wasn't anything wrong with these people killed. They were accomplished, experienced, and together as a unit, much more powerful than Baynetta, Drake, and Jaina would ever be. Each and every one of those who died – thirteen total when you counted Jacen – fell merely out of cold blood, aka Baynetta's revenge for having the Empire taken from her. How different the twins' lives could've been if their late maternal grandfather, the legendary Anakin Skywalker, and the Grievous twins would've just faced Baynetta properly after Sidious' death and not try at shooting her ship from the sky. But fate had its strange and often cruel way of allowing things, and once it was done, it couldn't be taken back.

The twins were so disgusted with their former master, as they were now coming to think of Baynetta, that no longer were they going to go by the given names chosen for them by the Empress. Natchios and Narcissa Jade were merely aliases given to keep them from knowing who they really were: Kol and Kyleia Skywalker Grievous. The favored names of their mother when it came to what she wanted to name her children was what the twins would go by starting at the present and forever more.

Natchios and Narcissa Jade, loyal servants of the Empress Baynetta, were dead. And in their place came Kol and Kyleia Skywalker Grievous, proud members of the Royal Grievous Skywalker House.

The newly-named Skywalker Grievous twins were currently descending the secret staircase that began in a ballroom closet on the first floor and led down into the Empress' prison. Their presences weren't cloaked, but as stealthily as the two were moving, they might have well been. They still weren't entirely sure how they were going to break Troy out to begin with, and what to do or say to convince him that they were really on the Grievous-Skywalker's side with no more allegiance whatsoever to Baynetta. It's not like he had the Force to detect rather they were lying or not.

"But if I didn't have the Force, how can I know that the two of you are Natchios and Narcissa Jade, loyal servants of the Empress Baynetta, no more but Kol and Kyleia Skywalker Grievous, proud members and heirs of the Grievous-Skywalker House?"

The twins stopped short and practically jumped out of their skin at the voice that was coming from behind them. Not over what had been said so much, but who said it. Slowly turning, the 13-year-olds gasped at who was standing before them in the middle of the dark staircase several steps above.

"Troy!" Kyleia exclaimed.

"And with Jaina," Kol was quick to note.

"Out of your cell!" Kyleia added, her eyes also turning to Jaina.

"But how?" Kol wanted to know. "Surely Jaina didn't set you free."

"Actually, she did," Troy replied, sparing a glance in Jaina's direction behind him and then onto the twins once more. He leveled them with a curious stare. "It's a bit late for you two to still be up, don't you think?"

Kol and Kyleia weren't entirely sure what to think. It was mainly the appearance of Jaina by Troy's side, with no intent to harm him, as though she was on his side that baffled them so much. And yet they sensed something between Troy and Jaina now. Something new. Something...an awful lot like...love?

The two of them were- She was- But it wasn't just that. There was something different about Troy too.

"You can use the Force again?!" Kol said in confusion.

Troy nodded. "That's right."

"But how?" Kyleia asked and her eyes moved to the Empress' Hand. "Jaina?"

"Oh no," Troy assured. "But forgetting about that a moment, you finally discovered the truth. About the Palpatines, Grievous-Skywalkers, and your connection to both."

"Yes," Kol said slowly, almost with a trace of relief. "But how can you know that? The Force?"

Troy nodded at Jaina and she spoke. "Before visiting Troy, I saw you two inside the Mock Memorial of the Grievous-Skywalkers, intently gazing at and receiving visions through the Force of your parents, Alexander and Leila."

"How could've you seen us in there?!" Kol and Kyleia both demanded in defense, the prospect of someone spying on them during this period startling them both.

Jaina rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter how, it's the fact that I did. But needn't you worry, I'm not telling Baynetta. I'm about as disgusted with her as you two are."

"You're trying to say you're not the Empress' Hand anymore?" Kyleia asked, her tone dripping in non-belief and close to sarcasm.

Jaina nodded. "Baynetta received fourteen years too many from me and will not get anymore. My career under her is done."

"How can we know this isn't a trick?" Kol demanded. "Like what Lacovia did to her own Order."

"In that case, how can _we_ know that the you of two aren't a trick?" she shot back. "Ordered by Baynetta to make it seem you're on our side when actually you're playing us."

"Enough." Troy's voice wasn't cold, commanding, or vexed, but calm. "I'm more than aware that the three of you do not openly enjoy one another's presence. But as of now, that's irrelevant. What we need to be doing as of the present is escaping, not conversing over this or that. It can always be done at a later time. Now let's go."

"But I thought you wanted us dead in spite of our bloodline connection to you," Kyleia pointed out. "We're still Palpatine's great-grandchildren after all."

Troy ceased his climb up the shadowed staircase with Jaina and turned to look at his cousin/half-niece. "I did. Yet after seeing and reading how truly sincere your hearts are, I think the two of you could make a powerful addition to our uprising. Now enough questions. We need to get on the move."

Kol and Kyleia silently followed Troy and Jaina up the stairwell the twins recently strolled down with the intent of saving the person that was now leading them. It was incredible how fabulous fate could play out, despite the bad stuff it also gave.

Troy and Jaina had snuck out Baynetta's prison the same way Jaina snuck in: out of the cell, through the dark passageway that led from it, into a not-as-dark hallway which led from that, into the brightly lit prison foyer with their presences cloaked, and finally inside the stairwell where they met the Skywalker-Grievous twins. From there, the foursome cloaked their presences and climbed the flight of about a hundred stairs, crept out of the ballroom closet and then the ballroom itself, and into the usually always busy, though currently deserted, Grand Corridor.

Since Troy's capture a month ago, the Grand Corridor and everything within it was closed after the hour 2100. The Empress wasn't about to risk an attempted escape in the form of Troy slipping into the hall's crowds and creating a distraction of chaos to flee by perhaps having one of the overhead chandeliers collapse to the floor in a shatter.

And because the Grand Corridor was closed, there would be no way of getting out through the front door, as it was heavily guarded. But all was not completely lost. It was Kyleia's suggestion that they escape the same way Troy originally got into the Palace to begin with: through her bedroom skylight tower. It was since repaired, and though a security alarm had been added to it, she knew the code to turn it off.

However, Kol thought against this idea and said there could be recently added silent alarms which they didn't know about, provided in thanks to Drake's recently over suspicious nature. He suggested they escape through the third floor hanger bay because it was the least likely place a captive here would look to escape.

"Yes, but that would alert security," Jaina protested.

"What security?" Kol shot back. "You know as much as I do that most of Palace security consists of Baynetta's usage of the Force."

"Which I might remind you is very strong," Jaina returned.

"But not stronger than my abilities," Troy pointed out. "Be silent the three of you. I have an idea."

The foursome made their way onto the third level and in the vast, starship-filled hanger – the only two guards posted at its entrance were swiftly knocked out – with Troy quickly getting down to business.

"Okay: so obviously each and every one of these ships have tracking systems on them. We know that. Or shall I say, that's what's supposed to be thought."

He ventured over to the southern end of the hanger and came to a halt in front of a large and elegant black and gold flagship. "But give me one reason as to why Baynetta, with the ego she has and how secretive she can often be, would want a tracking system on her own flagship?"

The trio was silent a moment, pondering an answer. Kyleia finally thought of one. "She wouldn't. Because the prospect of stealing the Empress' flagship is an unthinkable means of escape. In her eyes anyway."

"Exactly," Troy appraised. "And it's that arrogant overconfidence that's costing her three ex-apprentices and two prisoners."

"Two prisoners?" Kol asked. "Whose the second?"

Troy replied while doing a quick Force sweep around _Dark Empress_; the flagship. "Gabriella of course. I've already alerted her to be ready for us at a prearranged location in the Entertainment District."

The twins weren't the only ones who seemed startled by this. Jaina did too.

"You contacted her via the Force?" she asked. "Troy, you shouldn't have. Drake will have-"

"I contacted her via our sibling bond that has existed since infancy," he corrected. "We've always been close, and continue to be today. So it was easy to do and did not require one ounce of the Force. It's funny actually. All these years, I thought to keep a bond between two people alive was through the Force. And while the Force does the bond stronger, it can exist and be used without it."

By now he'd finished his sweep of _Dark Empress_ and returned to his three companions at the left side of the ship.

"Just as I thought. It's clean. No tracking devices. No nothing."

"How are we supposed to get inside though?" Kyleia asked. "None of us know any of the security entrance codes."

Troy rose an eyebrow at her and seemed amused. In answer, he snapped his right and left fingers, one after the other, and _Dark Empress_' boarding ramp lowered.

While Kol and Kyleia gaped in amazement, Jaina shook her head at Troy with a smirk.

"You always are one to show off, aren't you?"

He returned the smile. "When the occasion presents itself, yes." He turned to look at the twins with the same smile and patted them both on the head. "You'll get used to my perpetual ways of shocking people. It comes with being apart of the family, which the two of you are now."

To help do away with some of the nervousness the two were still feeling at that thought, he ruffled both their hair and moved them onto the boarding ramp after Jaina.

_Dark Empress_ was immense and lavishly decorated with pure gold and jewels. But the foursome didn't have time to enjoy the ship's interior at the present. Their destination was the cockpit, located, strangely enough, at the core of the vessel. Once they reached it, after going through scores upon scores of hallways, Jaina informed Troy that only once the ship's cloaking shield was up could they start its engines without any sound coming from it. This was done and Troy took the master pilot's seat in the circular cockpit while Jaina, Kol, and Kyleia, meanwhile, seated themselves at three of the other four pilot seats. The ship was ignited, though there was no time to warm it. And according to Jaina, who had some previous experience with the flagship, it didn't need to be warmed if it'd been used at least once within the past month. And it had. _Dark Empress_ is what Baynetta and Lacovia used on their travel to Byss. Fired up and ready, the foursome flew the flagship out of the third floor hanger and took to the Coruscanti skies expediently escaping the prison complex which was for so many years to Jaina and the twins, yet only a month for Troy, the Imperial Palace.

* * *

It'd been a month now since their failed, yet daring move against Baynetta at her own Palace, which resulted in the capturing of Troy and revelation of Lacovia's 3-year long betrayal. During this time, Gabriella kept herself quite well hidden among the usual rift raft one might find in the underbelly of Imperial Center. 

Following her escape from the Palace, the youngest child and presently only daughter of Arica Grievous Skywalker took to residing in a rundown excuse of a hotel/cantina, which mostly featured low lives whom enjoyed gambling and drinking the majority of the day. To those who were bold enough to come up and ask, Gabriella was Melania Vanessa, a light brown haired dancer from Naboo, newly arrived to the capital world on recommendation to work at the establishment. And though Melania Vanessa were somewhat rare names in their use, no one expected this to be an alias of the person who made the names famous by royal birth: ex-Third Imperial Princess Gabriella Melania Vanessa.

Melania Vanessa became quite popular on all standards among the underworlders in their lives of ongoing partying and deathstick puffing. She blew away the competition of the other dancers like they were merely dust and was soon the staple of many crowds.

But the personae of Melania Vanessa wasn't the only thing Gabriella did during this time. That was simply her night job. By day, she was a cloak-wearing shadow that roamed the streets in desire of picking up any information which might get her off-world and to any place else in the Core. Alas, this was in vain; the feat was impossible. Baynetta was making quite sure no one, no matter who you were, was being allowed on or off planet until she so deemed it. To which the might of the navy backed her up on. Any ship, even under a cloaking shield, that attempted or even made a move at attempting to either enter or exit Imperial Center was shot out of the sky mercilessly. She wasn't taking the chance of letting Gabriella slip from her grasp, even if she was sure to come right back with help soon after. Just as she wasn't letting her access the Force as much as the ex-Princess may have liked.

Gabriella was forced to keep her Force usage to a minimum as not to be found, and she still couldn't reach out to anyone, not even Troy, as that was sure to be felt. This was extremely painful for her when she sensed him being stripped of the Force and the continuous agony he was forced to endure everyday in torture. More than once she wished to reach out to him and give him her strength to help him through the day. But she couldn't and wouldn't for both their sakes.

And then, little by little, it felt as though he was becoming stronger and reacquiring his abilities in the Force. Gabriella was confused as to why Troy wouldn't want to keep this under lock and key as an advantage in getting out. But then it came to her that he was. Yet the only reason she could sense his growing strength was through the sibling bond between them that Gabriella had always assumed was a Force bond. It was, but then again, it wasn't. She never once understood this fully until that day she decided to take a break from dancing, and was instead sitting at the cantina bar, sipping a light wine.

Troy contacted her via telepathic connection, informing her of his, Jaina's, and the twins' escape. Naturally, she was floored by this. Jaina Solo, the Empress' Hand and slayer of their cousin Kylantha, was aiding him in his escape? Since when had she become an ally? And why, if Natchios and Narcissa were with him, were they not dead? But Troy didn't say and silenced her questions with the command to be ready for them at their arrival in a secret back alley right behind the Holiday Towers hotel. She would've said more, but he then broke the connection, and she was by herself again at the bar. Slipping out secretly, Gabriella managed to walk unnoticed right out of Coruscant's underworld and into the nearby Entertainment District which ultimately led to it.

As she and Troy were one-time Holostars as well as royalty, the duo practically owned the capital's Entertainment District in the sense that there wasn't one part of it the two didn't know. The secret back alley behind Holiday Towers was something of a favored hiding spot for the brother-sister team when they were young children. It brought to them the utmost delight, at the time, to hide in this dark alley after a long day of work when their mother or maybe one of her and their assistants came to pick them up at any of the three nearby film studios. This was back when they were first discovering and becoming active in their Force abilities, so it was easy to slip by the crew without notice. They eventually stopped this, however, after multiple punishments, which included acting as servants in Skywalker Manor alongside the actuals among other things. Nonetheless, for Troy and Gabriella this was always somewhat of a secret hideout for them and would always be a special place in their eyes. And in this, it was only fitting that here be the location of Gabriella's pick up, as very few knew of the alley's existence. It was small and partially hidden by an overhang bridge, the swarms of traffic that came across and beneath it, and by an almost connected bridge that was close to the hotel. Notwithstanding its secretiveness, the alley was actually easy to get to once you exited Holiday Towers from its back janitor exit. One merely took a turn to the left after descending the ten stairs which led from the exit, bypassing the out-and in-door docking bays and then took a right and another left turn into a dark secret alley that was littered with trash and old boxes.

Gabriella didn't have long to wait after her arrival. She sensed rather than saw them before the ship uncloaked itself and she found herself gazing at the Empress' flagship, _Dark Empress_. She still had her doubts and hesitated a moment as the boarding ramp lowered. But once she saw her brother it all went away. Gabriella was rushing forward and in his arms in no time, suddenly feeling more secure than she ever had during her month of hiding. She was soon pulling out though to run her fingers along his semi-bald head in horror.

"Troy, what-"

"-happened?" he finished. "We'll have all the time in the galaxy to ask and answer questions later. But for the present-"

"-we need to get moving," she ended.

Troy smiled and teased. "I see you for two seconds and already you're finishing my sentences." He took her hand. "Come on."

The reunited brother and sister darted up the boarding ramp, and as it closed behind them rushed through the numerous hallways to the cockpit. Jaina was already rising the ship into the air with the aid of the twins. Gabriella only stopped for a second to observe the three before she was joining Troy at the remaining two copilot stations.

As the navy was still in position around Imperial Center to keep up the lock down – not even an invisible ship could get past this assembly of force without being detected – this would be a little hard for them. Or so Gabriella thought. But again, the flagship worked to their advantage in the sense that the ship was indeed detected by the navy. However, as it was _Dark Empress_, the Imperials lowered their block to let it pass without question, and the ship was allowed on its way. After all, who would think that prisoners had hijacked the Empress' flagship?

As soon as the five person group were out and made the jump to lightspeed, Gabriella swung around from her copilot's station to level Troy and the others with a demanding stare.

"I believe the present is a wonderful time for an explanation. Troy, if you please...and no interruptions from you three." She didn't even pretend to be nice to them. She wouldn't until some answers were gotten. "You are to be silent until it's said you may speak."

* * *

Author's Note #2: Pretty epic, huh? Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of the chapter. 


	141. Conquest

Author's Note: As promised, this chapter is even longer than the prior and is filled with lots of action and a major bombshell cliffhanger at the finish. Enjoy!

Twisterblake: Thanks. Actually, I never heard of the Sith artifact called Star Forge, so sorry that won't be in this. As for any other Sith artifact, sadly no. Though that is a good idea in the including of a possible other SW fic I'm hoping to pen.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks. Ben's fate is decided in this chapter, and actually starts from his point of view. And yes, this chapter definitely picks up where it left off and then some!

MissNaye: You mean that in a good way, right?

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 19: Conquest

"_Victory only comes to those who have faith in what they're aiming to accomplish. Even the tiniest bit of doubt can lead to the ultimate downfall."_

-Gilad Pellaeon

Imperial Palace: 0430 Hours, Three and a half hours after the Grievous-Skywalker Escape

The Empress' Quarters were tremendous, and the third highest level of the Imperial Palace structure. Underneath only the Royal Prison, formerly the Emperor's Quarters but since remade, and the throne room. Most of this floor, as could be expected, belonged to the private use of the Empress herself. However, there was one small, simple room on this level with no trace of elegance or royalty to it whatsoever. Its only features included a floor-high bed/sleeping bag, an overhead light, and a small pile of rags on an off-white carpeted floor. As would be thought, the Empress rarely offered this room her presence, as it was the home of her personal hand servant Ben. She had no reason to grace its walls. But today...today was a completely different.

13.6 year old Ben abruptly awoke with a start in his dark room. Something was wrong. And that something had his mistress furious.

He never could quite understand how he could simply sense and know things without actually having any kind of proof. He supposed it was something that came with the life of being a slave, and usually thought nothing of it unless it helped him with something.

Example: Just two months ago, he was mopping the dining hall floor and able to prevent Natchios and Narcissa from kicking over his bucket of cleaning water by foreseeing the event happen in the form of a vision. So just as they were about to kick at it, he quickly turned and took the bucket handle in hand, lifting the bucket off the floor. The twins seemed somewhat surprised at thus, but merely shrugged and went about their way. Only for Natchios to then turn back and try at kicking both he and the bucket to the floor. But Ben foresaw this also and quickly jumped out of the way of the kick, causing Natchios to slip on the wet section of the floor Ben had just mopped. This only resulted in Narcissa coming at Ben in rage, wrestling the bucket of water from his hands and then dumping it over his head and kicking him to the floor. After she then helped her brother to a stand and they left in a huff, he'd been forced to clean up the mess she'd made and mop the large floor all over again.

Though it was annoying, Ben tried, for the most part, to take Natchios and Narcissa's rudeness to him, and everyone else's for that matter, in stride and not let it get to him too much. He found that when he was younger and reacted to it more, he was abused more. But now that he mostly ignored it, he could go on living with at least the smallest bit of ease. However, it was far from a joyride. Only on occasion, and again mainly when he was younger and abused more, did Ben muse over thoughts of running away from the Palace and at times even of suicide. Yet he did and came close to doing neither. And the reason for that was simple: Ben didn't want to die really. He just wanted, and at times _needed_, to get away from the Empress, Drake, and the twins. Because it was mainly, and always had been, those four, not Jaina. But then again, he didn't see her much anyway. So perhaps since he was hardly ever in her way, that's why she never much gave him grief and ignored him for the most part.

That, actually, is what Ben preferred compared to torture and slandering. To be ignored and left alone to do his work in peace and then retire to his room afterwards to rest. Lately, it seemed, especially from Natchios and Narcissa, he'd been given this luxury a lot more, and, consequently, was able to get more accomplished because of this. He didn't expect this to last though, it was probably just a phase the two were going through, and was more than preparing himself for the fireworks to eventually reignite. But for the present, he would enjoy the rare blessing bestowed upon him.

Yet getting back to the runaway thoughts, these weren't, and never had been, entertained that much because first off, it was nearly impossible for him to get out without someone noticing what he was up to. And second, even if he did get out, where was he supposed to go and what would he do? He had no money, no nothing. And it wasn't like someone would just take a wayward kid in off the streets. No one knew who he was; even he didn't know who he was fully.

All his life it was like there was a part of him that was once there and one day, suddenly gone, never to return. He remembered nothing prior to his life in the Empress' service, and yet somehow he knew he should. He wasn't sure why...but it was like there was a past, almost different life he was once apart of. But no matter how hard he thought, he could recall none of it. He really tried not to think of it too much anyway. It wasn't really important no matter the way you looked at it. He wasn't living that life anymore, so what point was there?

He did wonder sometimes, though, how different his life may have been had the old one simply continued on without interruption, but not really. Somehow, he didn't think thoughts such as that would bode well with the Empress if she discovered them. It wasn't his wish to endure anymore infliction than was absolutely necessary. And with her as angry as she was now, over who knew what, though it couldn't have been anything he'd done, there was bound to be wrath from Her Highness no matter the problem.

Ben didn't want to be in bed when he received this so got up, threw on a fresh pair of rags, and crept towards his room door to open it and find himself face-to-face with a furious Empress. He jumped back with a bow immediately and was instantly on his knees. "Your Highness."

"Ben, you're still here." Her tone was odd to his ears. It didn't sound at all mad, but almost relieved and also pleased. This was more than a little strange. Nonetheless, he responded in a respectful manner that also asked a question.

"You confuse me Your Highness. Am I supposed to be someplace else this early?"

"Of course not." Her tone returned to the irritation he was so accustomed to enduring with her. "And neither are Troy, Jaina, and the twins. Yet they're gone."

Now Ben was really confused. "Your Highness?"

Roughly, she grabbed for one of his hands, led him from the room's threshold, and further into her own quarters.

"You'll have to come with me Ben. We have much to discuss."

Ben was more than a little apprehensive. What could the Empress have to say that had her so angry? And how did Jaina, the twins, and ex-Third Imperial Prince fit into all this? Instead, he chose to ask, "Did I do something to displease Her Highness?"

The Empress actually stopped to look at him upon answering; her face that of neutral. "No. But I can think of a few people who have..."

* * *

She had finally done it. She'd betrayed them. 

Drake knew it was only a matter of time, what with her growing closeness to the ex-prisoner Troy. It was somewhat like Antellica Grievous' freeing of Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Empire's start (because of her feelings for the Jedi) but much, much worse. In the Grievous-Kenobi escape, they didn't run away together right after the effect. Nor did they take two others with them.

Drake wasn't sure rather he was more disgusted or disappointed with Natchios and Narcissa for joining up with Troy and Jaina. He'd tried to the best of his ability to make sure they didn't discover the truth in fear that something like this might occur. And with little to no help from Baynetta, who didn't seem to care much. Though she really did and was too overconfident for her own good in the matter.

All wasn't completely lost however. There was still Ben, and finally, at long last, he had an excuse to kill Jaina.

There was no point in telling the Empress of the escape. He sensed through the Force that she already knew and was presently speaking to Ben about his future under her and that of his past as well.

She would want to see him afterwards though, and this he would grant her. But at the present, he was fine in continuing his questioning of security and the navy units outside in space, viewing of surveillance tapes, and searching within the Force to discover how exactly and in what order the prison break/escape occurred.

* * *

Baynetta was more than furious. She was outraged and livid with uncontrollable hatred towards her ex-Hand. For a second time she had been betrayed by one of her own. First, Antellica Grievous; now Jaina. Both from the same cause: love. 

But to make matters worse this time around, she'd also lost two others. Two others who were irreplaceable to any other because they were of her own bloodline and nature.

Natchios and Narcissa were two of the greatest pupils she'd ever trained, sans Drake and maybe even Jaina. Though in time they would come to surpass even them. It was no one's stupidity but her own that she didn't give more thought and attention to the twins' abrupt interest in Troy's words concerning their family connection to him and also the Palpatines. She seriously didn't think they'd give much thought to it, and simply dismiss the words as deceit, as Drake told them it was. But they hadn't and didn't. And her price for this overconfidence was their loss.

Instead of killing them, as she knew was Troy's original intent, in light of Lacovia's own betrayal, and eventual death, he decided that doing the same to Baynetta that Lacovia had done to her own family was a taste of her own medicine and probably gave him the utmost satisfaction that he was taking something of value from the Empress which she couldn't replace with anything else. And in that, the ex-Prince was absolutely mistaken.

While she would be the first to admit this wasn't supposed to happen (she wasn't supposed to lose the twins and never was she to revert to Plan B), perhaps it was better this way. With the right training, Ben would be far more powerful than the both of them combined. Of course, this raised the risk that he could also succeed Baynetta herself in power. But that was a risk she was just going to have to take. She had no other option. This led to her retrieving of Ben and the several hour chat that followed in her private office, in which she restored the memories of before he was in her care at birth to capturing at seven weeks. He was told of his relation to she, Drake, and the Grievous-Skywalkers, but also of the conflict that was brewing between them and how his father, her son's, death fit into all of it.

Not surprisingly, as he began recalling his lost memories, his half-sister Allana became one of them, and he was filled with a powerful agony at her approval for his father's, her stepfather's, death. With the news that practically everyone he remembered from what was his past life was dead, Ben was filled with even more anguish and began to outwardly sob uncontrollably at the pictures of their happy, smiling faces in his mind. Never once before had he felt so alone. And never once before did he wish to die so badly. If his father was still alive at least he'd still have a shot, but he wasn't so Ben didn't have one.

What was the point of him even living any longer? Whether it took five years or five months, eventually the entire families would be deceased, what with them killing each other off. Really, what was the point?

"There's always a point to living Ben," Baynetta said to his mental question and thoughts. "And I have a point for you to live. What would you say to trading in your role of hand servant for Empress' Hand Apprentice?"

Ben stopped crying and gaped at her in, not shock as had been expected, but amazement. "Really? Me? Seriously?"

"I wouldn't have offered you the position if I wasn't serious," she replied in a flavorless tone.

"Of course!" he said quickly. "Please forgive me Your Highness. I'm just..." He trailed off, but soon shook his head, dismissing the thought. "Never mind. Of course I'd like to be your Apprentice Hand, Empress."

"You're just what Ben?" Baynetta pressed. "What was the meaning of your trailed off sentence?"

"It's not important," he dismissed.

"But I think it is."

"You Highness-"

"Benjamin!"

Ben rose an eyebrow, as his name was simply Ben and not short for Benjamin, as was usually the case. He was named after his maternal grandfather's middle name and simply that.

Baynetta made a hand motion which was to dismiss what was just said. "I know Benjamin isn't your real name. However, I'm going to call you that when I want your utmost attention. Eyes and mind only on me." She pointed from her own eyes and mind to Ben's when she spoke the last sentence. "I want there to be some type of mutual trust between us now that we're in a master-apprentice relationship. That leaves no room for secrets. So if you have something to say to me, speak it."

Ben shook his head. "I don't have anything to do to you per say. I was just..." He trailed off again and began to grow uncomfortable in his seat. "I guess I'm still coming to terms with the fact that you're actually my grandmother, that's all."

Baynetta inwardly and physically cringed at Ben's words. Though it was only for a second. "Yes well...I'd prefer it not for you to address me as such publicly or privately."

Ben nodded. "I understand, your highness-"

"_Master_ is what you'll call me from now on," she corrected.

Again, he nodded. "I understand master."

"Very well. Let us get you properly washed and dressed then, shall we? And afterwards, we will go down to see Drake in the Intelligence Headquarters."

Ben rose from his seat and gave a bow. "As you wish master."

* * *

The Imperial Intelligence Headquarters, in adjacent to its prison complex below the Palace's residential suites, was abuzz with activity despite the early morning hour of 0700. In the past two and a half hours, while the Empress made company with her only remaining descendant, the truth was revealed of how Jaina, Troy, and the Jade twins escaped undetected. And since they left, it could only be assumed that Gabriella went with them. Troy most definitely wouldn't leave her here. Because of this, Drake finally ordered the removal of the blockade around Imperial Center, much to the delight of of millions. 

It was rather clever how the foursome escaped the royal structure without being caught actually. And with what they fled on, it was no wonder. The Empress' flagship, by far, was the last ship one would think to escape on, but therein laid the cleverness of Troy. Baynetta was so overconfident in her abilities of protecting the Palace via the Force alone, Drake was actually surprised something like this hadn't happened sooner. Yet at the same time, he wasn't and somewhat confused as to how the foursome, though powerful Jaina and the twins were in the Force, could've gotten past _Dark Empress_' Force-coded security measures. And then a horrid, almost impossible thought came to them.

It'd been a month since Troy's access to the Force had been taken away, and before that he'd been quite powerful. Was it possible that perhaps he began regaining his abilities in secret and finally, when he felt he was competent enough again, that's when he chose to make his move?

As ridiculous as it sounded, and as much as Drake didn't want to believe it, this was the only way the foursome could've gotten aboard the ship. Because even though Jaina and the twins had been aboard it many times before, the security codes which protected _Dark Empress_ from invasion changed themselves each time it was used. So even if someone remembered one of the codes from a previous time, it wasn't likely to work the next. And though this was neat, if one had a powerful amount of the Force on their side, like Troy and the other three, this could be bypassed and of course the navy would allow the Empress' recognizably famous flagship off-world without question. Who would think anyone but her was on it?

No one.

Several moments later, however, all thoughts of the foursome's escape vanished at the arrival of some rather disturbing news of strange happenings from the neighboring Core system, Corellia. Drake was informed by a group of five Intelligence agents, and shown video and snapshot proof to back it up, that as of recent weeks explosives of numerous sorts were being smuggled on, off, and between worlds in the 5-planet system. Actually, this had been going on for a while now, but lately it seemed to be occurring more than was logically necessary. And on top of that, an uncommon amount of ships were spotted coming to and from Centerpoint Station on a regular basis doing who knew what.

The Intelligence operatives based on each Corellian world sniffed trouble, and so did Drake. But in the form of something else than they had in mind. Or so he thought.

"If I didn't know any better," special agent Lilan Mandose said from beside Drake with a group of agents, "I'd say Corellia is preparing for war against the Empire."

"And the Grievous-Skywalkers are helping them lead it," another, Quinn Leon, added.

"Correct," Drake said.

"But not if I have any say on the matter."

Everyone turned and was quickly bowing, save Drake, to the speaker whom just walked into the room. The Empress herself and...Ben. Only he didn't look like Ben, but a well-fed, nicely combed, and black robed boy of 13 1/2 years. Drake was impressed with how professional the former hand servant looked, but was soon drawing his attention back to the Empress as she continued to speak, addressing him.

"Drake: the navy is still standing by outside orbit, yes?"

"Of course. And they can be ready for battle immediately."

"Excellent. And the Death Star? How soon can that be ready for combat?"

"Within the hour, your highness."

"Splendid! You have your orders then, Commander-in-chief. Annihilate and destroy everything that comes in your path in the Corellia system. I'm not about to let them the independence they've desired since the start of the Old Republic."

"I hear and obey Empress."

* * *

Six Hours Previous: 0100 Hours, Time of the Grievous-Skywalker Escape 

Through the Force and their family connection, Troy and Gabriella were able to decipher where exactly it was that their mother and cousin, along with Lumiya, were. It somewhat surprised them to find the trio so near the capital, but this would soon be explained as the two reached out and touched their mother's mind with news that they'd see her shortly and warning of not being too surprised at whom was also with them.

It took three and a half hours to reach Corellia from Imperial Center, making their time of arrival 0430 Hours. Despite the early hour, there were many that were still up and about in the planet Corellia's capital city, the jewel Coronet.

Lights shone from about half of every building, holographic billboards advertising the latest in entertainment and cultural arts, and on-world spacecraft which zoomed about to reach whatever destination their pilot so deemed them. While not as largely or expensively luxurious as the city-spanning Imperial City, Coronet still stood out in its own right in the depth of captivating the viewer to enjoy its loveliness.

And while for the others it was a breath of fresh air to be in the marvelous city either for the first time (Kol and Kyleia) or another of several (Troy and Gabriella), for Jaina, being in Coronet was like the return to a nest of trouble. This was here homecity as well as planet. So much had happened here over the years of her residing within it, both good and bad. However, she tried not to think about the memories too much. It'd always been her wish that if ever she returned to Corellia, she wanted it to be with a clean slate and no references of the past haunting her. And to that she wished to hold onto, no matter how hard it might be. Especially since her second cousin, Thracken Sal-Solo, was the planet's Chief of State.

Gabriella withdrew from and ceased her eavesdropping of Jaina's mind as secretly as she entered it and began. No matter how much explaining her brother did, that didn't and wouldn't stop Gabriella from being suspicious and untrustworthy of the _ex_-Empress Hand. Perhaps this was because it was still so soon after Lacovia and the betrayal which nearly cost the Grievous-Skywalkers their lives. Or maybe it was because every time Gabriella looked at Jaina, she saw not that of a _changed_ woman whom had seen the light, but a servant of Baynetta's whom was almost successful at slaying a 3-year-old Allana. Gabriella definitely didn't see her mother, Lumiya, or especially not Allana herself for that matter, approving of Jaina to join in their ranks and battle against the Imperial crown.

As for the Jade twins, however, whom now called themselves Kol and Kyleia Skywalker Grievous in tribute of what their mother would've wanted them named, Gabriella saw possibility.

Though the ex-Empress' Hand Apprentices were also of the Palpatine line in addition to the Grievous-Skywalkers, this was something that was kept from them all their lives, but recently discovered through a comment made by Troy, which intended to turn them against their grandmother, and ultimately self-discovery through the form of seeing visions of their parents and other family members during Baynetta's uprising against the Royal family before and during times of peace and war.

Gabriella very much enjoyed listening to what the twins had to say concerning the visions seen, their thoughts on Baynetta before and after this life altering discovery, and how they wished to help what they called "their real family" in the conflict struggle.

From their words, as well as thoughts and actions, Gabriella knew Kol and Kyleia were the real deal when it came to leaving Baynetta behind for the Grievous-Skywalkers, and was sure the others would see the same upon taking the time to listen to them. But Jaina, Gabriella just wasn't sure of. And from what she detected from the twins, they seemed to share this feeling, which only heightened Gabriella's opinion of two. Troy, however, would not be convinced wrong of the ex-Empress Hand, and it was eventually discovered why. As impossible as it seemed, he'd actually fallen in love with Jaina during his month of captivity on Coruscant. Gabriella couldn't believe it, and this latest act only continued to prove how much Troy had changed from before.

As a teen and young adult, Troy's view on women in the sense of dating were for entertainment purposes only; a plaything provided to keep oneself occupied until one grew tired of the plaything and desired another. Troy's countless stream of "playthings" all seemed to be clones of one another: Blonde, red, or brown haired Human females whom were either holostars or heiresses. Each had the same personality of being pitifully air headed and annoying, and each usually didn't last any longer than 2 weeks to a month tops. The only one that had lasted slightly longer, at a length of 3 months in three separate stints over a course of two years, was Troy's last fling, which dissolved a short time before Baynetta's overtaking of the Empire: Regina Galas, a holostar triple threat in acting, modeling, and singing, whom had since vanished from the galaxy the same way she abruptly appeared in 24 IE. It was Gabriella's assumption that she'd been killed for her once closeness to the royal family by Baynetta's subordinates the same way Zenon Da'xia was. And it was this that Gabriella saw in store for Jaina, in spite of its obvious harshness since Troy was indeed in love with her, truly and deeply. Her own heart would be shattered if he had disliked Kinko as she'd originally thought he might, just because she was in love with the Atuan Prince.

In fact, it was this very fear, if you will, that kept Gabriella from ever telling her brother of another relationship she'd had over thirteen years ago, even if it was all-too-brief. Interestingly enough, it was this same relationship that also charged Gabriella a reason for disliking Jaina even more. And the reason was obvious, for it'd been with Jaina's twin brother, whom she herself killed, Jacen.

It was always rumored, though never proven, that Jacen was romantically involved with and would've married one of the five Grievous-Skywalker Princesses after his semi-relationship with Anneliese tanked when she married Luke. And while this was always usually dismissed as nonsense by Jacen and the rest of the family, there were those who suspected it to be true (the then Emperor and Empress to name a few), even if they couldn't figure out which Princess it was.

Though far from being madly in love, Gabriella and Jacen had liked each other a lot and secretly went out on a few dates among other things. But it ended soon after it began. Jacen and Troy had been tight best friends back then, and Jacen didn't want to put that friendship on the line by continually sneaking off to see her whenever Troy's back was turned. It eventually came down to either go public with the relationship or end it. Gabriella chose to end it so Jacen's friendship with Troy could go on unchanged, and she and his own friendship quickly went back to normal.

To this day, Gabriella still felt awful for not telling Troy about this. He was her lifelong best friend after all, and they never kept secrets from each other in the past. She considered saying something during the 3-year duration spent on Jen'jein after the family's reunion, but never did. She always said to herself that it wasn't important, and since coming to be in love with Kinko, there was another reason of not speaking of the past.

The factor of Troy sharing a love with Gabriella's ex-boyfriend's sister, his former good friend's sister, sounded a bit soap opera like to the listener, yet fate seemed to have its strange ways of working like that. If Troy and Jaina really loved each other, as Gabriella sensed they did (Troy was too smart to fall for a trick of deceit like this), that was something she and the others would just have to some to terms with, rather they liked it or not. Plus, what with some of the lingering glances Gabriella caught the two sharing in between explanations of their escape, she could tell they had a deep affection for the other and obviously brought happiness in being in one another's presence. Wasn't that supposed to be all that mattered? The happiness that came with being in love? Gabriella could speak firsthand on this and give an affirmative to both. And for this reason, she could actually smile at Jaina and thank her for what she'd done to Troy.

Jaina returned the smile thankfully. "I understand it may be hard at first to trust me, but know that I am not playing your brother. My life under Baynetta really is over, and I couldn't be happier. Finally, for one of the first times in my life, I'm actually free. Free as my own person; not belonging to any type of Order, only to do this or that."

She glanced over at Troy, across from her at a right clockwise angle and smiled, though his eyes were gazing out the cockpit viewport. (Jaina was no longer in the master pilot's seat but the copilot's station first to the left on Troy's side, at the west point of the circular room. Gabriella was at its south end between Jaina and Kyleia, but next to Kyleia who was next to Kol at the cockpit's east end, to the right of Troy at the cockpit's north end). "I really do love him, and have for a while."

"All right, all right! Enough mush." Both Kol and Kyleia appeared disgusted with the nature of conversation transpiring at the present. It was Kol who'd spoken, but Kyleia who did next. "Shouldn't we be making to land somewhere or something?"

"We already have."

The calm informant of Troy's took each of his four companions by surprise. It turns out that while they were so focused on their thoughts and conversation, he'd softly docked _Dark Empress_ in the outskirts of town location that was the resting place of a powerful superweapon known as Sun Crusher. Also during the foursome's thoughts and conversing, Troy achieved permission from his mother, whom turned out to be some kind of Commander here, to land in this secret, secluded location as not to be spotted despite the early hour. Though the main intention was to keep the flagship itself out of sight, not so much its passengers, and destroyed before it could be tracked, rather it could be or not. It wasn't known what type of Force connection Baynetta had with her ship, if any, as a way to know its location at certain intervals. What Troy did know, however, was that the Sith Empress now knew of their escape and was far beyond the limit of fury. But he also picked up on the presence of his own ship, _Knight Crawler_, nearby and that of his mother with a team of militia operatives, one of which seeming distantly familiar to him for some reason.

At the realization that they had indeed landed, his fellow four each rose from their pilot's stations after him and he laid down their exit style.

"Myself and Gabriella will go first; Kol and Kyleia second; and Jaina, I'm sorry, but as the situation isn't fully known yet, last."

Jaina merely shrugged. "No big. I understand perfectly."

With nods from then Gabriella and the twins, Troy deactivated the flagship's cloaking shield and led the group out of the cockpit in the order he wished for them to exit _Dark Empress_.

The boarding ramp was lowered before the approaching figures of Arica's team and Troy walked calmly down to meet them, closely followed by the others. Arica was leading her own team in the same fashion as Troy's, with herself being closely followed by a team of about a dozen – eleven of which were standard militia operatives and the other a high-ranking official of some kind whom was recognized immediately as the familiar presence previously sensed, though a good look wasn't able to be got of him, as Arica was rushing forward to meet her only two remaining children and sweeping them into a tight embrace.

The reunion between parents and children was warm and enduring, but didn't last as long as it might have had the twins and Jaina not been there. The three, though mainly Jaina, were looked upon in shocked confusion by Arica's cohorts before she herself joined the stare, but soon rounded it onto Troy and Gabriella in exasperation.

"Don't be too surprised by whose also with you?!" She said the words of warning the two had given her some time ago concerning their arrival in anger. "Troy! Gabriella! How could you bring them here?! Bring _her_ here?!" He eyes flashed as she took to gazing at the ex-Empress' Hand, though were remarkably curious as they observed the twins.

"Calm down mom," Troy said, still in a state of clam.

"Calm down?!" she repeated heatedly. "Calm Down?!"

"Commander." The officer whom appeared familiar to Troy placed a hand on Arica's shoulder, and it was then that he recognized the elderly high-ranking official. "Gilad Pellaeon?" he asked with some uncertainty, though he knew it was him.

Pellaeon turned away from Arica and smiled at Troy and Gabriella through his white chin beard, however his hand remained on their mother's shoulder. "Hello Troy. Gabriella. My have you two grown!"

"Enough small talk." Arica spoke viciously. "I want answers!"

"Please Commander," Pellaeon said, his voice also that of calmness. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this."

Arica crossed her arms. "There better be."

"And there is," Gabriella said. "We'll explain everything mother. But first," she turned back to Pellaeon, "what are you doing out of retirement at your age?"

"That's hardly important," Arica snapped before the Supreme Commander could answer.

"The same reason your family came out of exile three years ago," Pellaeon replied to Gabriella's question. "To vanquish Baynetta and her empire. But come. I'll call the council together and have us meet within the hour. There, everyone's questions can be asked and answered..."

* * *

0730 Hours: Three Hours After Arrival 

The underground tunnel just outside Coronet, which ultimately led to what was known as "Sun Crusher Base" it turned out, was only one of the several entrances to the secret military center. There were about five others, two of which were walk ins for miles on end, and three others that could be accessed via aircraft. However, each were hidden (so much, in fact, that it couldn't be found unless you were actually looking for it) and heavily guarded to ensure the secrecy of what Corellia was up to. Though the finding of another entrance (the one Arica, Lumiya, and Allana discovered) disturbed the council greatly, as it was thought all ways in were known about. This resulted in a base sweep, which revealed yet another entrance at the south end and near the other newly discovered one, however, it had since caved in. Nevertheless, guards were stationed in the area anyway, as to not take any chances of the rocks being bombed away to allow entrance.

The three aircraft entrances were the same in that one was required to fly through a narrow, rock surrounding tunnel and then a few obstacles before coming across a large or small hanger bay, depending on which entrance taken. The one towards the north end was large and filled to the capacity with ships, as was that on the semi-southeast, though mostly east entrance. The one on the west side, however, was smaller and reserved for council and CDF members' use only, though it could also act as an emergency escape if the time arose for such a happening.

It was in this hanger that _Dark Empress_ was allowed to dock. But once its passengers were taken away, the flagship was transferred to another part of the base and crushed to pieces by a bulldozer. From this area one could achieve access to the rest of the base, which included a medical wing, Intelligence center, and also a conference chamber, the current location of the Corellian High Council and the Grievous-Skywalkers, sans Wedge Antilles and Allana whom were still en route from Talus (Rogue Squadron's base), a slew of guards, Lumiya, plus Jaina and the twins. Except the guards, everyone else was seated round an oval-shaped table complete with center most holoprojector in a mildly lit room.

"This is an outrage Commander Grievous-Skywalker!"

If memory served of every single council meeting since the first a little under a month ago in Prime Minister Saxan's office, it was clear who'd spoken this since General Antilles had yet to arrive: Drall Chief of State Madeline Donner.

No matter what Arica did, the dark-skinned politician always found a way to pick it apart. She didn't trust the former Empress despite the contract signing and seemed to cease at nothing to assure everyone else felt the same. A task she wasn't having much success at to great irritation from her.

Arica didn't much care, though, over how Donner felt or thought towards her, and grew unaffected by the Chief of State's ever present disdain whenever in her presence. So now was no different than any other time Madeline tried at taring Arica down.

"Not only have you allowed your children to bring criminals to our secret base," the Chief of State continued, "but-"

"Chief of State Donner, please silence yourself," Troy said from next to her mother at the table on its north side, two chairs down from the head and Prime Minister's seat (North side of the table from the head down: Thracken Sal-Solo, Jaina, Troy, Gabriella, Kyleia, Kol, Arica, Lumiya, Gilad Pellaeon, Cha Niathal; south side, head down: Denjax Teppler, Madeline Donner, empty seat, Toval Seyah, Greggory Socona, Baton Craig, Lynod Baxton, three more empty chairs). "Gabriella and I are more than aware of our actions. And one of the purposes of this meeting is to explain them, if you'll have us."

Arica couldn't help but smile over at her son and oldest child notwithstanding the semi-anger with he and his sister she still harbored over Jaina and the twins, though mainly Jaina, coming with them and not being dead. However, the last part was only a wish for Jaina still, not Natchios and Narcissa, or Kol and Kyleia as they'd quickly corrected her upon introduction.

In the three hour period leading up to the meeting (although it was supposed to commence at 0530 not two additional hours after the effect, getting the entire council together by that time was near impossible, as certain members were stationed on certain worlds in the 5-planet system plus Centerpoint Station. And Antilles and Allana still hadn't arrived yet, but urged the meeting to start without them sometime ago, as they'd be arriving within the half-hour), Arica had to practically order Troy and Gabriella to get themselves looked at in the medical wing, ignoring their protests of nothing being wrong with them.

Troy got most of his torture wounds treated and was clothed in the usual, basic black grub one could usually always find him wearing. As for Gabriella, she was indeed well but tired, so slept during most of this time through much insistence of her mother. Jaina, on the other hand, was thrown into a guarded cell, despite Troy's words, by Arica's order until the council could meet to discuss her fate. However, she was soon being released when it came to Chief of State Sal-Solo's attention that Jaina, his second cousin, was being held prisoner. Jaina disappeared with him after that, along with Troy, leaving behind Arica with the twins.

The twins...Arica wasn't much sure what to do with them at first, so decided to keep the duo close to her. The introduction between the three had been somewhat different than expected...

_After checking up on the sleeping Gabriella once more in a med wing bed and assuring herself that her daughter was fine, Arica left the white decorated room to find herself the target of conversation._

"_Is she alright?"_

_Arica stopped and made a slow turn to the right. Still outside waiting for her in the ward hallway were the Jade twins. Brown haired, though Narcissa was blue-eyed while Natchios was brown, the 13-year-olds really did look a lot like their parents, Leila and Alexander. It was quite the shame neither would be able to meet each other. They would've been a wonderful little family._

"_Are...you okay?"_

_Arica blinked. Her thoughts had taken her on a joyride. She didn't realize she was staring. It was Natchios who spoke both times._

"_Yes," she said finally. "Yes, I'm fine. Gabriella's just tired, that's all. There's nothing physically wrong with her."_

_A moment of silence went by while the twins nodded._

"_I never properly introduced myself to you both," she continued, "though you probably already know who I am no doubt. I'm-"_

"_Our grandaunt Arica," Narcissa supplied._

_Arica tried not to look too surprised, but failed terribly. "You know of your relation to the Grievous-Skywalkers?" she asked._

"_Yes," Natchios said._

"_Troy told us," Narcissa added._

"_Though we also made the discovery on our own," Natchios finished._

"_Really?" This interested her._

"_Yes," Narcissa replied._

"_How?"_

"_Let's walk and talk," Natchios ventured._

And they so did. For the next two hours until the meeting's start.

They told Arica everything. Not just of the escape and Mock Memorial of the Grievous-Skywalkers, but their "previous" lives in general under Baynetta's power as Natchios and Narcissa Jade.

The fact that the two had actually changed their names to what Leila would've wanted for them, and that one of which was the name of her youngest deceased son, only in a different form, was proof enough in itself of where their loyalties laid. However, she was not foolish enough to think this without some type of evidence, which was provided during the chat.

Arica grew to find herself liking the twins the longer the walk/talk went, and couldn't believe she'd actually considered having the two killed during _Dark Empress_' destruction.

But why was she having second thoughts all of a sudden? Kol and Kyleia were still among Palpatine's descendants. Yet the pair had as much Palpatine in them as they did Grievous Skywalker. Was it entirely fair to kill off part of your own line even if they're mixed up with that of the enemies'? Especially if they're actually on your side?

Arica knew the answer to these questions, and it made her stomach churn in unease. If only this could've been thought of _before_ Luke's own death. But then, perhaps it was better he was gone. Troy's kill of Luke showed Arica he could let go of past attachments and perform the task at hand without regret. And Allana too for that matter.

Though at the same time, if Luke were still here so would be Lacovia, and their plans revolving around Coruscant and Byss probably would have been a success. But then, as a result, it's possible Kol and Kyleia, and maybe even Ben though probably not, could've died. So whatever way you looked at it, someone of their own line would've had to die to achieve conquest.

Perhaps it was better fate happened this way. The way of Baynetta's own servants (grandchildren) turning against her the same way she turned Lacovia against them.

Returning to the present, as Chief of State Donner glared at Troy for his words, Arica caught Kol's eye beside her and gave his hair a small ruffle. He seemed slightly uncomfortable at the affection he was receiving, but gave a tiny, almost sly smile back that so reminded her of his father at 13. Kol was a mini Alexander all the way.

Still glaring, Donner finally seated herself, and Troy and Gabriella began to speak of their separate times on Coruscant during their month of captivity.

About halfway through, however, just as Troy was about to explain their daring Palace escape, notification was received that General Antilles and Allana had arrived and would be joining them shortly. Because of this, the explanation ceased. But Troy and Gabriella took questions from such council members as Sal-Solo, Donner, Pellaeon, Denjax Teppler, Greggory Socona, and the Prime Minister herself concerning some of the things that were said in genuine curiosity, yet suspicion from Donner.

Troy was presently answering Chief of State Socona's question about how he was able to reacquire some of his usage in the Force through meditation when Wedge and Allana entered the room. Both were in similar outfits – Antilles, an orange and white flightsuit; Allana, a navy blue jumpsuit – but the same almost knee high black boots. Not only from the helmets they were carrying under their arms did Arica know they'd flown here via X-Wing, but the mess of hair which laid atop their heads as well.

Allana made sure their presence was known the moment they came through the conference room doors, as she began to speak. "If no one's in danger, and our plans haven't been compromised, what's so important that couldn't have been said via holoco-"

The red-gold haired teenager abruptly stopped speaking as her eyes took in the room's occupants. Or shall be said, _a few_ of its occupants.

"Troy! Gabriella! You're here!" Her irritation gone, Allana made towards them at the table, but then stopped upon glimpsing who sat beside Troy and also between Sal-Solo. Her eyes became wide in shock and body stood stock still, as if death had come to it in an upright position.

And she wasn't the only one. Antilles also appeared to be in a form of great surprise. Though unlike Allana, whose eyes were fixed only on Jaina, his drifted to Kol and Kyleia a few moments before returning to the ex-Empress' Hand with some coldness.

This was what Arica had been the most anxious over at learning Solo had been brought here. Allana and the ex-Empress' Hand – whom was nearly successful at killing the teen as a toddler, and was wanted dead by the then victim, who would kill her in a heartbeat if given the opportunity – facing one another.

In the blink of an eye, Allana's shock changed to hellish rage, and the helmet that had been resting comfortably on her left hip an instant before was in her hands and slamming into Jaina's face that time after, knocking the woman out of her chair by the force of it and onto the hard floor.

With the activation of her emerald blade, Allana flipped over the conference table to cut Jaina in half, but was intercepted by a wave of the Force from Troy. Only, foreseeing this, threw one of her own, which slightly countered it, resulting in his being knocked back somewhat, but not out of his chair and her success over the table and landing in front of a flipped to a stand Jaina. Yet before any infliction could be brought to her by Allana's wrath, Troy pushed Jaina back out of the way and faced his cousin's lightsaber himself.

This all happened with the quickness of a few seconds, so unless you had a keen eyesight and paid attention, the action would've been missed.

"Allana," Troy requested without anger (it was amazing how calm he could remain), "please lower your lightsaber and take a seat."

Allana's eyes widened even more as she realized what it was he was doing – "You're protecting her?!" – but soon turned cold as she snarled out, "Why should I?"

"It isn't my intent to hurt you Allana," he said, his voice still that of calm, "and I don't want to use the Force on my own cousin."

"And yet you just did."

"Allana please. I'm only going to say this again: lower your weapon and sit down."

"And I'm only going to tell you to get out of my way of that bitch once!"

By now, though still only a few seconds had gone by since the action's beginning, Arica had had enough. "Here's a better idea: why don't you both sit down so we can continue this meeting in a civilized manner."

Her voice was crisp, cold, and commanded obedience, which Arica received at Allana's lightsaber deactivation and stalk away from Troy to the table's other side. After a few paces, however, she abruptly stopped to look back at Troy and Jaina, whom were then quietly reacquiring their seats, though the source of Allana's rage was also running a hand over her face to perhaps ease the concussion that came with the helmet slam.

"Another time Solo," Allana warned, "you won't have Troy to protect you. So keep your eyes open."

"Your seat Allana," Arica harshly commanded.

Allana gave a nod. "That's all I have to say." And she took one of the three empty seats at the table's south end. It was then that she finally seemed to take notice of the twins and mimicked Antilles, who seated himself between Donner and Seyah, in giving them a curious stare for a moment but otherwise ignored the two and everyone else as she called her helmet from the other side of the room and took to examining it.

"Now that that's over," Arica said, "Troy please continue, and give our latest additions a short summary of what was previously explained."

He did so, with Gabriella adding things here and there, and then the escape was told by all of those involved.

Though Arica already heard some of it earlier from the twins, to hear it in its entirety from each escapee's point-of-view, yes even Jaina's, was more comprehensive and answered the questions she had concerning the ex-Empress' Hand's actual role in the five-person group.

Silence followed the tale's end, to be broken by Arica and Antilles.

"I understand if you wanted another plaything Troy, but did it have to be the enemy, and did you have to acquire one at a time like this?"

"I personally don't see how you two expect us to believe that Jaina Solo _truly_ and _actually_ has turned her back on the Empire. The story just said would do fine as a holodrama, but this is reality."

"Here, here!" Donner seconded.

Sal-Solo leveled glares at those who'd spoken. "Clearly the three of you are as blind as a miner in a Kessel tunnel." He placed a hand on Jaina's shoulder from beside him. "How can you look at her and not see the change?"

"Are you saying this because she's your cousin," Teppler asked, "or because you actually, seriously believe that she's changed?"

The Chief of State turned his glare to the Prime Minister's ex-husband. "What does Jaina being family have to do with anything?"

"I think what Denjax means," Saxan said, "is have you given it the thought or possibility that perhaps the only reason you approve of her being here is because she's your only living relative left of the Solo clan?"

Sal-Solo rolled his eyes. "Family be damned! It don't mean jack to me. No offense kid," he quickly added to Jaina."

"None taken," she replied, though she did remove his hand from her shoulder.

"The point is," Sal-Solo continued, "Jaina is a wondrously gifted person who saw the light and got out of the Empress' clutches before it was too late. She would make more than a great addition to our insurrection, and anyone who feels otherwise is a fool."

"The only fool here, Sal-Solo, is you," Cha Niathal said, "for being blinded by what is obviously some type of spell she'd placed upon you to side with her."

At that, Jaina banged a clenched fist onto the table and glared. "Can I say something?"

"No," said half the room, which included Allana, Donner, Cha Niathal, Antilles, Toval Seyah, and Socona.

Nonetheless, she spoke anyway. "First off, I'd like to say I don't appreciate how I'm being spoken of here, as though I'm not even present. Yes, you're entitled to your own personal opinions, but hasn't anyone here ever heard of change? Clearly you have, for you've let the Grievous-Skywalkers join your uprising, and look at what type of record they have!"

Jaina turned from addressing the table as a whole to down a few chairs and the former Empress. "To you, Arica, I am not Troy's plaything-"

"As though I've never heard that one before," Arica said sarcastically.

She was ignored.

"-but my own person who just so happens to be in a relationship with your son."

Arica didn't even bother giving this finished statement a response, and Jaina didn't seem to be expecting one, as she turned back to addressing the table as a whole.

"For the past fourteen years, my life hasn't been my own, but that of Baynetta's. Everything I've done, everything I've been forced to do is no not her fault. Of course it's mine. But only because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. I thought that was my path. It turns out I was wrong. And it took Troy to help me see that. So if you don't want to believe I've changed for the better and am more than willing to help you if you'll have me, fine. It doesn't matter what you think. As long as I know I've changed, and those closest to me know, in my eyes, that's all that matters."

And with a bow to the council, Jaina retook her seat.

There were those who seemed impressed by what she said: Saxan, Baxton, Pellaeon, Teppler, and, of course, Sal-Solo. Yet with others (those who didn't want her to speak to begin with), it either went one ear and out the other (Allana) or they simply didn't accept her words.

Jaina cared neither way. She'd known this would be what to expect upon coming here, and pretty much accepted it before the effect.

Arica was one of those who didn't entirely buy Jaina's words, yet she was willing to give the girl a shot if that's what she wanted. It seemed Tralus' Chief of State felt the same.

"I suppose we could do as was done last time," he said, "and have a contract signed up that you, Jaina, would be required to sign, pledging full allegiance to our government, and if in the event you turn back to the Empire, or if it's found that you've been working for them all along, the punishment is death."

"In whatsoever way we see fit," Socona added.

Jaina held her head high upon answering. "I'd gladly sign such a contract."

"I object!"

"As do I!"

"I'm not so sure about this either."

"Miss Djo, Chief of State Donner, General Antilles," Prime Minister Saxan said. "It's known more than enough than maybe it should be that the three of you don't trust Ms. Solo. And as has been previously said, you're entitled to your own opinions. However, if she's willing to sign a contract-"

"I want the decision of a contract voted upon by the council," Allana said, quite fiercely. "If we're all in favor of it, she signs. If not, she doesn't and is given death."

"Allana!" Gabriella rebuked, though more surprised than reproving.

"I object!" Sal-Solo said.

"Overruled," Prime Minister Saxan dismissed. "Though the result of death is more than necessary..."

"The contract we signed results in death," Allana reminded.

"Only if you do an act against the government," Saxan was quick to rebut. "That decision wasn't made over rather or not you should sign the contract."

Jaina took to leveling Allana with a curious stare. "You seem to really hate me Allana."

Allana's eyes flashed as they turned to glare at her. "And for good reason, or have you forgotten...?"

* * *

Flashback, 26.5 Imperial Era: Third Battle of Dathomir 

A 3-year-old Allana was being chased through the Dathomir wilderness, which had been acting as a safe haven for she and the rest of her family since before and after the Third Battle of Coruscant. Before for she, Lacovia, and Kylantha; after for Arica, Luke, Troy, and Gabriella.

Presently, it was a week after the battle which resulted in the deaths of six crucial members of the Royal Grievous-Skywalker House (including the Emperor Skywalker himself and Allana's mother and maternal grandmother, Anneliese and Antellica Grievous), and the Empire, now ruled by Palpatine's dethroned daughter Baynetta (aka Padme Amidala) and intent on killing off the entire family, was successful in tracking them to Dathomir, home of the native tribe of Force sensitive witches which became apart of the royal family through Allana's birth.

Unlike the foursome of afters, Lacovia and Kylantha didn't participate in the Third Battle of Coruscant, as they were assigned to protect Allana, keeping her out of harm's way among the still recuperating Singing Mountain Clan witches she was born into. Recuperating in the sense that only ten remained following the Second Battle of Dathomir a few months prior – led in part by the same person whom was leading this battle, and also chasing Allana through the wilderness – and the first, in part of the Nightsister War, which ripped the once six-tribe clans of their greatest amazons.

It was horrifying to Allana's young mind how different life on Dathomir was now that most of its inhabitants were dead and gone. It was full of loneliness, and nothing like the Dathomir she grew up on as a small infant.

Kidnapped once by Baynetta's underlings, along with her several month old half-brother, Ben, the chance wasn't being taken for a repeat, hence Allana's stay on Dathomir under the protection of her Grievous Skywalker cousins and Singing Mountain Clan sisters.

Besides her family, there was nothing more Allana loved than her Dathomir heritage, of which her paternal grandaunt Barruka Djo and the few other surviving witches were joyous to tell her of. Yet both of these loves were fading fast. First with the news of what the Third Battle of Coruscant brought (Allana was filled with inconsolable agony at everyone's death, but most especially her mother and maternal grandmother, of whom she was the closest to) and then at the arrival of Imperial forces and death of several of her clan sisters, all of whom she was close to.

This led back to the chase Allana was apart of, in which she was playing the hunted while leading commander of this mission, Jaina Solo, acted as hunter.

At the battle's beginning, Allana was led afar way off from it by the Singing Mountain Clan's healer, Vurlene, a woman of middle years around Barruka's age. She was assigned to make sure no harm came to the youngest Dathomir heir. However, it turns out the two were spotted upon escape and given chase after by Jaina herself while the accompanying troops dealt with the others.

Solo chased them deep into the wilderness for a long duration, and eventually caught up to Vurlene, who tripped and got her ankle caught in a vine, but urged Allana to keep running even at her last breath as Jaina pierced her red blade into the witch's back and out through her chest. Allana shrieked in fear as she looked back at Vurlene's death and turned tail running as Jaina continued after her.

On and on Allana ran, through mazes of jungle and rainforest, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds to see how far behind Jaina was. The woman was gaining on her, and Allana desperately wanted, _no needed_, to pick up her speed. Though however hard she tried, she couldn't go any faster. Plus, a stitch was forming in her side that simply wouldn't go away, no matter the amount of Force she used to be rid of it.

Allana was exhausted, yet couldn't stop. And in danger, yet couldn't defend herself enough with the little bits of the Force she could use in a fight against Jaina. Without help, she was a goner. But Allana didn't want to die. However, unless some sort of miracle occurred, that's probably what was going to happen.

"That's right you little brat."

Allana turned around and gasped. She hadn't even noticed it, but the seemingly never ending stretch of trees and grass had vanished to be replaced by that of an open space, which featured a great mountain in the surrounding backdrop of a gushing river. But there was no place to go after that. The path she was running on came to a dead end at that. She was down, but not out.

Leaving the main path, Allana raced onto another connecting one, which wrapped around the gushing river to a large, bare patch of land at the base of the tall mountain backdrop. But Jaina was still close behind, and kept coming faster by the second. It was as if the more weary Allana became, the more Jaina seemed to feed off of this to keep coming after her. At last, she finally caught up to Allana and trapped her against the unclimbable mountain backdrop.

Allana was so scared.

Jaina rose her blade over her for surely the deathblow.

Allana closed her eyes, crying.

This was the end.

But then, out of nowhere, a body was slamming Allana away several meters to the left and she opened her eyes in time to see Jaina's blade swinging down and cutting into Kylantha!

Allana screamed in anguish, but before Jaina could make a move towards her, the others then began to arrive led by Luke and Barruka, and the battle followed them as Imperials on foot, speeder, and gunship continued to pursue them.

The six surviving Dathomir Witches rushed to aide their youngest clan sister, yet Allana almost wished they hadn't, for she was soon witnessing each and every one of their deaths, the last of which being Barukka's as she was leading Allana across the river.

Jaina impaled Allana's grandaunt from behind the same way she earlier killed Vurlene. Only this time Jaina threw the blade to kill her target, and Allana was standing beside Barukka, holding her hand as she died.

Allana screamed again as Barukka fell forward into the water with a groan and attempted at pulling her upright to no avail. Allana held her as much as possible as she died, begging Barukka to stay with her and not leave. But the death was imminent and couldn't be stopped, as Barukka told her.

"I and the rest of us may be finished Allana," she said, "but you, you will go on and survive this to become a great warrior. Never doubt that my grandniece."

"I can't!" Allana cried, tears of the utmost dolor and agony streaming down her young grief-stricken face.

"Yes, you can Allana." Barukka's voice had become slow and slightly slurred; her death was approaching at a rapid pace. "You must! Keep the Dathomir Legacy alive, and...above all else...value and protect your family..."

* * *

Sixteen-year-old Allana returned to reality the moment the flashback ended and snapped her eyes open to resume her glare at Jaina. The rest of the council, plus the twins and Jaina herself, were also reacquiring their surroundings, as she'd influenced their wills to obey her own in viewing the memory flashback. All except the Grievous Skywalker council members and Lumiya were either also glaring at Jaina, appearing disturbed, or giving Allana looks of sympathy. Save Sal-Solo, whom was on the verge of offensive and ready to speak, when Jaina beat him to it, addressing Allana herself. 

"I guess no amount of sorries would have you forgive me, huh?"

Allana couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Is this a joke to you?! You think you can simply say you're sorry and we'll go on in life together as friends, laughing and smiling with not a care in the galaxy?! You assayed to kill me as a defenseless child! And though unsuccessful, it was only because Kylantha jumped in at the last minute. And on top of that, you also aided in annihilating my heritage and family of Dathomir Witches. Heck, you even killed your own twin brother! You're a ruthless beast, Solo! So let's go over your question once more, shall we? _I guess no amount of sorries would have you forgive me, huh?_ Ya think?!"

"Allana, I was a completely different person back then," Jaina tired to convince.

Allana gave a sniff. "I'm sure! That's what they all say. And you will address me as Miss Djo." She said the last sentence in a hard tone.

"Allana-"

"_Miss Djo_ ," she emphasized strongly. "And I don't much care about anything you have to say. Let's just get on with the vote."

"Do lets," Antilles said in agreement, his eyes cold as he gave Jaina a stare.

"All in favor of Jaina's signing of a contract," Saxan presented.

Eight hands rose into the air, belonging to the following: Arica, Troy, Gabriella, Sal-Solo, Pellaeon, Socona, Saxan, and Teppler.

Eight was only half of a majority.

"All opposed?"

Another eight hands rose into the air, belonging to the following: Donner, Baxton, Craig, Niathal, Antilles, Seyah, Lumiya, and Allana.

Again, this was only half of a majority.

"We need a tiebreaker," Saxan announced.

"That can easily be done by eliminating those who have had previous encounters with the person in question," Talus Chief of State Craig said.

"And also family," Cha Niathal added with a glare at Sal-Solo.

"I object!" he replied.

"Overruled," Saxan said. "Again, all in favor of Jaina's signing of a contract?"

This time only four hands rose into the air: Pellaeon, Socona, Saxan, and Teppler.

"All opposed?"

Six hands rose into the air: Donner, Baxton, Craig, Antilles, Niathal, and Seyah.

More than a majority.

"This is completely unorthodox!" Sal-Solo roared.

"I must agree," Troy said. "If this council could accept my family with all the disastrous crimes we've committed, which I might add far worse than Jaina's in all instances, there's no reason why you can't accept her too."

"But what of these twins whom were also supposed to be servants of the Empress?" Chief of State Socona said in gesture to Kol and Kyleia, and in a move to change the subject.

Antilles added onto this by replying, "From what's been said of them, and they've said of themselves, I see no reason why _they_ can't join us."

"And yet you're disallowing Ms. Solo," Denjax Teppler said.

"The twins are family," Allana responded, "Jaina isn't."

"She's my family," Sal-Solo said heatedly.

"And she could very well become family in the future," Troy voiced.

Allana smirked. "You always do know how to crack a good joke, don't you Troy?"

"Whose joking?"

"Even if you don't like me," Jaina said to the table, "something I've become accustomed to over the years, that doesn't mean I still can't help you. And then after your success, I'll go away and reside elsewhere. Since the death of my parents, Corellia isn't someplace I enjoy being in anyway. I don't much feel that comfortable here anymore, and would gladly leave you in peace, never to return, once my task within your council is complete."

Many "Hmms" among the council members were heard following this, as each gave much thought to her words. Finally, Saxan said, "Kol. Kyleia. What do you think of this?"

Both sat up in their seats. They appeared bored with the meeting around them, however, Kol went first. "I'm willing to set aside my dislike of Jaina for the greater good. I see no reason why you all can't do the same."

"At least for the present anyway," Kyleia continued. "That can be apart of Jaina's contract. Make her swear undefined service to your insurrection until its end. Then, she's free to go. Never to return."

Saxan and the rest of the council were impressed by their words of wisdom.

"I suppose if one looked at it that way," Toval Seyah said, "it would be the more practical means."

Baxton and Craig both nodded, and even Cha Niathal and Socona looked slightly convinced. Antilles and Donner, on the other hand, remained stubbornly stone-faced and completely unmoved. They, along with Allana, were for the most part ignored.

"So, all in favor of Jaina aiding us until her services are no longer needed?" Saxan asked.

Fifteen hands rose into the air, which counted everyone sans Allana, Donner, Antilles, and of course Jaina, as she couldn't vote for herself.

It was a majority.

Prime Minister Saxan then drew up a contract for the ex-Empress' Hand to sign, and had Troy, Gabriella, Kol, and Kyleia add their own signatures to the already existing contract concerning the Grievous Skywalkers. As with the previous contract, the entire council, yes even the naysayer trio, signed Jaina's and Saxan gave the same warning of how unbreakable and binding they were, as was done during the first contract signing a month ago with Arica, Lumiya, and Allana.

"As that settles this meeting," the Prime Minister then said, "Ms. Jaina Solo is indeed apart of our insurrection until its end, let us now turn our attention to-"

All at once, the Grievous Skywalkers, Lumiya, and Jaina each felt a disturbance in the Force, and Jaina received the same feeling of forbidding she always did upon her sensing of "the event". It was then at that moment that she knew it was finally upon them, and was glad more than ever that she was on the right side when it occurred.

It was 0900, an hour and a half since the meeting's start, and, unbeknown to most, two hours since the Imperial Navy left Imperial Center for the Corellia system. But not to the eight Force sensitives on Corellia. The news was announced and immediately everyone jumped into action upon receiving their assigned duties.

The command of Commander Grievous-Skywalker's starfighter squadron, Twin Suns, was handed over to Troy when it was decided that it would be she whom piloted the practically finished Sun Crusher with the mission of destroying Imperial Center and Byss. So while she remained on Corellia to oversee the final tests of the superweapon, Troy, along with Jaina and Gabriella, journeyed to Tralus, via _Knight Crawler_, where the squadron was based. Tralus was also the destination of Supreme Commander Pellaeon in leading his major portion of the Corellian Defense Fleet stationed on-world. As for General Antilles and Allana, they returned to Talus and Rogue Squadron with Kol and Kyleia, whom would act as extra pilots in the division. Admiral Niathal was another whose duties took her to Talus in leading the second portion of the CDF, but Toval Seyah's destination was neither twin worlds, but between them at a Lagrangian point: Centerpoint Station. He and his crew, most of which was already on the space station and ready, were assigned the mission of taking out Death Star II, which would no doubt make an entrance in the coming battle, even if not at first, and as much of the Imperial Fleet as possible, but not so much as the CDF wouldn't have anything to do. Lumiya, meanwhile, would also remain on Corellia to protect the system's five Chief of States, Prime Minister, and other officials underground the Prime Minister's residence in a security bunker.

1000 – an hour later – the Imperial Navy, under the leadership of the Lord Executor Drake Palpatine, and Death Star II arrived inside the Corellia system to annihilate and destroy the entire sector and whatever resistance may be found in waiting. What wasn't expected, however, were hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of warships in position and ready to start the battle as soon as the Imperials exited hyperspace. Yet that is exactly what happened. No matter of this, the Empire was not small in number either, and both sides took hits which resulted in heavy casualties. However, even from the beginning, Imperial casualties were heavier, as Centerpoint Station, with its tractor beam system, was being put to excellent use in wiping out entire tenths of the navy. And though Death Star II managed a few crucial shots at the space station, which brought a great deal of damage to it, even knocking it out of its orbit between Talus and Tralus, Centerpoint Station was able to fire one final time, directly at the moon-shaped weapon as it fell to its downfall. The aim was precise and took out the sixteen-year-old Imperial battle station and much more of the surrounding fleet, as the explosion was so powerful it effected both sides greatly, though mostly the Imperial side.

With both adversaries without a superweapon now, or so it would seem, the fight for conquest returned to ship-to-ship battles, whether it be X-Wing starfighter against Imperial TIE or _Corellia_-class mega warship against _Palpatine_-class Star Destroyer.

At this point, nearly half of all Imperial forces had been destroyed, while the Corellians were only suffering from a third. It was unthinkable, but enabled the Corellian Defense Forces to drive their enemies back to the Coruscant system where Sun Crusher, under Commander Grievous-Skywalker's direction, laid in waiting.

Early on, in what eventually turned out to be a 5-hour battle, the cone-shaped superweapon was prepared with final tests being ran over it so it could be ready towards the start, but held off somewhat for the final finale.

During the main heat of the battle, while it was still around Talus and Talrus, Arica piloted Sun Crusher to slip unnoticed out of Corellia, past Coruscant, and into the Beshqek system, where she subsequently fired the weapon's resonance torpedoes at Byss' sun and then fled before any presence could be detected.

Sun Crusher's armament traveled to the system's sun at a near-lightspeed velocity and would've been impossible to stop even if the Gauntlet Scanner Station knew of its arrival beforehand. But they didn't, and died with everyone else on Byss upon the torpedoes impact and initiating of a supernova that ripped apart in the explosion, sending waves of energy and radiation out across the system that brought Beshqek to its doom.

While this obliteration would be discovered eventually, Coruscant's was one that needed to be witnessed firsthand by the Empire, thus the Corellians' driving of their enemies back to the capital. And when it happened, everyone knew.

As strongly as the CDF drove the Imperials back to their capital, they then deserted them. Abrupt and without warning. The Empire was given a moment to go over theories of what possibly could be going on before Sun Crusher's weaponry was fired and shot directly at Coruscant's sun.

Chaos ensured as ships attempted at escaping the energy and radiation waves which were destroying the multi-planet system. Some escaped, others didn't. Yet one thing was for certain: Coruscant, Imperial Center, the Galactic Core, whatever one wished to call it, was for so long the capital of the Galaxy. Now, after more than 126,000 years of holding this title, it was no more.


	142. War

Author's Note: Not as long as the chapter prior, though not entirely short either. And filled with lots of action.

G-Anakin 13: Something like that.

MissNaye: Indeed.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 20: War

Prime Minister Aidel Saxan of Corellia's HoloNet Address to the Galaxy, Live From Her Office Residence at 1800 Hours: Three Hours After the Battle of Corellia

"Fair citizens of the Galaxy: this is Prime Minister Aidel Saxan of the Corellia system, speaking from our new galactic center, Corellia. Yes, the rumors are true. Imperial Center, the Head State of the Galactic Empire and formerly known as Coruscant, has been destroyed in addition to the Beshqek system, which contained the Empire's second capital Byss.

"At this time it is unknown whether or not the Empress Baynetta was on-world either planets at the time of their ruinations, but in the case of her survival, we must be ready to act against her and what's left of the Empire. Yet this can only be done by the united front of us, the galaxy, as a unit against her. Which leads to my invitation to representatives from each and every galactic world and star system to Corellia for our creation of a new galaxy-wide government, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, in one week from the present at this exact time of 1800. Citizens from all over are also welcomed to attend this if they so wish it, for this will be a government led by the people just as much as a Chief of State..."

As could be expected, this public address boded quite well with the galaxy as a whole. Mere minutes after its finish, planetary government officials from as near as the Core and far as the Outer Rim were calling the Prime Minister's office to secure positions at this upcoming meeting and congratulating the Corellians for their overcoming defeat of the Empire.

However, the Empire wasn't as defeated as many were assuming. True, Imperial Center was the Imperial Head State, and with its loss came much conquest, including the ultimate control of the Orbital Nightcloaks at the on-world base, as well as that of Byss', but unlike Baynetta's father, whom didn't have much of a backup plan following his death besides Wayland and descendants, in this aspect she was different. Though exceptionally arrogant, Baynetta wasn't dull of mind and had long been prepared for something of this sort if it were to occur. In more than two avenues.

Just as Byss had been something of a secret throne world for the Sith Lady, there were others in every region of the galaxy, sans the Unknown. And just as the Planet Killers, Death Star II, and the Orbital Nightcloaks were known superweapons of the Imperial government, there were others either still in production or already finished and ready to be used in bringing the galaxy back to its knees.

So while a little down, the Empire was far from out and would not be taking what the Corellians did laying down and without another fight.

Thus, the Corellian-Empire War began.

On the following day of the war's first battle, the galaxy was stunned by the abrupt and unexplained explosions that rocked five worlds in the Colonies region of space – Carida (a large high gravity world covered in everything from rocky mountains and frozen ice fields, to rainforests full of carnivorous plants and deserts; population: 25,000,000), Arkania (a world of tundra and canyons; population: 250-300 billion), Neimoidia (a world populated in the millions and capasitated with rainforests and fields), Barnaba (an agriworld of fertile mountain valleys and floating cities; population: 650 million), and Froswythe (a world of plains that was a major source of meat and animal based texiles for Colonies and Core Worlds), resulting in their imminent destruction.

Out of the blue is the way they happened, consecutively one after the other in the course of an hour. This was responded by chaos and disconcert until Baynetta somehow hacked her way into HoloNet frequencies to make an address of her own some hours after:

"Hello dear citizens. Yes, it is I, your Imperial Empress, still alive and well following Corellia's shockingly bold move against me and my empire yesterday, which resulted in the loss of Imperial Center, Byss, Death Star II, and the control of the Orbital Nightcloaks outside each Imperial world. Though not my several dozen Planet Killers, which were retrieved from Byss immediately after the navy's leave for Corellia, preceding the battle, and before its obliteration.

"You can obviously figure that it was I whom played a major role in the five Colonies worlds' eradications by dropping Planet Killers on each in the course of an hour, and having them explode one after the other. But one really can't blame me for doing this. If ever there was someone to blame, its Corellia for creating war with the Empire.

"Yet despite this, I am still a merciful Empress. Even to Corellia. This war can come to a swift, painless end. But only with the handing over of the Grievous-Skywalkers: the late Emperor Skywalker's wife, Arica Grievous; their only two remaining children, Troy and Gabriella; and three others, of whom are grandchildren of my predecessor Empress' late sister, Antellica, Allana Djo and Natchios and Narcissa Jade; as well as one whom refers to herself as Lumiya and my ex-Hand, Jaina Solo.

"All of whom just named are in league with Corellia and helped make their attack a success. Though with the surrendering of these troublemakers, I am willing to forgo the acts made against the Empire, and will thus stop my daily attacks against Colonies worlds.

"That's right! Without the giving up of those requested, every day until either I run out of Planet Killers and the firepower of my other numerous superweapons, or the galaxy worlds themselves are what begin running out, I will make extinct five worlds in the Colonies region a day until done so.

"Live or die; make your choice. And do so quickly, for the next five worlds I plan to target will result in death of the near-trillions unlike last time."

The response to Baynetta's address was multiple in how it was taken. Fear, outrage, and even more chaos, however, were the most dominant reactions expressed.

Some of the same planetary officials from all over, but preferably the Colonies, that previously called wanting spots at the formation meeting of the Galactic Alliance called back demanding answers as to the Grievous Skywalker's involvement in Corellia's victory.

So much, in fact, that Prime Minister Saxan was forced to make another HoloNet address, explaining the matter.

"I am more than aware that perhaps some of you feel betrayed by the fact that Corellia's victory over the Empire wasn't purely accomplished by our might alone. But we were given an opportunity of help from what's left of the Grievous Skywalker House which would've been foolish to refuse. Though hesitance was exercised at first, together we, the Corellian High Council, came to an agreeable understanding with the dethroned royals that proved satisfying for both us and them.

"No one else is being overthrown and the Galactic Alliance will not be a glorified version of the Empire. The Grievous Skywalkers will have no part in the government's functioning, and thus will not be run by them. Their part in helping us has mainly been with the military aspect of our operations. This includes the since destroyed Centerpoint Station, Sun Crusher, and it's liquidation of the Coruscant and Beshqek systems, the last two being done by Arica Grievous-Skywalker personally, as she was behind the controls of the superweapon at their wipe outs.

"It is for this reason, and many others, that Corellia _will not_, I repeat _will not_ being surrendering the Grievous-Skywalkers to Baynetta. This would only result in more death and her continued reign. Something none of us want. And while nothing can be promised, our navy forces will try all they can to prevent further explosions of Colonies worlds. We will engage the Empire in war and prevail against them, just as was done yesterday.

"So I invite you, fair citizens, for a second time to our humble world of Corellia and the future that the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances shall bring us..."

Nevertheless of the Prime Minister's words, there were simply those who utterly refused to be apart of anything the ex-Imperial First Family had to do with. Outwardly, out of disgust that the Corellians could actually, _seriously_, trust them; but inwardly, out of fear of what joining them could mean in Baynetta's eyes.

Rather or not it would be admitted, they, the public, were torn. But such was to be expected, and Corellia respectfully accepted their decisions with the welcomed invite that if ever they should change their minds, they knew where to find them.

Despite this, there was still a great number of those rallying with Corellia and the alliance. Even from the Colonies. Representatives and citizens from these and other planets began arriving in the new galactic capital as early as the next day, and as late as several hours prior to the meeting itself.

In the 6-day duration between Baynetta's and Prime Minister Saxan's second address and the Galactic Alliance formation, true to the Imperial Empress' word, thirty more Colonies worlds perished at the perpetual rate of five a day via the secret droppings of the Planet Killers in the course of an hour. One after the other.

Corellian Defense Forces, true to the Prime Minister's word, tried at stopping these annihilations from occurring by positioning themselves throughout the Colonies region, hoping to intercept any Imperial ship that crossed their path. But there were none that crossed their paths, and yet worlds continued to be wiped from the face of the galaxy.

This could only mean one of two things: Either the Planet Killers had been placed on the worlds sometime before their destruction, or the Imperials were cloaking their ships so much that not even the slightest satellite signal could pick up on their whereabouts.

Notwithstanding this, it became clear which one was transpiring as Baynetta continued to hack into the HoloNet, always two hours after the blowouts, which happened at 1800 Hours every day, giving addresses that centered around how "merciful" she was and would continue to be at the surrendering of the Grievous Skywalkers. The way she spoke ("Five more Planet Killers will be dropped tomorrow without Corellia being able to stop it.") told them, and everyone who watched for that matter, that the Imperials were indeed cloaking their ships to the extreme of untraceable when they dropped the Planet Killers, and before and after in the region.

This led the CHC to believe Baynetta herself was based in the Colonies, or perhaps close to it in the Inner Rim, though the Colonies themselves were their best bet. However, this was proven wrong during the address Baynetta made a day shy of the Galactic Alliance conference. Not by anything said, which was mostly the same, but the trace Corellian Intelligence was able to do via the hack the Empress was making into HoloNet frequencies while in progress.

Its location of origin was the Inner Rim, Sector Stenness Node.

This surprised no one, as Stenness Node was a semi-uninhabited and rarely visited sector of the Inner Rim. It consisted of a group of mining systems like Ambria and Aweris; hosted about twenty-five humanoid species native to the region, collectively called "Nessies", and was also home to a space station known as The Rig located in a Stenness Node asteroid field; the perfect place to hide, except maybe the since deserted and empty Hapes Cluster.

It couldn't be known whether or not the trace made was picked up on (it ended just prior to the end of Baynetta's address), but they would act as though it was, quietly assembling a large amount of their numbers to go to the Stenness Node sector and engage or meet the Imperials in battle.

Among those going were Allana and General Antilles with Rogue Squadron, as well as Kol and Kyleia, whom because of their impressive skills in piloting as extras during the Battle of Corellia had since joined and became official Rogues at the deaths of 9 and 13 in Death Star II's explosion.

Troy would once again be leading Twin Suns with Jaina and Gabriella, as Arica was to remain on Corellia for the Galactic Alliance Conference, where she would act as Representative of the Grievous-Skywalker House during which.

Lumiya, meanwhile, would pilot Sun Crusher. However, the superweapon was only to be used at the last necessary means, for it wasn't Corellia's wish to obliterate an innocent system due to Baynetta's cozenage to pit the galaxy on her side even more than it presently was.

* * *

Inner Rim, Stenness Node 

Purple-red in outward appearance, a white-purple hoop of light thought to be an asteroid field at first glance, but at second seen to be some type of circular star that orbited around its entirety.

This was Ambria.

A small, unimportant world in a four moon system of the same name.

It was so small, in fact, one might actually mistake it to be a moon also, making it the system's fifth. But the ring proved otherwise with its star-like glow. Ambria was no moon, but a small planet.

A planet of rocky plains, deserts, and lakes. Lakes, or one in particular, Lake Notth, which held within its dark waters fearsome dark side dragons, otherwise known as Hssisses. This world, with a climate that ranged from temperate to arid, was one of the seven secret throne worlds of Baynetta, though the only one in the Inner Rim. And at the present it was serving its purpose, as it housed the location of the Empress and the majority of her empire.

The unique thing about each throne world was how similar the acropolises built for the Empress within them were in structure or design, as well as schematics and what they contained.

Like Byss' Citadel, Ambria's fortress also featured a throne/war room combination, a prison, office chambers for Imperial workers, a hanger. Its outside appearance gave it the look of that of a royal crown or headdress made of solid dark gray transparisteel. And, also like Byss and Imperial Center, was protected by a nexus of dark power, the planet's native primitives of neeks and stagas, and since Imperial arrival, swarms of stormtroopers and officers.

Just outside Ambria, but still within the system and positioned around its only planet, sat nestled the navy, or most of it anyway. Yet if one were to glimpse this sight – warships ranging from destroyers to frigates in an almost blockade formation surrounding Ambria – wouldn't it be rather odd for them to stop and stare at what was before them?

Maybe, maybe not. It depended mostly on the person and how they reacted upon seeing a battle vessel nearly four times the size of an _Imperial_-class Star Destroyer. Hence was Galaxy Gun.

"Wouldn't it be nice if there was such a weapon that could destroy a city, a landmass, or even an entire planet anywhere in the Galaxy?"

These were the words spoken by a fourteen-year-old Baynetta fifty-two years ago and thirteen years prior of the Galactic Empire's reign. She was nothing more than an elected Naboo monarch at the time, while her father served as the planet's Senatorial Representative.

How these words even came up was through a conversation she and he were having about what he wanted to be the Ultimate Weapon of his empire.

While he seemed hellbent on a moon-shaped "star of doom", as he then called it, that could destroy an entire planet with one simple, yet powerful blast of energy, Baynetta voiced the advantages of having a weapon that could not only do that, but annihilate whatever it so wished, however small or large it may be.

Unfortunately, he didn't see the concept of her muse/suggestion and said, "What's the point of having something that can rid cities and landmasses in addition to a world's entirety when with a weapon that's designed to do only that everything gets destroyed in one stroke?"

Seeing his point, she dropped the subject and never again spoke of it. Even for a time forgetting about it altogether.

The idea came back to her, however, during her exile on Wayland and she began drawing diagrammatic designs of how it could possibly appear, what type of armament it should contain, etc. And then other superweapon ideas came to her, and the same was done with them. As soon as the Galaxy was officially secured in her grip once more, sometime after Dathomir, production on the battle stations began, as with the Palaces of her secret throne worlds.

The Galaxy Gun, or Galaxy Weapon as it was also referred to as, was a 7,250 meter-long tube-shaped space station that was, in fact, built in the Ambria system above its only planet almost a decade ago. In addition to being equipped with a hyperdrive and sublight thrusters, it was designed to serve as a superweapon capable of firing large, destructive projectiles equipped with particle warhead disintegrators capable of destroying an entire planet.

Each of these projectiles were capable of traveling through hyperspace with a speed equivalent to at least a class . 75 hyperdrive, allowing for quick travel of interstellar distances and difficulty in detecting until the strike. Upon exiting hyperspace and homing in on its target, the projectiles' automated defenses would activate to deter enemy forces. Automated laser cannon turrents exchanged laser fire with warships while thick armor plating and powerful energy shields deflected even the most advanced ion cannons and turbolasers.

Having reached its target, powered by the missile's power core, the partial disintegrator warhead exploded, triggering immense nuclear cloud reactions that encircled the targeted world's surface within minutes. At the projectile's full power setting, the nuclear reactions were sustained until all matter had been converted into energy, effectively wiping the planet and its inhabitants off the face of the galaxy. However, there were low power settings allowing them to destroy selected cities and military bases while leaving the rest of the planet untouched.

And in this Baynetta achieved her desire in having a weapon that could "destroy a city, a landmass, or even an entire planet anywhere in the Galaxy". Something that would eventually come in handy at the intended eradication of Coronet. But as for the present – 1500 Hours on the day of the Galactic Alliance Conference – the Colonies/Core world of Labore was the Empire's next target.

Galaxy Gun, with a massive fleet in tow, was scheduled to leave Ambria immediately after the turn of 1459 Hours to 1500 Hours, so it could arrive at 1800 Hours sharp to ensure Labore's destruction, the usual first of five planned that day. However, it turns out that right as they were about to make the jump, Corellia arrived to intercept them and the Second Battle of the Corellian-Empire War – the Battle of Ambria – commenced.

Much of the violence which transpired at the preceding battle occurred again here with both sides taking hits, in addition to achieving small victories in the form of hitting each other off. Notwithstanding Corellia's best efforts, their forces could not penetrate to destruction the Imperial superweapon that was Galaxy Gun. So instead, to some extent, they blockaded the battle station; disallowing it to leave the sector or system for that matter.

Troy, meanwhile, in the small one-man cockpit of the H-Wing starfighter he'd come to call his own since the previous week (the H-Wing starfighter was a pure Corellian creation which appeared similar in design to a TIE, only this had five turbolasers rather than one at each point and in the center; Corellia was quite unique in its starfighter designs resembling of the alphabet: A, I, T, X, Y, and Z), while in the midst of leading Twin Suns in attack formation, was reaching out onto Ambria to discover rather or not a particular Empress was on-world or in the heat of battle.

His assumption was correct; indeed Baynetta was on the planet. But rather than explode it, as Lumiya requested of Supreme Commander Pellaeon, Troy wanted actual assurance that Baynetta was really there. Not merely a repeat of before. The easy way out – shooting her from the sky – wasn't acceptable as an option. It hadn't worked last time and wouldn't even be done to work this time. A face-to-face confrontation was in order. Lumiya, thankfully, saw this, but would stay in position just outside the system if plans happened to change.

Allana was another whom was to stay in space with Antilles and the majority of Rogue Squadron, while Troy, Gabriella, Jaina, Kol, and Kyleia, with a select amount of troops, took to descent on Ambria.

The desert world was so small it didn't take long to find Baynetta's fortress, and with it countless numbers of her own forces, both via land and air. These were quickly met head on, and under the cover of their fellows, the Grievous Skywalker five-some managed to each safely land at a not too far off distance from the Ambria Acropolis. From there they were able to fight through its ranging defenses, rather it be Imperial officer or creature. Though the Force itself didn't seem to be a problem, as it was soon being found that they could enter within the immense structure's walls without counter.

This told that a confrontation wasn't only desired by them, but Baynetta as well. Something that was further proved after several dozen paces along the white and gray marble floored and slightly dark entrance hall when Baynetta, Drake, _and_ Ben revealed themselves with the appearance of having been waiting for the five-some.

Each were cloaked in black and had ignited within their hands blades of crimson. Baynetta, in the center of the three, was first to speak. "My," she sneered, "isn't this-"

"Cut the crap Baynetta!" Troy venomously commanded. "We didn't come here for a social chat."

"Very well."

And so it began.

Troy himself engaged Baynetta in battle, while Jaina and Gabriella took on Drake, leaving behind Kol and Kyleia for Ben.

Each duel, in its own right, was epic by a large scale of proportions, as every of the eight involved were proving to be far above the level of adept. Even Ben, as he was lashing out with a tremendous amount of rage against the twins for everything they'd done to him in life. However, it was only a matter of time before someone broke above even this and one of the eight fell to defeat. It occurred in the form of Gabriella.

Engaged with both Jaina and Gabriella, Drake slammed the first across the room into unconsciousness and then tricked Gabriella into blocking an attack that never came to enable himself at kicking her lightsaber from grasp and then, a second later, bisecting her from the hips across.

Time seemed to stop at the realization of what had happened, and each of the battles also stopped to observe as Gabriella's body collapsed to the floor in two pieces.

"No!" Troy yelled at the pain that came with his sister's death, as their lifelong bond, which existed over a span of thirty years, came to an end.

His first reaction was to immediately run to her side, but that would be expected and at the present everyone, save who was out cold, was too stunned to move as they looked on upon Gabriella's dead form. Any sudden movement was a guarantee to rebound the fight. Or was it?

Abruptly, Baynetta leapt from out of Troy's reach and to a side corner of the room opposite of where Jaina lay sprawled. Yet his run after her came to a screeching halt at the sudden, unexpected, but unmistakable sound of an explosive being set for detonation. The last Planet Killer out of the thirty-six retrieved from Byss a week ago!

"That's right Troy," Baynetta said from where she stood in the corner and clapped twice. Instantly, the entrance hall was being bathed in light that indeed showed the only remaining Planet Killer, activated and ready to go off in five minutes and counting. "And if you intend on surviving it, I suggest you entertain something other than deactivation, because that feature was not built onto my version of the Planet Killers."

BANG!

The fortress doors swung open and in flew an _Imperial III_-class Star Destroyer at full velocity speed. Troy, Kol, and Kyleia were forced to duck as not to be bisected themselves by the ship's powerful force, as it soared through the entrance hall. In which time Baynetta, Drake, and Ben escaped on board it, flew through the hall's exit doors, and fled the planet. The Grievous-Skywalkers were soon doing the same.

Throwing Jaina over his back, Troy had just enough time to retrieve Gabriella's fallen lightsaber and give her one final look ("Farewell dear sister.") before running out of the Empress' fortress neck and neck with Kol and Kyleia.

The news of the activated Planet Killer was relayed as quickly as possible into everyone's minds by Troy, on the Corellian side that is, causing fear and mass panic to ensure. Both sides started their retreat of Ambria, but five minutes and counting until detonation isn't at all a long period. Ambria's explosion occurred with Imperial and Corellian troops still on-world, however, Troy and his group escaped in time.

Yet on top of that, the planet's explosion, though small like Ambria itself, also took out a great many Corellian ships which were nearby outside in space. So many, in fact, that Corellian forces had no other alternative but to retreat back to the capital with their dwindling numbers.

Herein laid the first Corellian defeat of the day; the second was just around the corner.

The Empire trailed Corellia's Defense Fleet out of Stenness Node, through the Inner Rim and Colonies, and back to where this all started in the Corellia system. It was time to end it.

Just as Corellia destroyed two key worlds of the Empire, so would they of two key worlds of Corellia. But rather than Corellia itself being one of them, two of Galaxy Gun's projectiles were shot at Talus and Tralus, to eliminate the majority of Corellia's military strength, as it was based on the twin worlds.

Or was it?

The aim was good, resulting in the death of two of the five Corellian Brothers.

In retaliation, Sun Crusher was brought into position to shoot Galaxy Gun from the sky. And though Lumiya got in two crucial shots that eventually crippled Galaxy Gun, the Imperial superweapon managed to spew out another projectile, but of a lower setting, aimed for Corellia, before exploding.

Thus, the result was Coronet, and only Coronet's destruction, while the rest of Corellia was left untouched.


	143. Vendetta

Author's Note: Hey guys. We're getting close to the end of this episode's first half. Only three more chapters after this until Part 2: Alliance. And if you think Gabriella's death was bad, I can promise you three more deaths on the Grievous Skywalker side before this (the first half) is over. As always, enjoy!

Jedi Master Sabbath: Definitely. There's well over a half-million planets in the galaxy.

Twisterblake: Thanks. I know it's frustrating concerning Baynetta. But she'll die eventually. I promise you that.

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 21: Vendetta

1800 Hours, Galactic Standard Time

"Fair citizens and representatives of the galaxy; I am 5-World Prime Minister Aidel Saxan of the Corellia system, present capital of the galactic center and our as yet to be formulated Galactic Alliance. Thank you all for joining us on this landmark day that will bridge the beginning of a new era for us all..."

The Galactic Alliance Conference had just started, and Arica had to admit she was rather impressed with the large turnout.

Unbeknown to general thought, this conference _was not_ being held at Prime Minister Saxan's state residence in Coronet, Corellia, but the Drall State Building, Meccha, Drall. It was only said to be in Coronet in the event an attack was made against the city because of the conference being held within it.

Feeding the general public false intelligence not only acted as an insurance that not many people got hurt, but kept the Empire out of what was trying to be accomplished here: the start of a new ruling governmental system.

Yet the meeting wasn't all that wasn't in Corellia's capital city. Its million-some inhabitants weren't either. Coronet was evacuated the previous day and extreme early morning soon after the trace was made connecting Baynetta to Ambria. Citizens were escorted to any of Corellia's five other cities (Kor Vella, Doaba Guerfel, Bela Vistal, Kolene, and Tyrena) and regional locations (Agrilat, Vreni Island, and the Gold Beaches) or off-world to Selonia or Drall only. Talus and Tralus were off-limits, as they were primes of attack also.

Those from the diverse realms of space and for the meeting were told to arrive in Coronet, but were soon smuggled out and onto Drall just as planned from the beginning. So you see, though the Empire succeeded in eradicating two of Corellia's brothers and its Jewel Coronet, casualties weren't as high as they could've been and Corellia was still on top.

How?

Following both Coronet and Galaxy Gun's destructions, Corellia's dwindling numbers were joined by that of multitudes of their actual military forces based on Drall and Selonia, yet another case of false intelligence feeding. The bases which had been on Talus and Tralus were merely secondarys, decoys, and diversions from their actual might and power: the Galactic Alliance Navy (GAN).

Together, with what was left of the Corellian Defense Force, semi-victory was found as the Empire was fought against and overrun out of the system, sector, and four regions out. However, they vanished in the Mid Rim, and it was later discovered once safely back on Drall that Twin Sun Eight, Jaina, had vanished with them in the form of capturing. Naturally, Troy was the most upset about this than anyone else and insisted that the remainder of Twin Suns and Rogue – three wingers once Troy, Allana, Kol, Kyleia, and Antilles were accounted for – go after her immediately.

"But Troy, we don't even know where she is," Kyleia pointed out.

The eight of them were in the hanger of Drall's military base, somewhat of a ways outside Meccha, near their H and X-Wing starfighters.

"The Mid Rim," Troy replied.

Kyleia rolled her eyes. "I meant a more specific location."

"That'll have to do for the present," he said a tad bit heatedly. "Return to your stations, all of you." He addressed the eight. "We have a cohort to rescue."

"Troy, we can't go." Kyleia stopped him from boarding his H-wing starfighter by blocking his path. Most of the others had walked off; only Kol and Allana remained. "There's so much that needs to be done _here_. Our mission debrief-"

"Of which can be done later," he interjected and attempted at moving her of the way. She wouldn't budge. "Kyleia, please move," he said as calmly as possible, and even that had a slight edge to it.

She continued to stand her ground. "No."

"Kyleia..." he was growing a bit frustrated, but would not give into pushing her out of the way with force. Not yet.

Still nothing.

"Kyleia," he repeated close to a growl, "you're really starting to make me angry."

She cocked her head at him. "Am I? You could say I feel the same way."

He returned the cocked head. "_Really_?"

"Really!"

Troy crossed his arms. "And whys that Kyleia?"

"Obviously because you're rushing into this," she said. "You're not thinking it through."

"What's to think through?" he asked, near-exasperation. "Jaina's been captured and it's our obligation to rescue her."

"It isn't my obligation," Allana sneered.

She was ignored, however, by Kol quickly speaking after her. "For all you know, she could be dead by now."

Troy also chose to ignore Allana and turned to face the other speaker. "She isn't."

"How can you be so sure?" Kol challenged.

"You can do so much better than her Troy," Allana voiced, causing his eyes to flash and say with some sharpness, "Don't be rude Allana."

"This isn't about rudeness." Her voice leveled with his in the sharp category. "Her capture could've been a trap for all we know. Or it could've been genuine. Who cares either way? She's gone, and that's the important thing."

Troy's tone was acidly ferocious when he next spoke. "If you spent as much time thinking about others than you did your own self Allana, you'd-"

"Enough!"

While the four had been quarreling with one another, Wedge left, but to retrieve Arica (the conference ended sometime ago at an original 60-40 margin, but after news of the battle was released, it changed to 80-20; it was currently 2400 Hours); knowing from past experience on the matter of Jaina that nothing would be accomplished in the argument until she joined it.

How right he was. The four fell instantly silent upon seeing her, though Allana also seemed a tad smug by it; the others, a little worried.

"What's this all about Troy?" Arica demanded. "Why, all of a sudden, is Jaina once more the center of attention?"

"She's been captured," he explained slowly.

"Captured?" Arica repeated. "Or did she go willingly?"

"She was captured," he sharply stated.

"You seem a little too sure about yourself Troy," Arica observed. "But okay, let's say she was captured. There's enough evidence supporting why she might be. But what then? You don't know where she is per say, because a galactic region isn't good enough. You don't have time to scout all of it. There's a war going on."

"Mom please-"

"I'm sorry Troy, but no one's going anywhere. It's probably a trap anyway."

"Of that I have no doubt, but still-"

"Troy, my answer remains no. You'd end of winging it alone anyway, as no one _wants_ to go with you. And you can't force them to."

Troy was silent a long moment as he observed her and the others. His so-called family. Finally, he said, "Gabriella would've come with me."

"Troy please-" Her deceased daughter was the last thing Arica wanted to talk about.

"And do you know why," his voice rose, "because-"

"I'm more than aware that you're an adult and old enough to make your own decisions Troy, but I can not and will not let you go after her alone. My maternal instincts just won't let me."

"Then come with me," he urged, taking her at length. "I could really use your help mom."

"Troy-"

"Mom, I really love her. Please. For the first time in my life, I'm actually in love. I'm not about to lose that."

Arica gazed at her son and into his troubled face. He really did love Jaina, she sensed. What type of mother would she be if she denied her son and only remaining child one of the most extraordinary things in life? She heaved a sigh. "All right. I'll come with you. But we'll go on _Knight Crawler_. I'm sure between the two of us, we'll come up with something."

Troy allowed a smile and reached out to take her into his arms. "Thanks mom."

"Of course."

The High Council met and it was agreed that Troy and Arica could go after Jaina. Although the factor of them doing this alone was questionable. Nonetheless, both felt this was a mission they must do themselves without Corellian assistance.

So while the mother-son duo ventured out into the Mid Rim for Jaina, Lumiya, Allana, and the twins remained behind in the Corellia system on either of its three worlds to help out with the aftermath of battle and planning of their next move.

* * *

Like all regions of the galaxy, each had many sectors within them. And within these sectors were systems; within these systems were planets; and within these planets, inhabitants. Or not. The perfect example of this was the Teraab Sector in the Mid Rim. This was home to only one system, Ruusan, but four other unsystematized worlds: Drogheda (an ore-rich, wealthy mining world of forests and mountains), Istic II (an irradiated ore-rich mining world), Pesmemben IV (a desert mining world), and Tyne's Horky (another desert ore-rich mining world). 

The Ruusan system was unique in that various worlds within it, but one in particular, were the site of a near-dozen battles during The Great Sith War. However, because of the Jedi victories on practically all of them, most of the bodies in the Ruusan system were named after the Jedi themselves who fought in the final battle of Ruusan on the planet of the same name.

The Ruusan system consisted of nine planets (Ruusan itself; Pernicar: a world of searing rock and lava rivers, the namesake of Jedi Pernicar; Charny: terrestrial world, named after Jedi Kiel Charny; Turpimir: a world of barren rock, the namesake of Jedi Turpimir; Zor Vlahu: gas giant, named after Jedi Zor Vlahu; Myl Vlahu: another gas giant, named after Jedi Myl Vlahu; Saleean: a third gas giant, named after Jedi Lord Saleean; Gale: a world of ice sheets and frozen rock, the namesake of Jedi Lord Gale; and Othone: named after Jedi Johun Othone), an asteroid belt (Farfalla's Diamonds: the namesake of Lord Farfalla), two suns (Hoth's Brand and Petja, a white dwarf companion star named after Jedi Knight Petja), and three moons, referred to collectively as the "Three Sisters"; one of which were supposed to even have the ruins of an ancient civilization on it.

As could be guessed from its astrology, the system was dead; its last round of excitement coming from the Great Sith Wars more than a millennium ago. But that was all about to change in a few hours.

The planet Ruusan itself, once a temperate and pleasant world inhabited by Ruusanians, humans, and a strange sapient species known as Bouncers, was originally settled by the Mining Guild as part of a wave of expansion in the Teraab Sector. It was also one of the New Republic's, in its early years, best sources of lightsaber crystals, and its loss forced the Jedi Order to rely on blue and green crystals from Ilum. In another addition, Ruusan was also the only source for the Ruusan Crystal.

Ruusan was the site of seven of the near-dozen Great Sith War battles that stretched over a period of seven days straight near the end of the 5-year war. During the last Battle of Ruusan, much of the planet's surface, including its capital Olmondo, several other cities, and its forests were destroyed.

After which, Jedi Knight Johun Othone, of whom the world Othone was named after, constructed a grand memorial to the one-hundred fallen warriors of the week-long battles called The Valley of the Jedi, located on the former location of Olmondo.

Despite this, Ruusan and its same name system were quickly forgotten, as the New Republic turned inward.

Isolation and inbreeding amongst the inhabitants produced a near-Human population that became known as Ruusanians. Shifting nebulae within the stellar nursery of the Teraab Sector soon erased hyperspace routes to Ruusan leaving it inaccessible from the galaxy at large. Or so was thought, and it was kept that way by higher up officials.

By the time of the Galactic Empire's reign, Ruusan was forgotten and used by independent spacers and merchants as a base of operations. It was also used by rebel refugees from Sulon as a settlement during the Galactic Civil War. However, currently, Ruusan was being used as a throne world for the Imperial Empress Baynetta.

Deserts, canyons, rivers, caves, and lakes were what dominated Ruusan in a nutshell. The Valley of the Jedi had since been destroyed by the Empire at its arrival to build their supreme ruler's throne world tower in its place.

Approximately a kilometer in the height, the Ruusan Royal Tower was an unblemished white transparisteel and crowned with a circular docking space roof, which went out several dozen feet around the skyscraper. Just as with every other throne structure of Baynetta's, this was equipped with a throne/war room, prison complex, residential suites, and numerous training rooms, among other things. One of which presently contained two occupants; a master and an apprentice.

The room was that of shadowy darkness with a single florescent light lining the ceiling, which came on and off at random intervals. But this wasn't the room's only source of illumination. Two lightsabers, both crimson and being wielded by the two occupants, perpetually clashed with one another, sending rays of light across the darkness.

The duel causing the striking laser swords wasn't exactly for real in the sense of fighting for dominance to the death. It was more of an exercise Force workout; a way the master could show their apprentice certain techniques of combat and how to counter them. To the master's delight, the apprentice was catching on and succeeding further than they could've possible foreseen. Notwithstanding his only two weeks of training thus far.

Ben's growth in the Force was becoming stronger at an extraordinary rate that wasn't even thought natural. It was somewhat disturbing that already he could deflect Force lightning by hand, perform Force chokes, and meditate like a pro. It was impressive, and Baynetta was pleased by his progression but also worried that he was going too fast, too quickly. No longer was he the non-self believing and soft-spoken slave he'd been prior to tutelage, but an ambitious, loud-spoken person who didn't mind telling people what he had to say. Rather or not they wanted to hear it. His abilities gave him confidence. Not overly so, not yet, and probably not ever.

Baynetta learned much about her grandson through their training sessions. He was level-headed and didn't believe in rushing into something without thinking it through first. In fact, it was his suggestion that Ambria be blown up and Jaina captured in her H-wing in battle rather than after a Grievous-Skywalker death on-world.

"It would force them to hunt for us instead of simply being trailed," he'd said. "If they truly consider her to be an ally, they'll come, almost be successful at getting her back, and then she'll be killed. But not by Drake, by me. Let Troy experience the death of another he loves. This is payback for me in his killing of my father."

And that wasn't all. Ben found plenty of other ways in-between constant training to aid the Empire: planning for upcoming battles; conservation so the other numerous superweapons of the Order didn't follow in the same path as Death Star II and Galaxy Gun; and his current plan-in-progress, a way to somehow get Sun Crusher out of Corellian hands.

By far, Ben was more than a replacement for Natchios and Narcissa. He was older, smarter, and much more aware of what he wanted; hence his fierce duel with the two on Ambria. Unlike with the twins, Baynetta could actually admit to herself that he was her grandson and be proud to count him as such, even if this she kept to herself. Yet somehow, Ben knew and this only made him strive further in pleasing her. Of which was being done as they continued to duel.

Eventually, after about three hours, the pair finally came to a draw and ended their fight. Baynetta clapped twice to bathe the room in complete light from its shadowy state. In full lucidness, the room didn't appear half as forbidding as it usually should. Nonetheless, utter blackness is what covered the bare walls and floor.

"There's definitely room for improvement still," Baynetta voiced in reference to Ben's combat skills, deactivating her lightsaber. "But you're advancing much faster than any other student I've ever trained. That says a lot."

Ben, donned in his customary black garb of robes and cloak, also deactivated his own lightsaber and bowed to the Empress.

"Thank you master. I will continue to work hard in the areas needing of improvement. You needn't worry too much about that."

"Of that I have no doubt Benjamin," she said. "In time, I see you becoming a great force to be reckoned with..."

* * *

SNAP! 

Jaina went pummeling to the floor in a heap at the crack of a whip across her chest. That had to have been the umpteenth time today she'd been stroke down repeatedly by Drake's fury. And it was still yet to become the afternoon.

The past week since capture in her H-Wing starfighter in the Mid Rim had been hell for the ex-Empress' Hand. Her betrayal of the Empire was being well paid for.

Unimaginable torture, far worse than what Troy endured, was inflicted upon her by Baynetta, Drake, and even Ben to the almost breaking point. The Force was ripped from her so profoundly there was no way it could be gotten back, no matter what she did; Baynetta made sure of that.

Scorch, whip, and cut marks adorned Jaina's kept naked body, as she was also thrown into freezer cubicles to freeze only to then be released from it and thrown into a pool of hot coals. She was sexually violated, thrown from wall to wall, spat upon, forced to lose extreme amounts of blood through knives being sliced all across her body or flames being lit upon her skin.

No matter how strong-willed Jaina was, it was impossible for this not to have an effect on her. She was being frozen and burned alive. She was bleeding to death. She was being given the slow, agonizing end Baynetta promised to all who betrayed her; but most especially, those closest to her.

Rather than having stormtrooper minions do most of the torturing while Baynetta did very little like with Troy, the Empress, her Executor, and new Hand apprentice were the _only ones_ who performed the inflictions upon Jaina. Though out of the three of them, Drake seemed to enjoy doing it the most, Baynetta second and Ben third. The trio usually visited her all hours of the day at different intervals of six: Drake, Baynetta, Ben, Drake, Baynetta, Drake. She'd be awoken via Force lightning and dragged out of her cell to the high security prison's massive torture complex where it all went down.

At a week into this, Jaina was very weak due to lack of food and proper sleep, as well as everything else, and fell into unconsciousness regularly. But never once did she want to let go and stop holding on through all this for one sole reason, of which she would never reveal to anyone...save Troy, if ever she saw him again that is.

Her disconnection to the Force cut off the loving bond which had been growing between the two since the start of their romantic relationship two weeks ago and without it, though not held for long, she felt alone and empty somehow. In her heart, she knew Troy felt the same and was out looking for her. But no matter how much she may want to stay strong, that didn't mean she physically could, as she continued to lose blood and starve daily.

Nevertheless, according to Baynetta, Jaina wasn't going anywhere until she so deemed it, no matter the case of her physical health. This gave her the idea that Baynetta also figured Troy would come after her and had set a trap for his arrival. Jaina knew Troy better than that though; no trap could contain him as he'd probably find a way around it anyway.

It was for this reason she wasn't too worried for his sake, but mostly her own. No matter what Baynetta said, Jaina didn't want Troy to finally get here only to then witness her death in the form of the Empress' revenge. It seemed like the type of thing Baynetta would do. But also, because you see, as strong as Jaina was, even she had a breaking point. And it came with the word "son".

* * *

Outer Space, _Knight Crawler_

It'd been a week. That was the duration of time it'd been since Jaina's capture, the Battle of Ambria, and Galactic Alliance formation. But also since Gabriella's death. Troy still couldn't believe it, but had come to terms with it for the most part with the help of his mother.

Rather than do what he'd done at first by trying not to think about her death, and through this pretending it never happened, Arica urged him to let go of Gabriella by means of mourning, as she was also doing the same.

"She'll always have, as the others, a special place in our hearts Troy," Arica said. "But you can't simply go on ignoring the event. It happened. She's not here anymore. And she's not coming back."

Troy heeded to his mother's words and together the two leaned on each other to get through this difficult time, in which both took to accepting Gabriella's death. Or murder as it really was.

What was most heartbreaking about it, though, was Gabriella's lover, Prince Kinko, on Aquilaris. Eventually, he'd have to be told. But if he loved Gabriella as much as Troy and Arica thought, maybe it would be better if he didn't know of it. Ever. He was married anyway, and by now the Prince was sure to have a child or two with his consort. Let him continue his happy life without a worry or care over the fact that his love was dead. What one doesn't know won't hurt them, right?

Besides however cruel that may have sounded, it was for the best that the city country Atualris stay out of intergalactic affairs for the present and mind their own business to avoid more carnage and death.

With the matter of Gabriella out of the way, Troy was able to focus more clearly on another: Jaina. He and Arica were in the Mid Rim, roaming along in _Knight Crawler_, and calling upon the Force for guidance as they searched the desolate and semi-desolate sectors of the region. Already, they'd gone through a dozen worlds in four systems and three sectors to no avail.

Yet if there was one person who knew the Mid Rim better than anyone because they did a 6-month sweep of the region's entirety in the Empire's first year, it was his father. And while the late Emperor was no longer living, Troy remembered the many things his father told him about the region in question.

As he presently thought about this, there was one sector in particular that popped out at him on the navicomputer's charts: Teraab.

The interesting thing about this sector was that its known mining world planets were not in systems, but existed singularly. However, what wasn't known about this sector, at least not anymore by the general public, is that it also housed nine other worlds in a sole system called Ruusan, home to seven of the most remarkable battles in the 1,000 year ago Great Sith War.

This system, something of a shrine to the Jedi of the war, was soon forgotten not long into the New Republic's reign – historians estimate 986 NRE – and the attempt by some, the Jedi mostly for their crystals, to reacquire its location came up empty.

Though purely dedicated to the Jedi, Troy got the idea that Ruusan was the perfect place for Baynetta to set base in, because it was the last place anyone like him would think to look. And once voicing this to his mother, she agreed.

"Most definitely," she said as they conversed this in the cockpit. "I think Ruusan itself – the planet – is going to be our best bet."

Troy wasn't sure he fully agreed though. "Maybe. We know from history that three of the worlds are gas giants, but that still leaves behind six others."

He pulled up some old historical files on the system from the HoloNet and together the pair began to scan through them on the in-cockpit console terminal, located in front of the co and master pilot seats.

"Okay, in Orbit One," Troy continued, his eyes on the screen as _Knight Crawler_ was in real space and on autopilot, "there's Ruusan itself – heavily destroyed since the war, probably even after a millennium, once a temperate world of pleasantness. Orbit Two, Pernicar – searing rock and lava rivers; possibly, depending on its climate. Orbit Three, Charny – a bit vague and somehow I don't think so, though I've been wrong before. Orbit Four, Turpimir – barren rock. Hmm..."

"I don't think so. And it's not Orbits Five, Six, or Seven either; they're the gas giants."

Troy nodded. "In Orbit Eight, however, is Gale. Its terrain consists of ice sheets and frozen rock." He glanced away from the screen to his mother. "What do you think?"

"Baynetta can be tolerate of that sort of climate, but..." Se trailed off. "I still think Ruusan itself is the most likely place to base one self in this system. What of Orbit Nine though? Othone? There's no info listed on its terrain, or anything else for that matter."

And indeed there wasn't, as Troy observed. Othone was listed singularly with no information whatsoever, sans which Great Sith War era Jedi it was named after.

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "It's worth checking out though. As for Orbits Ten-Fifteen, there's an asteroid belt, two suns, and three moons. Now it's rumored that one of the three moons, or 'three sisters', once housed an ancient civilization. However, this has yet to be proven."

Arica nodded at the information just told and was silent a moment before replying. "I think, besides Ruusan, we should check Pernicar and Othone. Maybe Gale and perhaps the asteroid belt."

"What of the three sisters?"

Arica thought a moment and finally shrugged. "I couldn't hurt, I suppose. Sure, why not?"

* * *

The next week was spent with the mother-son duo exploring the appointed bodies of the Ruusan system, one for each day and saving Ruusan itself for last. The discoveries made are thus: 

Day 1: Pernicar – Perhaps there was a time when this world was habitable, but not anymore. Its climate of extreme hotness put even Mustafar to shame. _Knight Crawler_ barely escaped without melting.

Day 2: Othone – Like Ruusan, this appeared to have once been some type of paradise world but was since destroyed, probably by the war as well. Though somehow the two didn't completely think so. Its on-world destruction was more recent. And then it hit them: Galaxy Gun! Othone was probably the currently nonexistent superweapon's test ground in abilities.

Day 3: Gale – Troy and Arica didn't think so even from the beginning; however, the possibility of Baynetta having an underground ice fortress was possible. Yet then again, maybe not. What Pernicar was in hotness, Gale was in cold, and for a second time _Knight Crawler_ found some difficulty in exiting one of Ruusan's worlds.

Day 4: Farfalla's Diamonds Asteroid Belt – Though somewhat appealing because of its rare diamond asteroid rocks, a thorough sweep of the field came up empty.

Day 5: Moon Sister I – Nothing out of the ordinary, a usual moon, but the feeling that came to the pair upon approach and exploration was that they were closing in on their quest.

Day 6: Moon Sister II – The previous day's feelings only became stronger at this moon, no matter how ordinary it was.

Day 7: Moon Sister III – It seemed the legends were true about the ancient civilization ruins on one of the "three sisters". They were located on the third moon.

However, the duo didn't have time to explore it for what it was worth, as it became more than obvious to them the deeper they ventured into the system that Baynetta was indeed on Ruusan itself. They even caught sight of a few TIEs scouting the area of space around Ruusan. Despite being cloaked, the two could still see and hear the Imperial starfighters as they flew about on their rounds. The pilots, of course, could not see or detect _Knight Crawler_, and that's the way they wanted to keep it.

Both expected a trap. Of what size and its features couldn't be known, but a trap nonetheless. And involving or centering around Jaina. Arica warned her son not to take everything he saw once they arrived on the planet as gospel truth, as most of it was bound to be deception.

"I don't care how genuine it appears," she said. "Don't fall for or trust anything, not even Jaina, until we get a feel of the situation fully."

"Don't worry mom," Troy assured. "I'm not about to let love blind my actions in this no matter what."

And to this he was holding to. Yes, for the first time in Troy's thirty-three years of living he was actually and truly in love, but unlike most in this predicament who were young and foolish, he was neither and would not have his emotions played on. Yet first was getting on Ruusan; the rest would fall into place as they went.

Interestingly enough, there was no blockade or superweapon around Ruusan – visible or not – and getting on-world was fairly easy, so long as _Knight Crawler_ was cloaked.

Thus was trap #1. Trap #2 wasn't too far behind.

As Ruusan's terrain consisted of a combination of deserts, canyons, rivers, lakes, and caves, the pair decided to instead of hiding their ship in a canyon or cave as would be expected, _Knight Crawler_, because of its duel capabilities in air and sea, would be kept in the depths of a river, approximately one mile from where they spotted the Empress' tower base.

This part wasn't the second trap, as Baynetta really did think (yes, she knew they were on Ruusan) _Knight Crawler _would be put in a hidden cavern of earth, enabling her to then detonate the ship and its surroundings. However, they did come to the second trap after leaving _Knight Crawler_ behind in the river, swimming to the water's surface, and jogging the mile distance to Baynetta's tower.

Their choice of entrance was scaling the building to its top roof hanger from the back, which they did successfully. Only to find once they reached the top, swarms of Imperial agents were there waiting for them. Though like Troy and Arica, their presences were cloaked to invisibility. Thus, trap #2.

Mother and son were actually insulted at the stupidity of the trap and merely went around it through the hanger's dozen+ cruiser ships and the hundred-some guards. The least Baynetta could've done was give her subordinates the ability to see her "potential captives" instead of simply keeping them in the dark until she so deemed a strike.

On the way to exiting the crown dock undetected, Troy caught sight of an air vent, which when he reached into the Force discovered that it zigzagged through the structure's entirety. It was the perfect route to infiltrate through.

"Even if it's an obvious pick," Arica voiced telepathically.

Troy leveled her with a slightly wary stare, and returned also telepathically, _"Even so, we'll have to take that risk."_

The duo jumped to the hanger's exit bay white-stoned roof and cut out a chuck of it – down and then in a square through the vent's top. Once that was out of the way, they then slide down into the air vent and the infiltration began.

At one kilometer in height, the Royal tower featured far over 150 floors, each of which being equipped with some sort of military squadrant, rather it be Imperial operatives, stormtroopers, or simple workers armed and dangerous. There was even a sensor system that mapped the entire building, making it impossible, even in invisibility, to sneak around any part of the tower undetected. Yet at Troy and Arica's arrival in the vents, it was deactivated. Trap #3.

Besides the entrance hall that led away from the hanger, the rest of the crown level was a bright luminous prison complex. As ominous as dark and deary ones could be, a prison of this kind was actually better since there were few available shadows for one to hide themselves in at an attempted prison break compared to one of darkness.

Troy knew from the beginning that Jaina was the one and only prisoner being kept here despite the feeling of plenty more imprisoned presences about the detention center. He ignored them, yet even if they were real he wouldn't have much cared about them anyway. They were here to rescue Jaina, not an entire slew of inmates.

_She really doesn't know what and how the Force is used for with the light and dark sides. It automatically doesn't make a Sith a Jedi, or a Jedi a Sith._

Troy and Arica moved silently through the air vent, always going straight, over top the foyer and then the prison itself.

Not long into this, both felt a trio of persons directly beneath them, uncloaked and seated at what was assumed to be the complex front desk.

Thus was trap #4, but Troy decided to play onto this one rather than ignore it all together.

Clipping a lightdagger from his belt, he cut open the bottom of the air vent in front, passed the piece of steel aluminum to his mother, and deactivated the small red blade in exchange for a laser ray gun. Angling it in hand as he looked down at the three Human male receptionists who were indeed seated at a circular desk in a bright white room, Troy didn't waste a second to fire off three shots for each into their brains. The Baynetta minions slumped backward in their seats, dead.

Clipping the gun back onto his belt, Troy looked down, took a deep breath and dropped. The distance wasn't that far, so he was able to land fine on his feet in a crouch.

The complex foyer was immense and in rectangular form. White walled but black floored, where he landed exactly was in the front desk command booth. From there, the majority of the complex could be controlled with its computer terminals and surveillance feeds. He was a little surprised as to why there would be only three in position here, but of course, the fourth trap. He nearly forgot.

Glancing to the ceiling, he motioned Arica down. She was by his side an instant later.

"I say we don't trust these computer files for Jaina's location," she said glancing at the terminals. "I'm almost certain they've been rigged for another trap."

"Most definitely. But we don't need any help finding her."

Arica turned from the terminals to find Troy's eye attention not on her or around the room, but on Jaina herself.

On either side of the circular booth were cell blocks several meters down of Mandalorian iron and Jaina, beaten and bruised, was in the one closest to the right side.

There was no time for happy reunion hugs and kisses. Troy rushed over to Jaina's cell and quickly essayed at using the Force to unlock the door. The fact that it actually worked disturbed Troy far too much.

Trap #5.

They needed to get out of here now. Yet oddly, Jaina, notwithstanding her weak, tortured form, was in a desperate need to tell him something other than this as he carried her out of the cell and toward the booth.

"Troy-"

"Not now Jaina. They'll be time for conversation later."

"But Troy-"

"Silence Jaina, please. We need out of here as quickly as possible."

"She's not going to let you out with me Troy."

"We'll see."

"Not because of the reason you think, but something else. Troy, I'm pregnant."

Time stopped for Troy. He was so taken aback with shock that his brisk exit pace came to a halt and he gasped down at her in exclamation. It was no lie. He felt the child within her womb. _His_ child. It was a little over two weeks old and a son by the feel of it. He didn't know what to say. He was too stunned by the discovery to think straight.

Arica was also greatly surprised by this announcement, yet at the same time deeply disturbed. She was happy that Troy had found love, but a child too? And so early in the relationship? This was going too much, too soon in her eyes. Yet the disturbance she felt wasn't simply about that. But another trap. It'd just been sprung on them. And if they didn't move quickly, there would be no escaping this time.

Too late! The prison complex foyer changed. The lights went out and what was thought to be a detention facility turned out not to be that at all, but a stimulation center posing as such. They were in still an immense room, but much darker as some lighting returned. Intriguingly enough, it seemed the whole stimulation thing was incorporated with the tower's throne/war room, for that's what appeared they were now in. Or was this a trap also?

Troy inwardly growled at the current situation. Hadn't he prepared himself for anything? He thought he had, but yet not. Baynetta took the shock that had been thrown at them as an advantage to over pour the pillar-lined room with Imperial troops of all type, including herself, Ben and Drake, which swiftly encased them in a circle. Mother and son were by each other's side in no time, ready for battle but Jaina sighed tiredly disappointed in Troy's arms.

"I'm sorry Troy," she said, her voice cracking with weakness. "She forced it out of me. I couldn't hold back. I tried, I really did, but-"

"Isn't this just sweet," Baynetta announced sardonically from atop her 10-stair high throne directly north of of the hundred-some company of Imperials, which had her captives trapped right where she wanted them. "Troy, Jaina's love and father of her child, has come to rescue her with granny Arica in tow. While you'd probably think I'd actually want to have your unborn Grievous Skywalker heir as an apprentice of my own for your taking of Natchios and Narcissa, I'll pass since I don't want him born to begin with. Sure, I could train him up, teach him to hate your family, and then execute it, but I can't wait that long. Not again, and I don't want to. Yet the reason you're here, Troy and Arica, is not to die yet, but suffer the loss of your love and heir. And what better person to do this than my new Hand, Ben Skywalker. He has more than a bone to pick with you Troy, for killing his father. You can't even fathom the satisfaction he'll receive at Jaina and your son's death. Because you see Troy, you may have corrupted three of my most valuable assets as apprentices, they've been well replaced. And with one sole being at that."

The Empress took a seat on her throne; Hand jumped into action immediately after, its target Jaina Solo.

Notwithstanding her less than stellar condition and none access to the Force, Jaina leapt from Troy's grasp, swiped the lightwhip from his belt and used that to meet Ben in combat with.

Troy was far from pleased by this move but didn't have time to argue it, for in light of Ben and Jaina's duel resulted in Drake leading forward Imperial troops in an attack that came to overwhelm them. Nonetheless, with lightsaber activated, Troy made to fight over towards Jaina and Ben, knowing without the Force she didn't have as much of a chance against Baynetta's new weapon. Only it seemed the closer he got to them, the further away the Empress' Hand drove her. Plus, with the never ending stream of Imperials which kept coming, Troy occasionally had a hard time keeping them in line of sight.

This was getting out of hand. It seemed that whenever troops would be cut down, more came in their place. So much, in fact, it was as though they weren't cutting anyone down. They needed to find a way out of this jumble of chaos. But how? Arica was currently dueling Drake with one arm and firing shots at the surrounding swarm with the other. If only there was a way she could get above all this. There escape could come easily. And then it came to her upon swinging towards one of the room lining pillars, while blocking an attack from her own ex-Hand. She could through the pillars.

Wasting not even a second, Arica disengaged her orange blade from Drake's crimson one and shot him down with a blast from her laser ray gun. Because of the armor beneath his robes, she knew he wasn't dead, merely knocked out. But that's all she needed for the moment. Exchanging lightsaber for harpoon gun, Arica shot it at the nearest pillar's crown. The harpoon caught on and she let loose the release lever, flying through the air upward to the ceiling. Many troops on the ground noticed this and directed their fire at her, only she was prepared for such a thing to happen and deflected the bolts back at the senders with a wave of the Force. All the while, raining showers of laser fire down at them also.

Finally, progress was being made that indirectly helped Troy in his pursuit of Jaina and Ben. The shroud of stormtroopers that had kept jumping in his path the nearer still he got to them were either the ones bolts were deflected down at, but mostly those who were rained down upon with laser fire.

With them out of the way, Troy received a clear view of the dueling Hands. Only little did he know, that's what Ben had been waiting for. The young Hand had deliberately been holding off on Jaina's death, as he wanted Troy to witness it firsthand. And the first chance he got, he took. Just as Troy was starting to make his way over to them, Ben turned his head away from Jaina, locked eyes with Troy, and then, satisfied that he was watching, plunged his blade into Jaina's kidneys and womb. The woman screamed in uncontrollable physical pain and so did Troy, but of a mental kind.

"NO!"

Time seemed to stop once more and revert to slow motion as Ben ripped his lightsaber from Jaina's anguish-filled body, only to cut into it once more, but in the mid-chest this time. Jaina screamed even louder than before, and it was this that brought Troy back to present reality. His agony for Jaina was great, but his rage for Ben was greater.

In the thralls of anger and the complete dark side, Troy lifted his hands to the ceiling and unleashed a wave of lightning so powerful that the moment it deflected off the ceiling and hit the Imperials below, they were dead instantly.

All of them died – stormtroopers, Intelligence operatives. All of them except Baynetta, Drake, and Ben that is. But they came very close to following the same fate as the rest.

Ceasing his lightning attack several moments after starting it, Troy made a run at Ben and his fallen love.

"Like father, like son!" he roared. "I see you're no different than your dead father Luke!"

Ben seemed ready to fight his adversary, but Baynetta intervened at the last minute, leaping from her throne and Force slamming Troy into the same pillar his mother was still on, causing it to dislocate from the throne room ceiling and tumble into another pillar nearby, and another and another. Soon, the entire room was tumbling down, but not before Baynetta, Drake, and Ben could flee its destruction.

Troy remained conscious through the entire ordeal, pulling Arica away from the pillar that was about to collapse on her, and was able to yell, "Another time Ben! I promise I'll kill you!" before the Imperial trio was officially gone.

Being as not only was it the pillars that were causing the room destruction but chucks of the ceiling collapse as well, Troy and Arica had no choice but to call upon the Force in stopping this if they wanted to save Jaina from being crushed too. Arica projected a Force wave with her hands out before herself to stop the falling pieces of ceiling and pillars from collapsing any further until they were out.

Jaina, near-death but not quite, was collected into Troy's arms and Arica let them go ahead before breaking the wave and joining them outside in the dock entrance hall. The throne room's destruction continued behind them, but they were far from caring. The Force was telling them they needed to get out of the tower now. And on the roof hanger they saw why. A bomb was set to go off in 3, 2,...

Troy and Arica jumped before the bomb could detonate, nonetheless it exploded behind them, singeing their hair and clothes while free falling through the air.

Yet if Arica and Troy thought the worst was behind them, they need think again. Baynetta, Drake, and Ben remained on-world, but close to space, to witness the Ruusan Royal Tower's explosion and Ben decided, aboard their escape ship, to finish the death he couldn't complete on land.

As mother and son continued to free fall, Ben pulled Jaina from Troy's arms and far out of reach. Neither of the two nor Arica knew what was going on. All they knew was that Jaina was approaching the hard desert ground at a much faster flight than her companions with no way of stopping it. No matter how hard Troy and Arica tried to catch or grab her with the Force, they couldn't. Ben wouldn't let them. And once Drake joined him in his hold over Jaina, it was impossible for them to stop it. The ex-Empress' Hand was a goner.

Knowing that her death was near, Jaina called out to Troy through the whipping winds that swirled around her.

"Troy!"

"Jaina!" He was trying all he could to save her – Arica was too – but he couldn't. He felt so utterly helpless as he watched her fall to her doom. He didn't want to lose her. He couldn't.

"Troy!" she called again, the ground fast approaching. "I love you!"

"Jaina!"

But it was too late. She hit the ground an instant later, landing on her back. Neither Troy nor Arica had to reach into the Force to know she was dead. No one could survive such a collapse to the ground, Force sensitive or not.

Troy and Arica landed neatly on the ground soon after, and Troy, quickly followed by Arica, rushed to the form of his dead love's side, taking her into his arms once more with tears of grief.

He'd lost her. He didn't want to accept it but he had to. His love.

His first love.

Gone, as that of their son.

Jahan they could've named him. After her late twin brother and father. Or Anakin after his own late father.

It wasn't fair that he should learn of becoming a parent and then lose that right all in the same day. Not that this was the time to have a child anyway, what with the war, but all the same.

And Jaina. He loved her so much. Would he ever be able to love like that again? He doubted it. And it was all the fault of a thirteen-year-old boy who was also his half-nephew/second cousin. Of whom he first met in infancy. How Baynetta had corrupted him so. It was too bad Ben couldn't have been taken from the Imperial Palace when Kol and Kyleia were. But then, the thought never really crossed his mind to bring Ben along with them as well. And that one mistake cost Troy the lives of Jaina and their son. He couldn't stand to think about it any longer. He just wanted to drawn himself in grief until...everything was alright again.

It broke Arica's heart to see Troy like this. It was horrible to think he was actually, truly in love with Jaina, only for her to then be taken from him so soon after realizing these feelings. If that had happened to Arica herself with Anakin, she couldn't have known what she would've done, yet she'd probably be taking it as hard as Troy was. And with a child in the mix at that. It was dreadful.

Arica still thought the child had come too soon though, but maybe that was because she had yet to come to terms with the prospect of becoming a grandparent. Even though at her age of 55 and Troy's 33, she should be. Heck! Antellica had become a grandparent at 39; and Anakin at 48. And now with Troy being her only remaining child out of the original nine, maybe it would've been good if his and Jaina's son was born. But alas, the child had been denied that right. Now that Arica thought about it, it really was too bad. But mainly it was too bad in general that all her children had been denied the right of becoming parents of their own, as they were killed off before they could even find someone and consider the matter. Save Troy.

So far, out of the original six exile survivors, three were dead plus Jaina and a Grievous Skywalker heir.

Arica, Troy, Allana, Kol, and Kyleia were all that was left now, not counting Ben, as he was the cause of two of the deaths and no friend of theirs any longer, which really was a shame. They needed to bring this conflict to a head and soon, before Baynetta truly got her wish in wiping out the Grievous Skywalkers from the face of the Galaxy.

But now Arica would not worry about this. Now she would comfort her son for his loss; _their loss_ she corrected herself. She pulled him away from Jaina somewhat and collected him into her arms, running her fingers along his accumulating, but still near-bald head.

"It's gonna be alright," she said softly. "Just let it all out. I promise it's gonna be alright."

Troy was hesitant to let go of Jaina, but finally did – in the sense of letting go of her body that is, not his love – to accept his mother's comfort. He fell into her arms and did as she requested in letting it all out. He cried and cried and cried. He would get through this though, and make those responsible pay. Not out of vengeance, as what Ben had done concerning his father, but justice in doing what was right.

Baynetta, Drake, and Ben needed to be eliminated once and for all. And Troy would make sure he was in the center of it when this occurred.


	144. Inferno

Author's Note: Hey guys! I was hoping we'd reach the 500 mark by this chapter. Thanks. Your reviews are most appreciated and bring about faster updates.

arzum: Actually no. Two do survive in fact.

Jedi Master Sabbath: Only time will tell.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Darkvampirewitch: Actually I have never read or seen The Godfather. Perhaps I will someday, but as of now no. As for Ben, he's pretty safe. Though we're still in the first half. Surprises to the fittest occur in the second.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 22: Inferno

39.7 Imperial Era

Another week had passed.

The Corellian-Empire War was now a month in existence, yet Arica and Troy had taken somewhat of a break from it in their 6-day stay on Ruusan following Jaina and her Grievous Skywalker son's death. The alive mother-son duo remained on-world that period of time to bury Jaina's body in a distant canyon, mourn, and just be away from it all for the time being. Troy, more than Arica, needed this duration before he could get back to business in Corellia and the war.

But when they did return, on the seventh day of this week, word was sent ahead to be expected, and this was responded by Prime Minister Saxan – now Presidential Head State of the Galactic Alliance (in their three week absence, an election was made of the new government's officials) – with orders for them to land not in Selonia or Drall, but Corellia and its new capital city since Coronet's eradication: Tyrena.

Though nothing like Coronet was in the sense of magnificence, Tyrena was a skyscraper-filled riverside city, which was split into two major sections connected by long bridges.

A grav-train ran between Tyrena and the planet's Gold Beaches – often referred to as one of the greatest natural wonders of the Core Worlds (or what was left of them anyway with Alderaan, Chandrila, and Coruscant extirpated); a vacation spot of golden sand, waves, and surf in short.

Points of interest Tyrena featured included the since deserted underground entertainment complex, Groola's Place; a rough area known as the Skids (containing somewhat rough appearances and even rougher residents); but more importantly, CorSec Academy: a training facility for new recruits to the CorSec Force. It was here, in the nearby CorSec Federal Building, that the Galactic Alliance Government had since become grounded, and thus the exact location Troy and Arica were given to dock at.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by the new Galactic Alliance Commanding Operative Committee (GACOC), which included several old faces from the CHC – besides Saxan, there was Thracken Sal-Solo aka Vice Presidential Head State; Gilad Pellaeon, Cha Niathal, and Wedge Antilles: Supreme Commander, Commander-in-chief, and Admiral of the Galactic Alliance Navy respectively – as well as new faces from all over the galaxy in the roles of Intelligence Director, Minister of Defense, Representative Speaker, and many others, which ranked in the numbers of near-fifty.

Lumiya was also there, yet one that stood out the most (to Arica and Troy anyway) was from Corellia itself and the wife of Wedge Antilles, Iella Wessiri-Antilles, Director of CorSec Forces. Not so much because she was Wedge's wife, but mainly over the fact that she and Wedge parented two daughters which were far under the legal age of taking care of oneself. If she and her husband were working in the government, and putting their all into it at that, who was looking after their eleven and thirteen-year-old daughters? The only family they had resided in the Unknown Regions.

While technically none of their business, this did lead to the whereabouts of Allana, Kol, and Kyleia, as they not only weren't with the jumble of politicians but not on-world either or in the Corellia system at all for that matter. It turns out that when Iella made the decision to return to active service following Coronet's liquidation, she and Wedge decided it wasn't safe for their daughters, Syal and Myri, to remain with them in the heat of war, so sent them to the Unknown Regions and the Fels – Wedge's sister's family – escorted by Allana and the twins.

"Originally, Allana was going to escort them alone," Wedge explained to a far from pleased Troy and Arica. "But then Kol and Kyleia decided to go with her, thinking it was better that way, and I must agree. The three of them are becoming quite the trio."

"If anything happens to the three of them," Troy warned dangerously, "I'm holding you both personally responsible. They're only teenagers for crying out loud! How could you have let them go alone?!"

"They left before our armed forces could accompany them," Iella defended.

Like her husband, Iella was in her early forties with a medium hair tone that was light like blonde in some spots, and dark like brown in others. She was of semi-muscular build, medium height, and Troy found her only slightly attractive.

"How come you couldn't have given Lumiya this assignment?" Arica queried heatedly. "Or had her go with them as a chaperon?"

Lumiya herself chose to respond. "Allana, Kol, and Kyleia aren't children-"

"They're not adults either," Troy said.

Lumiya nodded. "No they're not. But this is a marvelous opportunity for them to come out on their own. By themselves. Each are headstrong and accomplished enough to perform this simple task."

"Plus, I trust Allana," Wedge said, "and the twins. There's no one else I'd rather see my daughters charted off with than those three."

Though still vexed, notwithstanding the explanation, Troy and Arica decided to drop the matter for the present and move onto the result of their own mission to the Mid Rim following Sal-Solo's question to the subject. Thracken took the news of Jaina's death harder than expected and was disappointed they hadn't brought his cousin's body back with them to be cremated – it was common Corellian tradition to cremate their dead and compress the ash into synthetic diamonds with artificial gravity generators.

"If you want the body bad enough," Troy said with some irritation, "it's on Ruusan. I can give you the exact coordinates to its location on-world and the system itself, but I think she should stay where she is. At rest and in peace, in a place away from war."

The Vice-Presidential Head State seemed to muse over these words a moment or two before nodding and, supposedly, seeing Troy's point.

The added news that Jaina was pregnant when she died, however, seemed to bring Thracken out of his semi-grief, and again he expressed disappointment. Yet not for the sorrow of the baby's death, but over the fact that he'd come so close in becoming apart of the Grievous Skywalker House, only for it to then not happen. He jested suggestively that there was always himself if Arica was ever interested in becoming involved with someone again, for more children or just the companionship. To which Troy's eyes blazed and Arica wasted no time in reaching forward and breaking Sal-Solo's right arm with a strong grip of strength. She showed no mercy as he collapsed to the ground in pain, bystanders gasped, and she glared down at him hissing, "If you ever make a suggestion like that again, I swear I'll kill you. And then you can join your dear cousin in the afterlife and there won't be anymore Solos for anyone to put up with."

She didn't mean the end to come out the way it did, and Troy knew this so forgave her of her insult of the Solo clan, as they both stalked off away from the company of politicians and into the CorSec Federal Building.

The duo felt rather than saw medical attention be sent to the sole-surviving Solo, though no one – the assembly of GACOC members that is – seemed to care all that much about his well being, so followed the new arrivals inside the immense transparent structure. From there, they were also checked out medically in a wing before then being ushered off to a brightly lit and large conference room for a full debriefing of their mission, to which the Vice Presidential Head State didn't attend, either because of his arm or simple embarrassment. Afterwards, discussion was imminent.

"We must eliminate Baynetta," Minister of Security Roan Heller, an ex-Senator from the Inner Rim, proclaimed from the 50-seater round table the Galactic Alliance Leadership Council, sans Sal-Solo, was situated at. "She alone is the only way we can bring this war to a swift end."

"Yes, but if she died," Minister of Justice Genj Anax, another ex-Senator but from the Expansion Region, voiced, "the Empire would most definitely then fall to Military Executor Drake Palpatine. He also must be taken out."

"Never was this insurrection supposed to go so far," Admiral Antilles abruptly pronounced. "The destruction of Centerpoint, Talus, Tralus, Coronet, the thirty-five Colonies worlds...And Baynetta's voiced to have numerous other superweapons in addition to those that are known and have since been destroyed. And she isn't one to bluff." He shook his head. "This has to end."

"I agree," Supreme Commander Pellaeon said, "and the only way that can happen is with the continued production of militants. If we wish to win this, we, as the Galactic Alliance, have to overwhelm the enemy to the extent of them being fully submerged into our might. We have to keep coming. Take our losses in stride, and show no sign of weakness. Only then shall we succeed in victory..."

True to the Supreme Commander's words, mass production continued in shipyards in orbit of Corellia and many other inner region systems for GA Navy forces. Also, extra security measures were taken in the protection of alliance worlds, but especially the government's center: Corellia's remaining three brothers.

A month passed and all was quiet, at which point the teenage Grievous-Skywalker trio returned from the Unknown Regions with tidings that their mission had been a success. The Antilles sisters were safe, and the trio had even stayed with the Fels for a week at their insistence, hence their return seven weeks after their initial leave (a day after Troy and Arica's; though, it took three weeks, singularly, there and back to come upon the Fels' distant planetary residence).

Wedge and Iella were pleased. As were Troy and Arica, but that the three were back, safe and sound. Their discovery of Jaina's death, told a short time after their debriefing, was mixed. Though greatly taken aback by the pregnancy aspect of it, neither of the three had ever much liked the ex-Empress' Hand, so their reactions were only forced dolorous for Troy's sake.

However happy Allana may have been over her nemesis' demise, she also couldn't help but feel a shred of disappointment that it wasn't she that brought Jaina's life to an end. Yet at the same time, pride was felt over her little brother's accomplishment. This, of course, she kept to herself. And really, the more she thought about it, the more she realized it didn't matter who'd killed Jaina. She was dead, and that's all that mattered. Allana could rest easier with that thought in mind.

As for Kol and Kyleia, they were also pleased by Jaina's death. Finally, they felt they were officially free of Baynetta, since Jaina had had an active role in their lives under the Empress. This was a breath of fresh air to them. The dawn of a new day and a novel beginning.

Though Thracken insisted upon having a memorial service in Jaina's honor, Troy urged the Vice-Presidential Head State to yes mourn his cousin's loss, but not make too much of a big hoopla over it and have it come in the way of his attention on the war. Because even though it was going on nearly two months of semi-peace, that didn't mean Baynetta was backing off or that they shouldn't be ready for the unexpected to occur in the Empress' next move.

This "war hiatus", as it was being called, was not only frustrating but irritating and made them all more than a little on edge and anxious. Baynetta was bidding her time this go-round. She was making them wait until she so deemed. This in itself told them she was planning something big. But what? And how could they stop it before it was too late?

The Force was telling them nothing. Intelligence was telling them nothing. They were in the dark on this, but thankfully Baynetta didn't wait an excessive amount of time to pull off the war's next major struggle.

At the 2-month point exactly since the Mission to Ruusan, eleven weeks since the Battle on Ambria, multiple systems across the galaxy in every region were turning up obliterated. And not one at a time like with the Planet Killers, but all at once in their entirety. This could only mean one thing: Baynetta had a superweapon of her own which was strong enough to match Sun Crusher. Not quite the comforting thought. The name of this superweapon was Star Killer.

Long ago, during the Clone Wars, the CIS crafted a superweapon of the same name and design to use against the New Republic. It was a "hyperspace-point destabilizer," meaning it could cause ships to dramatically shift course in hyperspace, resulting in them flying into black holes, stars, and other celestial bodies. The Star Killer of that era was destroyed at Kromus before it was allowed to launch and leap into hyperspace. However, its destruction destabilized the tectonic structure of the planet, killing many.

Darth Sidious had thought sometime after that the Star Killer data could still prove useful for another weapon project, and it seemed Corellia felt the same. Star Killer was not only the inspiration the insurrection seeking system had used in their building of Sun Crusher, but the advancements made to Centerpoint Station as well.

Yet even they and Sidious weren't the only ones intrigued with this unique weapon. Baynetta used the data her father had once possessed to build a sharper, sleeker, and more adept version of the Confederacy's Star Killer. It turned out being the greatest of the handful of superweapons she had produced, and was therefore able to rid each galaxy region of numerous systems and even draw lone star craft out of hyperspace to crash into one another or onto its destination world and into skyscraper-like buildings with relative ease.

Enough was enough, and the Galactic Alliance had had that. Myriad amounts of carnage was everywhere it seemed, disorder and unrest was rapidly following, and sectors, unaffected or so, were dropping out of the Galactic Alliance in an attempt to achieve safety of their homelands once more.

The Corellia-based government retaliated to all this by trying the best they could to keep the peace in the midst of chaos, though more importantly, sent out a message address via the HoloNet and Presidential Head State Saxan, demanding that Baynetta stop beating around the bush and present herself to them in battle.

"Let us both come forward with our entire might and rage war until a conqueror is realized. Yet one way or another, this war must end."

Baynetta responded with coordinates to the Outer Rim world Mustafar and the invitation that the GA bring Sun Crusher and the Grievous-Skywalkers with them.

"I have a special treat for both," the Empress would only say.

Rather or not the invite was given, Sun Crusher and the ex-royal family were indeed going to take part in what was hopefully the final battle of the GA-Empire War. True to their word, but deciding to keep several squadrons in reserve in the case the worst happened, Galactic Alliance forces met their Imperial counterparts in the Mustafar system several days later and so it began...

From the beginning, Baynetta demanded that the five Grievous-Skywalkers and Lumiya come down onto the system's same name lava world for a face-to-face confrontation.

Alone.

Without GA aide.

The team of six were only too cooperative to do so, and requested a location of where this would commence.

The answer?

The Imperial Castle of Mustafar.

Like Ambria and Ruusan before it, Mustafar was also a throne world of Baynetta's. The third of seven still that had been discovered in the war thus far.

Far from the more dangerous northern and equatorial regions, Baynetta's lair and its surroundings resided in the southernmost areas of the volcanic planet in the very spot, in fact, that several Sith Empire-era Jedi Temples sat before and after Mustafar's transformation from a pleasant world to a hellish one during the Great Sith War.

As black as night, the Imperial Castle was clearly seen to be fashioned after an early Old Republic era design of fortress with high walls, towers, and a surrounding moat for protection. Another description of the structure could be that similar to one in a children's holobook classic concerning Princesses, dragons, and headless riders. At least that's what Allana was reminded of from a distant memory as she gazed out _Knight Crawler's_ cockpit viewport and onto the Imperial Castle.

Yet what also made this royal building both unique and rare was its structure over top a large fiery lake of lava. It was high enough as not to be bothered with the scorching liquid, and the type of rock the castle was made of seemed to assure that even if the molten fluids came into contact with it, no damage would be done to either. Allana was under the impression that the building itself was made of molten volcanic rock. It'd have to be to survive atop such extreme heat without melting.

_Knight Crawler_ did an around circle of the castle before landing, but outside the moat. Each of the six ship occupants could feel the Imperial-GA space battle raging above them outside, and sense Baynetta, Drake, and Ben inside the castle in its lower levels.

Throne room. That was the trio's precise location.

Exiting _Knight Crawler_, that's where the six headed. Climbing over top the moat and dropping onto the black glassy sand on the other side, which formed a path to the great castle through currents of lava pools.

Quite narrow in width, the group had to go in single file and perpetually call upon the Force as not to slip and fall into the blazing hot lava.

The glassy sand walkway soon led to a small hill of solid rock wide enough to walk on 2-by-2. However, not long after they were then coming upon a narrow path once more that led to an extended draw bridge, thus leading inside the castle past an iron/stone door. This they walked, finding it somewhat strange that two stormtroopers were stationed on either side of the Great Door entrance since the group was expected. Were they to take them to Baynetta?

Too late to find out!

Troy shot them both down at approach, and the moment they came within three paces of the stone door it began to open horizontally, allowing them entrance within. The door then closed behind them after another three paces. They were in an immense, yet dark entrance hall with broad walls lined with portraits and vast windows, a foyer seating area complete with black couch and golden table, Wayland marble floors...

The attention was soon waning off their surroundings and onto the two hallways on either side of them. Both were identical in how they appeared (with broad walls and marble floors) and ended the same way with a large stone door.

Instead of splitting up, with Arica, Troy, and Kyleia going left and Lumiya, Kol, and Allana going right, they all went left to discover another door, but smaller near the large stone door. Beyond this they sensed a stairwell, but beyond the larger...they were confused by what was sensed and it took Kol to walk several paces towards it before it opened to reveal the same pool of lava they'd walked along inside the moat below. In fact, from there you could see both the path and the moat. Obviously, a trap to catch one unawares and bring about death. Kol and the others stepped away from the door. It closed behind them and the smaller door opened to reveal indeed a stairwell of the spiral sort, it went down a hundred stairs before ending at another door the same size of its predecessor. Through there they knew laid the Empress, her Executor, and Hand, however odd a way this was to reach a throne room. Arica reached out to open the door via its handle, but her touch caused the door to crack open with a creak. She pushed it the rest of the way and this is what they saw:

Through the shadows straight ahead, on the right, laid the base of another stairwell, but of a horizontal climb sort. On the left, again straight ahead and through the shadows, seemed to lay the official entrance to the throne room guarded by two more stormtroopers. Kyleia took the liberty of shooting these two dead as the group moved as a unit into the royal chamber.

Without much investigation to the official throne room entrance – it seemed to be via turbolift – the Grievous-Skywalkers and Lumiya took to the left and horizontal, four-meter long in width stairs. At the top was found their objects of desire in the most different of throne rooms imaginable.

Sans the throne itself, on which Baynetta was seated, the holoprojector system, from which holos of the fierce battle over the planet could be seen, and of which Ben was standing beside via the leaning of his arm, and a viewport that showed Mustafar's musty and flaming landscapes – an erupting volcano and clouds of smoke could be seen in the distance – both of which were on the right of the Empress' throne, on the left and beyond, past where Drake stood, was the most interesting design of architecture that blended in with Mustafar's primary terrain of lava, the six-person team had to stop and stare.

About six meters over from Baynetta's throne was a fiery lake of lava, which extended several dozen meters before terminating with a stretch of solid, probably durasteel, flooring that went for about a dozen meters before too ending at a wall. The interesting thing about this, though, was the narrow walkway arch which overlapped the middle of the lake, lengthening its entirety until coming to end at the black patch of floor the lake terminated at.

It looked far more interesting than it sounded, and even the Empress seemed to think so, for she said, "Like it, do you? I find it rather fascinating myself."

That snapped the team's eyes away from the room's rarity and onto the speaker with a glare. Arica spoke.

"It's time to end this."

Baynetta actually looked slightly disappointed. "I'm going to assume you're not interested in pre-combat chatter, then?"

Each of the six activated their own respective lightsabers with a _snap-hiss_; Drake and Ben soon followed. Baynetta, however, remained seated. "Apparently not."

Everyone leapt into action at the same instant. Troy and Arica immediately rushed at a somersaulting, lightsaber holding Baynetta; Lumiya and Allana took on a sneering Drake; leaving Kol and Kyleia with Ben for a second time.

The battles were fierce, deadly, and dangerous since anyone could die at any given moment and the drop of a hat. They'd prepared themselves for such and would accomplish this. The conflict between families would end _today_.

While Kol and Kyleia mostly kept Ben from pushing them towards the lava lake area of the room by driving the duel first to the room's far right and then down the horizontal stairs, Drake was successful at driving his duelists not only towards the lake, but over top the walkway arch to its other side. There, Allana and Lumiya were able to contain him somewhat in not driving them back across the walkway.

As for Baynetta, Troy, and Arica; there's had to be the most ferocious one present.

Starting at the throne, it soon back tracked down the stairs, but not all the way. Mother and son were able to match Baynetta's strength in pushing them down the stairs to driving her up. From there, the dance of blades took a turn to the right around the holoprojector and each holder was able to glimpse the current stage of the overhead battle. It still seemed pretty level, but whose to say how long that would last?

Diverting these thoughts from the matter of a GA or Imperial victory or defeat in space, Troy and Arica began to drive Baynetta towards the left side of the walkway-free lava lake in an attempt to kick her within the scorching contents. But Baynetta was smarter than that and foiled the assays, opting instead to jump atop the walkway, urging Troy and Arica to continue after her on its narrow stretch. This they did, repeating the procedure from earlier of perpetual Force-calling to stay level atop it. Baynetta did the same and the clash of blades continued.

Then, abruptly, Baynetta deactivated her lightsaber for another somersault that knocked Troy's blade from his grasp and over into the lava lake. This was followed by a slide kick on the walkway floor, which made Troy fall back into his mother's waiting arms. Yet he didn't lose his balance completely and was back up on his feet in no time, lightwhip activated and swinging to encircle Baynetta in its laser coils. The attack was thwarted, however, by a wave of Force which the Empress placed around herself and then projected at the mother-son duo. It was ducked by Troy, but knocked Arica off her feet. Yet not so much that she lost her lightsaber, as was intended. Though what happened next, Troy would remember for the rest of his days.

Arica had landed front forward on the walkway floor, lightsaber safely held in the right hand. However, she was then flipping over top Troy and landed smack dab atop Baynetta, left hand crushing the windpipe of the Empress' throat; right at the ready beside herself, the orange blade at an arch.

Baynetta lifted her legs and used her booted feet to encircle around Arica's own neck and throw her back. She was successful, but not so much as might have been hoped, for Arica was still atop her middle section but on her back.

Swinging forward, lightsaber still in hand but in both now, Arica made the deathblow atop her enemy, only to be thrown back with such a wave of Force it was nearly impossible for her to gain control over herself once more, yet she did and swiftly landed just on the southern edge of the lava walkway and a few meters away from the Drake and Allana/Lumiya duel. Giving no attention to this, Arica ran to rejoin the fight and Baynetta took that moment to make a sudden move in conflict with Troy. Somersaulting to a stand, Baynetta Force-grabbed Troy's lightwhip from him as though there was nothing to it, surprising him greatly, and swung it around where he was standing, only he wasn't there when the coils made to lick around his skin. He ducked in time, enabling Arica to catch onto them via her lightsaber.

A tug of war followed between the two females when Baynetta abruptly pulled back and swung forward again. Troy rose and made to counter the attack with a newly ignited lightdagger, but Arica, foreseeing that this would end disastrously because of the blade's shortness in length, pulled him back to be struck full force with the lightwhip to the chest, resulting in her fall off the walkway and into the lava lake below.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The ultimate pain and anguish. That's what Troy felt.

Ignoring Baynetta, and not caring how foolish what he was about to do was, Troy reached down into the lava and pulled Arica out a second after being submerged in its depths.

He knew it was too late even then, notwithstanding his attempts to restore her via the Force. It'd done it's damage. She was gone. Yet despite this, her life force lived on, if even so faintly, and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes, her beautiful face utterly scorched, flowing blonde hair practically gone. This was a gesture he was soon returning as he gazed down at her. His hands, arms, and other parts of his body were burning as he held his mother's dying form, but the emotional pain overdid the physical and he was crying in agony as he held the woman that meant the most to him in the entire galaxy.

Meanwhile, Baynetta chose to take this time of mourning as a distraction.

Backflipping away from Troy and off the walkway, the Empress came upon Ben with Kol and Kyleia and reached out with the Force. Instantly, her twin grandchildren's lightsabers deactivated and flew from their hands into Baynetta's, and from there into the lava lake. Then, their flow from the Force vanished and after the activation of her own blade, with two swift sweeps, Kol and Kyleia's hair was grazed from their heads, barely missing their skulls and brains.

Seeing this from afar, in the duel with Drake, Allana expediently upped her fighting precision against the Executor and urged Lumiya to do the same via telepathy. She did so also. So much, in fact, that Drake was being overwhelmed, enabling Allana to pierce a side rib that was previously damaged years ago during a duel he had with Troy and Gabriella. Yet before she could do anymore damage, she was being thrown back and landed just shy of the lava lake, though part of her hair was singed. Wasting no time for Drake to recover himself fully, Allana leapt from the floor and ordered Lumiya to help Kol and Kyleia. She, on the other hand, rushed to Troy and Arica's side.

No words could describe what Allana felt as she gazed down at another grandaunt in the state of near-death. Her eyes flooded with tears, and she too did not care about the physical pain that came with reaching out to hold Arica.

Arica had just enough energy left to reach out and stroke both of their faces with what was left of her fingertips and give them a soft smile before surrendering her spirit to the Force and falling into the state of death in their arms.

The waterworks increased even more from the both of them as they came to realize Arica's death. And suddenly they came to see they couldn't do this anymore. It was ending today, just not the way they thought it would.

Collecting Arica fully into his arms, Troy leapt up with Allana from the lava lake walkway with Drake hot on their tails.

Lumiya, whom was trying without much success to help Kol and Kyleia for Troy and Allana's benefit, ceased her fight with Ben and Baynetta at the feel of Troy and Allana running behind her and immobilized them both and also Drake to assure their safe escape, only Kol and Kyleia were already gone. Captured by some of Baynetta's forces, which were assigned to get in and out without being seen too much and leave immediately after. The two were already long gone. That left the three of them to escape the castle, to _Knight Crawler_, and off-world alone.


	145. Abandonment

Author's Note: Not that long of a chapter. But necessary of course.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Captain of the Port Side: Welcome to the story. I'm glad you like it. As for the deaths, there's only one more in the first half (and in this chapter as a matter of fact). I guess I can understand what you mean by the abrupt deaths to some extent, though I sometimes find long drawn out deaths and the lead up to them to be slightly overrated, and in some instances corny. But I thought Arica's death was quite well done actually. At least the way I envisioned it in my mind. I guess to some things don't seem as good to other people as they do to the author. But that's okay. As long as you're enjoying the story is all that matters.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 23: Abandonment

Troy was in the utmost dolor and suffering. His mother, best friend, and person he cared for the most was gone.

First Gabriella, then Jaina, and now this. It was just too much.

At Gabriella and Jaina's deaths, he'd had his mother to comfort and support him. But now that she was gone, he had no one, save Allana maybe.

In his mind, Arica Grievous-Skywalker was an unbeatable warrior, and yet she'd fallen. Troy had always known that some day he'd have to part ways with the one whom meant everything to him, but not now. Not in the middle of a war. Not when he still needed her. He now understood how she must've felt at Baynetta's own uprising.

The conflicting emotions.

The need to be alone.

The having of no one to turn to.

This was how he felt right now, and from this he made his decision. He'd had enough of it. All of it. The war, the perpetual death, and the never ending chaos. He'd had enough, was leaving, and taking Allana with him away from all this. No longer did he want either of the two of them to have any part of Corellia's war against the Empire. Enough was enough.

It was mere minutes after their escape from Mustafar, and currently _Knight Crawler_ was hiding in a nearby asteroid field. Troy had made the jump to lightspeed upon exiting the system, but soon halted this to stink his head in his hands and contemplate their next move. Soon after, he left the cockpit to retire in the lodge, where he collapsed onto one of the couches to think.

It was then that he made the decision to leave the known galaxy for the Unknown Regions and exile once more.

First Allana, then Lumiya followed him in the lodge. And while the younger of the two joined him on the couch to both offer and receive more comfort, Lumiya stayed a short distance off observing them from her triangular headdress and beady green eyes. Troy allowed Allana to wrap herself in his arms and gently held her, his second cousin, and all he had left. He couldn't lose her. He wouldn't. He needed to keep her safe, and to do that they needed to be far away from their present position.

"I've made a decision Lumiya," he said to his mother's former master calmly, without a trace of hesitation. "I've decided for Allana and myself to leave for exile once more."

Though slightly startled, Troy didn't sense too much surprise from Allana and actually found that she was radiating relief. One glance at her tear-stained face only confirmed this.

Lumiya, on the other hand, did not appear startled but shocked and disappointed with a small trace of disgust. Her eyes narrowed as she addressed him. "You just want to give up on everything and go back to the way your life once was all because your mother died?" Her tone was exasperated. "Then her death will have been in vain. She died to save you. She knew this eventually was going to happen. It was inevitable. One day she would have to sacrifice herself for you to make the transition from Force Knight to Master. There was no other way. She knew this. It is apart of your trials. You are the Chosen One! You can not simply-"

"Silence Lumiya!" Troy's raging explosion was so powerful several decorations around the room shattered into a million pieces at his rise to a stand. "I will not be patronized by you or put up with this any longer! It's because of you my mother died! And you that we're even in this situation. I think Lacovia was right about you all along. You've merely been using us to get your revenge against Palpatine through his descendants. Well, I won't tolerate it any longer. Die Lumiya!"

With an extraordinary amount of Force, Troy reached out and slammed Lumiya into a wall of the lodge, sending a combination of Force lightning, whirlwind, choke, and the Dathomiri Insanity Attack all at once at her an instant after.

No matter how powerful Lumiya was, she was no match against this display of force and had no chance at surviving Troy's might, hence her quick, yet truly painful death. After which her deceased form crumpled to the floor in a heap.

Troy did not feel sorry for what he'd just done; on the contrary, it was rather satisfying.

While he'd always found the human/cyborg to be fairly interesting, hence her exceeding long lifespan and rule over the unknown and since eliminated Sith Empire, there was always something about her he never quite liked. Yet he was unable to place a finger on it until now.

He thought of her as a threat.

Because even though she'd pledged to help the Grievous Skywalkers in their overtaking of the Empire, what would become of her after the effect? Would she simply stand by and watch while they ruled again? Certainly not! She'd try to overthrow them herself and take the Empire as her own.

Had his mother seen this? Had it been her intention to eliminate Lumiya once their overtaking was a success? She never really was one to voice the after effect of the goal. Had it been because she somehow knew she wouldn't be around to see it? Or was it because she didn't want to set her mind on something that had yet to occur to avoid disappointment?

He didn't know and never would, and that's what made it so painful.

Troy felt Allana come up behind him and slip an arm around his neck. His posture softened at the touch and he turned to look at her with a smile. It was returned. No words needed to be said between them. Both knew Lumiya's death was something that had to be done. No further use of her was had anyway.

"Troy." He returned his gaze to Allana from Lumiya. "We're gonna be okay."

"I know we will Allana," he said softly. "But we're going to be, a long way from here..."

Lumiya's body was disposed of in an escape pod that _Knight Crawler_ dumped off in the asteroid field near Mustafar and then shot it out of the sky with cannon fire just to be safe. From there _Knight Crawler_, under the controls of Troy and Allana, turned back the way it came from Mustafar and traveled deeper into the Outer Rim until they left the known galaxy altogether for exile once more, abandoning the Galactic Alliance in the process. Though neither cared. Both had had enough loss and war to last an umpteenth amount of lifetimes.


	146. Hostility

Author's Note: Hey! Since I got a lot of reviews I decided to update earlier than intended. Though being as I won't be on my PC later on tonight because of High School Musical 2 (I can't wait!), I probably would've done so anyway.

MissNaye: That's one way of looking at it.

Jedi Master Sabbath: Sorry you miss the Jedi. But this is mostly about the Sith and crossovers between the two after all.

G-Anakin 13: The twins were captured in the chapter prior to the last while everyone's attention was on Arica's death. I can assure you they weren't left behind intentionally.

Twisterblake: Thanks. Keep reading to find out.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 24: Hostility

The Battle of Mustafar did not end with the Grievous-Skywalker's shocking departure. Nor with the Empire's overwhelming dominance over GA forces, which were much greater than the underdog's. Not even the extirpation of Sun Crusher, done by Star Killer, could bring this vicious firefight to a head.

Rather than give into their defeat, the Galactic Alliance continued to fight on anyway, refusing to be taken back to the bondage that was the Empire. And the Empire just kept coming. Not only then, but for years to come.

The Corellian, or GA-Empire War, as it now was, endured until early-mid 41 IE with planets and systems being extinguished left and right almost as much as people. Imperial might was strong, but the GA was also. Several of the superweapons Baynetta once spoke of possessing, Omega Frost and Eye of Palpatine in particular, where found out by GA forces early in the war's second year (40 IE) and one was even acquired by them to use in combat against their enemies: Darksaber.

The cylindrical space frame built around a super laser similar to one mounted on the Death Stars was essential yet powerful, but in GA hands, doomed to failure from the start. Their first and only use of it against the Empire ended in semi-disaster. _Semi _to the extent that some good came of it. At the exact same moment, in the Battle of Kalist VI, Darksaber and Star Killer fired at one another, resulting in both their destructions and a great many armada ships nearby on both sides.

An indefinite number of battles were fought; some wins for the still growing Galactic Alliance, others for the still strong Galactic Empire. Both were determined to win nonetheless, despite the odds. Yet come the war's end in 41.4 IE, there was only room for one victor. And that victor was the Galactic Empire.

Just prior to this, the Empress and her troops swept across the galaxy eliminating GA forces so much that soon the Galactic Alliance were the ones being overwhelmed perpetually instead of the other way around. And on top of that, numerous mutinies had been occurring within the Galactic Alliance government for as long as the conflict lasted.

First came Thrackan Sal-Solo's hiring of an assassin to take out President Aidel Saxan; then Chief of State Madeline Donner's single-handed shooting of Sal-Solo; followed by Chief of State Greggory Socona's blackmailing of Donner to place himself in office and her in prison; followed by Donner's prison break and murder of Socona; then her own kill by another power-seeker, and on and on it went.

If the government's top officials weren't being terminated by each other, they were being so by the Empire, and it seemed that without anyone to lead them, though others quickly stepped up to the plate, the Corellian-formed alliance didn't have a leg to stand on and fell apart more and more. So much that there was soon no longer an alliance to fight against. Baynetta retook her seat as Supreme Ruler of the Galactic Empire and the Galaxy, with its new capital being Corulag in the Corulus system, Bormea Sector, and Galactic Core. The world, with a terrain of urban sprawls, oceans, plains, and underdeveloped areas filled with Bamboo Forests, boasted a 15+ billion population, some of the Core region's most prestigious universities (Corulag Academy, Corulag University of Economics, and Dammon University to name a few) and three massive cities (Curamelle (the capital), Tasjon, and Crullov City) that were so like Coruscant's own Galactic/Imperial City-spanning metropolis it was incredible.

Following the war's end, what was left of the Corellia system – Drall, Selonia, and Corellia itself minus Coronet – was made extinct via orbital bombardments. Estimated deaths listed for the war's entirety ranked in the high quadrillions, or roughly 500 planets with a population of either millions or billions each. Now more than ever did it seem clear that Baynetta would forever rule the galaxy with an iron fist. The Empire had proved its might one of multiple times since its founding over forty years before. And it seemed that nothing anyone did could bring it to an end. The galaxy entered even darker times succeeding the GA-Empire War and the Empress couldn't be more pleased. Perhaps, finally, she could rule without having to deal with the every few year uprising.

On more of a personal note, the GA-Empire War brought much develop and establishment to Empress' Hand Ben Skywalker as an accomplished warrior. Exceedingly, Ben continued to grow as a Force adept at a disturbing rate which put him almost on the same level as Drake in power by his fifteenth birthday. He was succeeding so much, in fact, that Baynetta was revisiting her thoughts of him being a possible threat against her. However, she did not cease his training, willing to take the chance of the threat factor. She only hoped she didn't regret her decision later. But then, she was sure if the matter turned into something to be dealt with, she could handle whatever the boy threw at her.

As for her other two grandchildren, Natchios and Narcissa, or Kol and Kyleia as they now called themselves, following their capture, the two were forced back into Baynetta's service through torture that brought them near-death, though not all the way, as the pair was still useful. Baynetta made sure to give them hell, but she never once took, or even considered taking, the Force from them or discouraged its use. While she and Drake mostly participated in the twins' torture sessions alone, Ben also played a role in them to the extent of using all the pain Natchios and Narcissa had caused him over the years as a weapon now.

Their tolerance level only went so far, and eventually Kol and Kyleia were reaching past the breaking point, to the length of wanting death and assaying suicide attempts. Neither was given to them however, due to Baynetta's resistance. Nevertheless, both promised themselves to break free of their grandmother's jurisdiction, rather it be through their own death, hers, or another means that had yet to come to them. They would break free of Baynetta once and for all, and hopefully be able to reunite with Troy and Allana again to continue in fighting against the self-proclaimed Empress and her empire.

Justice would eventually have to be served.

* * *

Author's Note #2: And so ends Part I: Betrayal of Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil. Up next is Part II: Alliance, which features 23 chapters and introduces many a things, including the Yuuzhan Vong. 


	147. Discovery

Author's Note: Here we are at the start of the second half of this episode: Alliance. And though the title may not be understood as of the present, come three chapters in you'll know and may be startled by the happenings. As always, enjoy! It commences with quite the bang.

G-Anakin 13: Ha ha! That's true. HSM2 was fabulous by the way. Did you remember to see it? If not encores air tonight and tomorrow.

Jedi Master Sabbath: I assure you it will be.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Part II: Alliance

**Dramatis Personae**

Allana Djo; Dathomir Witch, Force Apprentice (Human female)

Baynetta; Empress of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lady of the Sith (Human female)

Ben Skywalker; Empress' Hand, Sith Apprentice (Human male)

Drake Palpatine; Executor, Sith Knight (Human male)

Kol Skywalker Grievous; Ex-Empress' Hand Apprentice (Human male)

Kyleia Skywalker Grievous; Ex-Empress Hand Apprentice (Human female)

Myri Antilles; (Human female)

Nas Choka; Supreme Commander of the Yuuzhan Vong Fleet (Yuuzhan Vong male)

Nom Anor; Yuuzhan Vong agent (Yuuzhan Vong male)

Shimrra Jamaane; Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong (Yuuzhan Vong male)

Syal Antilles; (Human female)

Tsavong Lah; Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong (Yuuzhan Vong male)

Troy Grievous Skywalker; Ex-Third Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, Force Master (Human male)

* * *

Chapter 25: Discovery

Year 41.4 Imperial Era (IE)

"_He will be drawn out of peace into conflict"_

-Foretold in the Prophecy of the Sith

Grief and the duration of space.

One would think these two things had nothing in common. And yet to Troy Grievous Skywalker's perspective, they did. Very much. Both were limitless, and because of this cruel in the sense of being never ending and eternal.

For an extraordinary amount of time did Troy, 35, grieve the loss of his mother, Arica Grievous-Skywalker, with second cousin Allana Djo, 18. It'd been twenty-one months ago as of the present, yet at times it still seemed as though it'd happened only yesterday. Notwithstanding that, the lives of Troy and Allana had changed drastically since their escape from the known galaxy as toiled souls of anguish during the Corellian/GA-Empire War in 39.7 IE. Presently, in 41.4 IE, the cousin duo resided in the Chiss Ascendancy, a portion of the Galaxy deep inside the Unknown Regions that was ruled by the Chiss, a tall blue-skinned, Near-Human civilization of xenophobic, superior, and isolationist nature. In its ice-girt homeworld and political capital, Csaplar, Csilla.

What led them here were Troy's wondering of ally Wedge Antilles' sister's family, whom resided in the Unknown Regions. When Allana, alongside cousins Kol and Kyleia, escorted Antilles' two daughters, Syal and Myri, to the Fels nearly two years ago and came back after a week in their company, she never once said where exactly the ex-Corellian family lived, only that it was deep inside the Unknown Regions. It turned out she's been sworn to remain silent on the matter, for the assurance that Syal and Myri's hiding wasn't in vain. However, Troy was able to get it out of Allana for curiosity's sake, though much hesitation was affronted against, she finally told him at the sly remark, "What, is there an entire society of galaxy people out there no one knows about? And if they did, it would cause problems in the known galaxy?"

That, it turns out, was exactly the case. Yet it seemed that while the late Emperor Palpatine had known of this ascendancy, the Chiss was something he took to the grave without mention to anyone, yet most especially his daughter, the Galactic Empire's Empress of fifteen years, Baynetta. Though how precisely he discovered the existence of the humanoid species was another story by itself, however an interesting one at that.

In 8 NRE, close to a decade prior to Imperial birth, an expeditionary project called Outbound Flight was sent beyond the borders of the New Galactic Republic and into the Unknown Regions, where it was hoped to pierce the edge of the galaxy and seek out extragalactic life.

This project had been the brainchild of famed Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, whom desired to discover other Force sensitive species. His efforts were blocked by New Republic bureaucracy, until C'baoth thwarted an assassination attempt and gained the Senate support he needed. The attempt, however, had been secretly engineered by Darth Sidious, and though it failed (the Sith Lord's intent all along), Sidious saw an opportunity in the project to slay several powerful Jedi. Though this wasn't his sole reason for wanting the project to go ahead, only to then fail. He was fearful of what the project would uncover; memories of the vanishing Sith during its Imperial reign over the galaxy coming back to mind. He believed something was out there. Some extragalactic species, that through the expedition, could learn many secrets about known galaxy society which could end up being its undoing. And so eventually, Darth Sidious, under the shroud of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, approved Measure 4213.0410, allowing the project to go ahead.

At Outbound Flight's (a mobile space station composed of a central fuselage surrounded by 6 Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers designated through D-Six, and contained 6 Jedi Masters, 12 Jedi Knights, and 50,000 men, women, and children) departure from Yaga Minor in the Outer Rim, Palpatine detached a Trade Federation task force of fifteen of its most modern warships to destroy the mission. The interception force, however, accidentally encountered the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet (CEDF), which patrolled the Chiss borders, although segments were known to combat forces beyond the realm in times of dire need. There, the Supreme Chancellor's servant, Kinman Doriana, convinced its leader, Mitth'raw'nuruodo (or Thrawn as those close to him referred), to aide in the destruction of the project.

Mitth'raw'nuruodo knew just as Sidious that if Outbound Flight made it out of the Galaxy it would be intercepted by and give away vital secrets to the Far-Outsiders, therefore being a threat to the Chiss Ascendancy – and the galaxy. To stop this, Mitth'raw'nuruodo began placing Doriana's droid starfighters on his base at Crustai in preparation to stop the Flight.

Meanwhile, Thrawn's "prisoner" Jorj Car'das, a captured Corellian smuggler whom stumbled upon the CEDF and was taken captive with others, formed a brilliant scheme by getting the Vagaari, a nomadic and deadly enemy of the Chiss, to attack them so Thrawn would be able to destroy their fleet.

However, Outbound Flight arrived a few minutes before the aliens. When negotiations failed between the Chiss and Outbound Flight, the Chiss attacked and killed all the Jedi except Jorus C'baoth and former Padawan Lorana Jinzler. In a fir of rage, C'baoth fell to the dark side and Force choked the Chiss Commander. Kinman Doriana, panicking, diverted the starfighters from the Vagaari and sent them smashing into the ship, opening it to space. Special radiation bombs, which Thrawn had intended for use against the Vagaari, then detonated themselves inside each Dreadnaught of Outbound Flight.

Only Lorana and 57 colonists managed to escape. Lorana, along with Thrawn's brother Thrass, sent the ship into lightspeed and crashed it on an unaccounted for planet. The 57 survivors, separated from Lorana and Thrass, left their Dreadnaught and Lorana and Thrass were killed due to Dreadnaught placement and navigation difficulties. Yet their sacrifice allowed the other 57 to survive on the unknown world.

Had the Outbound Flight been successful, Galaxy inhabitants could have had an early warning of a number of hostile species. Yet they'd know soon enough, as Troy and Allana were perpetually told by the Chiss.

It was only recently, early 40 IE to be exact, that the remains of Outbound Flight and its support ships were discovered. Through a combination of Chiss explorers and Troy and Allana themselves. On a remote planetoid within a star cluster known as The Redoubt, the survivors of the project had founded a meager, self-sufficient colony.

The Redoubt, it turned out, was a remote star cluster in Chiss space which contained at least 10 habitable planets and hundreds of stars. Discovered over 200 years prior to the present and claimed by the CEDF, the cluster was to be used as the site of a last stand, in the event that Chiss space was overrun by a foreign invader. Nonetheless, exploration of The Redoubt by the Chiss only began in earnest the year of Outbound Flight's ill fate.

The Redoubt contained high radiation levels and the close proximity of stars to each other made navigation difficult. There were only a few safe routes into the cluster, and they were all guarded by Chiss fortifications to prevent foreign intrusion. Or so was thought. Troy and Allana, however, in the elder's sleek and as black as night star cruiser, _Knight Crawler_, found another passageway into the Redoubt, which ultimately led to their part discovery of the Outbound Flight remains and falling in with the Chiss.

So how exactly did this happen? The tale is as interesting as the latter concerning Outbound Flight, Palpatine, and his knowledge of the Chiss.

Following the Grievous-Skywalker duo's leave of known space, for a time they simply drifted. For how long exactly wasn't known, but it was a little under a year. During this time, the still mourning thirty-something Troy and teenage Allana developed an extreme bond of closeness unlike any other. The two leaned on each other profoundly to get through their grief and became the replacement best friend to one another that they once held before capture or death.

Eventually, _Knight Crawler_ began coming across undiscovered Unknown Regions worlds out of the blue and through the explorations Troy and Allana came to do of each, they began to reacquire their old adventurous/action-filled selves, little by little leaving behind the sorrow that had since ceased gripping their lives from its start.

One of these explorations included Allana's telling Troy of the Chiss and their intention to visit the ascendancy. However, Allana got the coordinates to Chiss space mixed up, which led them to the unknown, unguarded route into the Redoubt, where they stumbled upon the planetoid that held the remains of the doomed Outbound Flight mission.

Remarkably enough, notwithstanding that their connection with the Force did not waver sans their nearly-healed anguish, Troy and Allana did not pick up on being trailed to the planetoid by a group of Chiss explorers until some of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet arrived to take them prisoner.

Knowing a little about the Chiss from past experience, Allana urged Troy to civilly accept their capture and let one of the fleet ships haul _Knight Crawler_ onto it without resistance. He agreed, seeing this as the best option in their predicament. They were foreigners after all, trespassing into a domain that didn't concern them.

On the fleet ship _Saber_ were they taken prisoner fully, and despite being recognized from a year previous as one of the three which had brought the child Fel relatives to their region of space upon invitation, that didn't excuse she and Troy from being here now, nor explain why they were to begin with. Allana requested of the Commander that they be taken to the Chiss capital, Csilla, and be presented before the Ruling Families at House Palace. There, she and Troy would explain everything.

Not even attempting to hide his continued suspicion, the Commander, upon their cooperative manner, which included surrendering themselves and their weapons quietly and without fight, and allowing troops to raid their ship without question, sent word ahead to the Ruling Families Council about the Outbound Flight remains and intruders which led them to the remote planetoid.

Troy and Allana, the intruders, were demanded to be brought before them, the Ruling Families Council, at once, while a squadron of ships was to remain behind to investigate what was left of the near-half century ago Outbound Flight project. These orders were carried out and soon Troy and Allana, after enduring the journey in a cell block, were being escorted to the immensely elegant House Palace in Csaplar, Csilla.

The city and planet, both capitals of the Chiss Ascendancy, were just as Allana had remembered them a year before. Cold landmasses of glaciers, snowy wastes, and ice – the result of a locked in ice age – located deep in Chiss space.

Inside House Palace, the duo and their escorts were greeted by the Chiss Ascendancy's Head of State – Four Aristocras whom singularly headed one of the 4 Ruling Families; the 4 Ruling Families themselves – House Csaplar (the most important and obviously named after the capital city or visa versa), House Nuruodo, House Sabosen, and House Inrokini; and a cabinet of 28 governors that each represented the 28 colonies the Chiss Ascendancy was made up of.

At this point, it should be explained how exactly the Chiss Ascendancy governmental system worked:

The Chiss were governed by an oligarchy of extended Ruling Families from House Palace in the capital, Csaplar. Each clan with the families was headed by leaders known as Aristocras, who wore particular colors to indicate their clan and family loyalties. Standard and day-to-day decisions were made by a democratically elected parliamentary body from each of the 28 colonies in Chiss space. Issues were siphoned up through the parliament to a cabinet of appointed governors, and then to the Ruling Families, where a decision was made by the parliament and/or cabinet could be approved for action.

Each of the extended Ruling Families was responsible for a set of government affairs to manage:

House Sabosen – social issues such as justice, health, and education; House Inrokini – industry and science; House Csaplar – colonial affairs, agriculture and redistribution of resources; and House Nuruodo – military and foreign affairs. The Csaplar's redistribution of resources amongst the Chiss Colonies and Csilla was particularly important, given the collectivist socialist economic system of the Chiss, and led to their relative position at the head of the families, with the other acting in an advisory role. House Nuruodo would be ranked as second, considering the importance of warfare in Chiss society.

Each family was equally represented in the Chiss government, although they went to great lengths to ensure that family identity was eliminated wherever possible. The leaders of the Chiss did not use names, but instead wore colorful robes to distinguish themselves. This helped ensure that decisions were reached in a fair and equitable method. Although the four extended families were not known to face power struggles, lesser clans often vied for greater authority and power, such as House Chaf, which was considered the fifth ruling family.

After introducing themselves fully, Troy and Allana, as promised, launched into the tale and explained everything. During which, former Imperial operative until retirement at age 32 in 22 IE and since named Baron out of nobility, Soontir Fel (presently a man of his early fifties and distinguished with black but graying hair and piercing brown eyes) arrived – he was called for a reason he "couldn't be told via comline" – to the great surprise but pleasure at seeing Allana again and being reintroduced to Troy (the last time Fel had seen the ex-Prince was when he was in his mid-teens).

Upon fully registering them being in Chiss space, however, far from the known galaxy, Soontir feared the worst. "Corellia failed then?"

Troy answered. "Not yet. But it's only a matter of time."

"And Wedge and Iella," he pressed, "are they..."

"We don't know," Allana said. "They were fine when we left. But that was a year ago, so..."

Troy and Allana resumed their explaining, and it turned out that the reason for Soontir's presence was to vouch for the two in the sense that they were trustworthy, true to their word, and not here to cause trouble. To which he did and was requested to recount his dealings with the Grievous-Skywalkers in the past, under them in Imperial rule.

"I have nothing but excellence to say about the family...It's a real shame Baynetta couldn't have been killed earlier to prevent this madness..."

Much else was also said, but the important thing was Troy and Allana were eventually cleared and given refuge in Chiss space. Yet only under the pretense that if they were found out amongst them, the duo would be front and center in leading the attack against their foes. This was agreed upon and the Grievous Skywalker cousins were then taken to House Fel, where they either met or were reunited with the large clan. Besides Soontir, of course, there was his wife Syal, formerly the holodrama actress Wynssa Starflare, with whom Troy had co-starred with several times as a child/teen holostar himself. And yes, the Starflare stage name was after Troy's own maternal grandmother (Velásquez Starflare) and her three older sisters' (Valarie, Valencia, and Vanessa) Starflare Sister Act of the late New Republic Era.

In addition, there were the officially 5, unofficially 6 Fel children – Davin, Born 21 IE; Chak, Born 18 IE, though adopted by the Fels mid-21 IE; Jagged, Born 22 IE; Cherith, Born 25 IE; Cem, Born 27 IE and a shadow child kept in the seclusion of House Fel, his identity known by no one except the family and those whom they wished to know of it; and Wynssa, Born 30 IE and obviously the namesake of mother's stage name – Soontir's younger brother by four years, Todr, his wife, Ajai, and their son, Fyric, Born 16 IE. And also there were the still-safe Antilles sisters, Syal (Born 26 IE) and Myri (Born 28 IE).

From there Troy and Allana began residing until they found a home of their own not far away sometime after.

Eventually, _Knight Crawler _was returned to them and the two were allowed to go back to Outbound Flight's remains and explore more with the rest of the Chiss already assigned to the task. Csaplar's (the city's) Expeditionary Library – a huge, underground library maned by the CEDF – soon became a resident hangout of the pair, as they used its vast knowledge on virtually every planet, moon, and star system ever encountered by the Chiss to learn more about the culture that actually only turned out to be close biological cousins to the Human race. What was unusual about the library, however, was not so much that it was underneath Csilla's terrain of ice, but that every volume in its interior was handwritten, in an attempt to preserve them from sudden ice storms.

The twosome took the time, after permission was granted that is, to visit every colony and world in Chiss space to learn even more about not only the Chiss, but their region of space as well. And eventually, after some months of residing therein, Troy and Allana began to be looked at as friends and were warmed up to considerably by the inhabitants over. The Ruling Families in particular took special interest in their latest immigrates. So much, in fact, that they let them in on a little secret concerning the reason Outbound Flight was a dangerous project since conception and how a similar expedition some years in the past following the Alien War's end was about to spell certain doom for everyone.

It was then, at the dawn of 41 IE, that Troy and Allana learned of the alien race termed as the "Far-Outsiders" by the Chiss and their intent to invade the known galaxy with a force of non-human allies, banished from the Empire, who wanted revenge against the crown for wiping out myriad amounts of their species' in the nearly 40 years ago war. Their ultimate goal was an equally impressive challenge – taking down the Empire and the extermination of the Human race once and for all.

The last thing either of the two wanted to hear was that yet another war, but this an intergalactic one, was imminent. They'd left the known galaxy to escape war, and the fact that another, but worse, could rack the entire galaxy – known or unknown – at any given time did not bode well with Troy and Allana. Nonetheless, they heard the Ruling Families out in what they had to say concerning how they, the Chiss, intended to counteract any attacks the aliens made.

Not only had the Chiss infiltrated the Far-Outsiders' numbers with several of their own to pose as a close breed between Neimoidians and Duros, but the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, Colonial Phalanxes, and Chiss Navy were all on red alert and had been for almost two years, though secretly. The Ruling Families and the rest of the government had more than enough confidence in their ascendancy to thwart whatever the Far-Outsiders and their exiled non-Human allies threw at them; a confidence that would ultimately become their undoing.

It was in 41.4 IE that this occurred. The infiltrated Chiss among enemy aliens were found out, tortured for information, and then killed. Immediately after, and also at the present, war was thrown upon the Chiss Ascendancy with Troy, Allana and the Fels in the center of it all.

The Far-Outsiders entered and overtook Chiss space with such a force that wasn't even thought possible. Their assault went on endlessly for weeks nonstop with the number of casualties and carnage growing from moderate to heavy in no time flat.

Among these sites of attack was Csilla itself. The rampaging aliens took their slaughtering to the streets and via air, exploding buildings left and right; causing glaciers to melt, thus drowning victims in its frigid waters; and many other forms of gruesomeness which are too horrible to put into words.

Despite the Chiss' many on-world defenses, most of them were fought down, resulting in the extirpations of such places as House Palace, CEDF Headquarters, and soon to follow, House Fel.

For the second time in ten years, Troy was relinquishing the life of exile for war. Once more were he and Allana taking up their lightsabers, but ones of whom belonged to those close to them in the predecessor war, in which they fought and watched them die in, the Corellian/GA-Empire War, to fight.

The orange Dantooine crystal bladed lightsaber which originally belonged to Antellica Grievous and then her twin Arica following her death was the sword Troy wielded in memorial to them both, though preferably the latter.

The uniquely designed rainbow blade that's colors changed in its crystal spectrum and was constructed by the hands of one Gabriella Grievous Skywalker was the sword Allana took to wielding; her own emerald blade becoming a secondary of sorts.

And while Troy mainly took on his mother's blade since losing his own on Mustafar, Allana's reason for taking up a relic lightsaber was as much for memorial as it was for a personal matter. The emerald blade she constructed at 13 was no longer in her possession, but a gift to a friend, make that love interest, Jagged Fel.

Previously learning about him from his uncle Wedge Antilles during Corellia's insurrection against the Empire close to two years ago, Allana had met Jagged, or Jag he liked to be called, soon after in her escort of his cousins to Chiss space with cousins of her own, Kol and Kyleia. The attraction was there when they met, and a lot of the week period she and the twins spent with the Fels was with her and Jag racing each other in starfighters to see who was the better pilot. It was mostly a draw, however competitive they were, and that competitiveness soon became more. The teenagers, then 16 and 17, found themselves spending time together just for the sake of it, and on the eve of Allana's leave of Chiss space for Corellia again and the war, Jag gave the Dathomiri beauty her first kiss and promised to visit her in known space once the war was over. Yet that never happened. Instead, she came to him, and upon their reunion a year ago, they both fell into each other's arms, kissed lasciviously and spent the night together.

In the beginning, both agreed upon keeping their relationship under wraps until the time was right. Yet the close bond Allana and Troy had formed wouldn't have let her hide this from him no matter how hard she tried. Troy was silent a week before confronting she and Jag, and despite her previous thoughts of him being disapproving, he proved her wrong by expressing actual happiness for her. Still, Allana didn't entirely feel comfortable showing off her romance with Jag oh so publicly and in front of an audience, so even though Jag's family was eventually told and also approved of the match up, their relationship was mostly kept behind closed doors.

Troy sensed part of this had to do with his loss of first love Jaina, and Allana not wanting to make him uncomfortable or bittersweet. And she just as much confirmed this at presentation, saying despite her disdain for the ex-Empress' Hand, she truly was regretful that Troy had experienced love so wondrously for the first time, only for it to then be taken away from him so soon after. Troy urged Allana not to hide her love for his sake or any other reason, but she continued to do so anyway for the most part and Troy found he was okay with that.

Only a year into their relationship, Jag had already proposed to Allana, yet she was unsure of the fast pace. Eighteen, she felt, wasn't an old enough age to get married, even if she'd originally intended to start producing Dathomir heirs around that age. And plus, with everything that was now going on, Allana just didn't feel ready enough to promise herself to someone for life. She needed more time unattached, to grow into the woman she was to become. Thankfully, Jag understood and their relationship continued as normal.

Presently, he and brothers Davin and Chak and cousin Fyric were off leading Chiss military squadrons multiple places in the region, leaving behind the rest of the family to be defended by Troy, Allana, and the blaster-wielding Soontir, Todr, and Ajai against the Far-Outsiders and relative familiar alien forces, such as Rodians and Zeltrons.

House Fel was assaulted as many other buildings of importance were on Csilla: via land and air. The house was fired upon by heavily loaded "living" (as strange as it sounded) warships and being stormed by aliens wearing armor of such strength, it was near-impossible to cut or blast them down. Already, casualties had been suffered in the Fels with young Wynssa being shot down to the chest in front of the five defenders' very eyes; Cem soon followed from a distance; the older Syal mere minutes after...

Troy and Allana were assaying the best they could alongside Soontir, Todr, and Ajai to lead the surviving clan members – Cherith, Syal, and Myri – and themselves to the safety of an underground tunnel beneath the house, which ultimately led to a planetary escape route.

When Csilla entered its ongoing ice age approximately 5,000 Sith Empire Era (SEE), glaciers covered the normally-warm equatorial regions of the planet, while solid ice locked the poles in perpetually winter. In order to survive this, the Chiss built energy-efficient warrens beneath the ice, as close to the warmth of the inner planet as possible, with underground carriage travel routes to connect the various ground sections of Csilla. The iceways were bored through the bedrock of the planet, so that they were unaffected by the shifting ice found on its surface.

Among these travel routes was another, but only to be used in the case of emergency. Equipped with about a hundred star vessels, _Knight Crawler_ included, preprogrammed to make for the Redoubt upon ignition, Troy and Allana were far from surprised to feel throngs of Chiss headed for and already in the Ascendancy Emergency Route (AER). Only thing was, the Chiss weren't all they sensed in and making for this route. The Far-Outsiders and other aliens were there and on the way as well, continuing their violent acts of recklessness. And on top of that, they were also being trailed by a host of enemy forces. No matter how fast they ran, it seemed the aliens only came faster. And then the casualties resumed.

Todr was taken down from behind, and Troy was able to send a stream of Force lightning out at the alien in death, but not before it got another shot in. This one aimed for Ajai. The shot came true, and she was also joining her husband in the deceased. Then, when they came out of the tunnel and into the AER, it was to find that Cherith was gone. The brief distraction that came with this was all enemy forces needed to take out Soontir.

All whom remained now was Troy, Allana, and the Antilles sisters. And they moved fast to assure that it stayed this way. Running through the crossfire of bullets and cannon fire of star vehicles, the foursome made it to _Knight Crawler_ and let a few nearby Chiss aboard before powering up the ship and, under the cover of perpetual fire, fleeing the AER and sometime later Csilla.

But the battle didn't end there. Outside the Chiss capital was absolute madness with ships of all kind and sort everywhere, firing and being fired upon. In the jumble, Allana sensed all four of the remaining Fels, each aboard their own ship and commanding them at the feel of it.

Gently, she reached out and touched the deadly calm and serious presence of Jag to assure him she was alright. Allana felt relief from him, but this was soon changing to horrified alarm. And when Allana looked towards where she felt his presence – northeast of their current position, taking out enemy fighters – she was sharing this feeling. The ships in which Chak and Fyric were commanding, the ships having the most success in taking out the Far-Outsiders, were suddenly being bombarded by hundreds of new arrival enemy ships and shot out of the sky faster than ten seconds later. Then, Jag and Davin's ships began to become bombarded the same way, only Jag's was able to dive in time and Davin's swing up before any crucial damage could be brought to them.

Troy knew this was an unbeatable battle. The Chiss had known about the Far-Outsiders' coming for half a century prior to now and yet they had done nothing completely serious in stopping it from occurring. They "couldn't". And now that Troy saw them in action, he truly saw why. It was a real shame this would have to be taken to known space and the Empire for these aliens to be stomped out, but there really wasn't any other way to solve this.

Even more enemy forces were arriving by the hundreds, thousands, and Chiss ships were being shot out of the sky like merely birds in the air, stroke down by stones.

Allana reached out to Jag again, with word of Troy's plan to move this to known space. And while slightly hesitant at first, another massive shot of cannon fire on his ship's hull had him ordering a retreat of what was left of his squadron to follow _Knight Crawler_ out of this sea of destruction.

Troy prepared the calculation to lightspeed while Allana piloted the ship and the Chiss whom had come with them fired on its surroundings. Syal and Myri, meanwhile, sat in shock, hovered in a corner of the cockpit out of everyone's way. Troy stopped a moment to glance at their scared faces, but didn't have time to offer any comfort now. Not in the middle of everything. Perhaps later.

At the calculation's completion, Troy gave Allana the word, which she passed onto Jag, and he to his squadron. An instant later, _Knight Crawler_ and seven Chiss ships escaped the Fall of the Chiss Ascendancy, yet were tracked back into the known galaxy and the Empire.


	148. Invasion

Author's Note: I would've posted this yesterday, only the site was having problems.

G-Anakin 13: I loved HSM2 so much I watched it again on Sunday. But what part were you disappointed by? I thought all of it was spectacular! The music, the acting, everything. But I guess everyone's different.

Albert Khachatourian: Hey! I'm glad you like the stories. That's fabulous! Now for your questions:

1) In the week period between the Battle of Corellia and the Battle of Ambria.

2) a) Part of that is explained in this chapter, though most of it is set in stone in the next. b) Certainly, at the episode's end.

3) What do you mean by 'why have I not continued the series?' I do updates every two to three days. Unless of course you're referring to the time line on my profile page. If that's what you're asking about, I guess I haven't in a while out of busyness. Though I hope to finish it by the time I through posting the episode.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 26: Invasion

41.5 Imperial Era

It'd been nearly a month since the end of the Corellian/GA-Empire War, yet the peace Imperial Empress Baynetta, 68, had expected to last during the aftermath never came, as ambushes began all across the Outer Rim in the form of massacres and slaughterings of humans only by strange, extragalactic alien forces who called themselves the Yuuzhan Vong. They were aided by other common known aliens who'd been hiding since the Alien War thirty-eight years previous. It seemed that they'd been replenishing themselves deep in the Outer Rim and planning their revenge against the Empire for decades. And at the galactic-wide news of this uprising, plenty of other non and even near-humans were also soon joining the Alien Revolution. To top this off was the brewing conflict between Expansion Region worlds Osarian and Rhommamool on the brink of war.

The confrontation between the two worlds was a result of the oppression the Rhommamoolians suffered under their richer Osarian neighbors. The two planets orbited each other, which brought them within a million kilometers of one another every twenty years, usually resulting in a flare-up of hostilities between the two. While the wealthy Osarians lived in relative luxury on white sandy beaches and crystal-clear lakes, the vast majority of Rhommamoolians lived in poverty as miners in the inhospitable desert world of Rhommamool. Life on Rhommamool was tough, with basic essentials likes water even lacking.

The Rhommamoolians were also underrepresented in the Osarian government, which ruled both worlds and suffered because of this. Though most of the miners had immigrated to Rhommamool voluntarily, a considerable amount were convicts exiled from Osarian as a result of their crimes. Osarian also had a small space fleet, though, its technology was mainly limited to the ground.

The Yuuzhan Vong agent Nom Anor took these tensions by turning it into something zealous and religious in nature. He founded the fanatical Red Knights of Life, which hated all forms of technology ranging from droids to even landspeeders. He also called for his followers to look for the "truth" in nature and the life of the universe and to resist the joining of planets in "false confederations."

The Red Knights of Life also hated the Empire and its Sith rulers. Some days ago, the Red Knights took control of the planet and went on a rampage destroying any form of technology. They would drag droids to the Square of Hopeful Redemption in the Rhommamool city Redhaven, where droids would be thrown into a large pit and bombarded with rocks until they were nothing but a pile of metal. Nom Anor formed an independent Senate group and the Red Knights of Life to push his agenda.

Anor's call for action against Osarian led the Empress to dispatch a _Palpatine_-class Star Destroyer, the _Eradicator_, to keep the peace with Imperial Executor Drake Palpatine, 37, aboard to take vigilante action against whichever side showed aggression. The Osarian leader, Shunta Osarian Dhatrg, hired a Captain Grappa and his Osarian First-Force to help defend the world.

Despite the arrival of Baynetta herself, along with Hand Ben Skywalker, 15, to negotiate, the situation was impossible to resolve, due in fact that Anor fully intended to use it to cause as much destruction and chaos as possible. Following the Empress' departure, whipping his followers into a holy rage, Anor arranged for the assassination of several key Rhommamool leaders and used this as justification for war against Osarian.

Conferring with other Red Knights, Nom Anor suggested a nuclear missile strike against Osarian capital Osa-Prime. However, he was opposed by the moderate Tamaktis Breetha, who feared open war between the two worlds. Unfortunately, Breetha found little support. To prevent the _Eradicator_ from intercepting the missiles and to make sure the missiles hit their targets, he and Shok Tinoktin studied the planetary courses and the positioning of the Imperial vessel.

These missiles were launched from a point where the initial explosive lift off and subsequent burn would be most difficult to detect. Having broken orbit, the missiles were shut down to make them appear as little more than insignificant specks to the crew of the _Eradicator_ and then fired again, entering Osarian's atmosphere and hitting the target: Osa-Prime. By the time _Eradicator_ and the Osarians realized it, it was already too late. The Osarians attempted to destroy the missiles by firing more missiles and sending starfighters to intercept them but to no avail, and soon Osa-Prime was in flames.

When Drake, still aboard _Eradicator_, contacted Nom Anor, the extragalactic alien took full responsibility and claimed that they were in retaliation of the assassination of several Rhommamoolian officials before cutting of contact. Later, Nom Anor and Shok Tinoktin left Rhommamool on an empty booster shell with a modified RZ-1 A-wing interceptor and nuclear fission explosives tucked inside, since they planned to detonate the shell once inside the _Eradicator_, presumably killing Nom Anor and making him a martyr for Rhommamool while they escaped on their A-wing. During this mission, they were forced to travel through a maze of starfighters and missiles. By then, large red thermonuclear blast clouds were forming over the surface of Osarian since more missiles had already been launched by Rhommamool.

Approaching _Eradicator_, the booster shell then opened line with the Star Destroyer. At the capsule's cockpit, Nom Anor placed a villip which imitated his actions, acting as a decoy while he remotely piloted the booster shell from he and his companion's A-wing. As the two were conversing, they were attacked by Osarian Z-95 Headhunters. Nom Anor then offered Drake a promise to cease fire in return that they be protected on their way to the _Eradicator_ and escorted home to Rhommamool following the discussion. Drake chose to comply only to resolve this mess quickly. When in position, the A-wing detached from the booster shell. Nom Anor and his accomplice Tinoktin escaped on their A-wing while the booster shell crashed into the Star Destroyer's lower docking bay and exploded, destroying a huge section of the lower floor of the _Eradicator,_ thus crippling it.

* * *

At the same time, on the other side of the Galaxy in the Tingel Arm, an area just inside the Outer Rim, Troy, Allana, and their Chiss allies had successfully escaped the Unknown Regions and Chiss space only to be tracked and caught up to in the Helska system and one of its seven worlds, Helska 4, a barren iceland of frozen oceans. Yet not only were _Knight Crawler _and the surviving seven Chiss warships attacked by their pursuers upon arrival in the system, but at approach to and in the intent of touching down on Helska 4, in the heat of battle, the eight ships encountered small, asteroid-like objects grouping near them. Without warning, the asteroid opened fire, having the ships' occupants realize the objects weren't asteroids at all, but a kind of starfighter analog. 

Troy, Allana, and their forces, led in part by themselves, Jag, and Davin, fought off the enemy starfighters, and were faring well until the Far-Outsiders, as they still knew them as, began using a bioengineered creature of some sort, Dovin Basals, to strip their ships of their shields. What followed was dreadful. Without their shields, the eight ships were sitting ducks and quickly being decimated, Jag and Davin included, one after the other. Of them all, only _Knight Crawler _and its Human passengers were able to escape the carnage of the Helska system alive.

* * *

Following the Battle of Osarian, Drake was joined by several navy squadrons and Ben in the Expansion Regions for the Outer Rim, where they intended to bring an end to the chaos therein. One of which being a mission to the Julevian system in the Tingel Arm and its third world Sernpidal to fend off the Yuuzhan Vong that were attempting to knock the planet's moon, Dobido, out of its space orbit on a collision course headed for Sernpidal itself. 

Upon arrival, and taking a shuttle down onto the world, Ben, the leader of this mission, sensed that whatever was pulling Dobido down was located east of Sernpidal's capital city of the same name, Sernpidal City, and rushed there to see what it was accompanied by a slew of stormtroopers.

It turned out to be a Dovin Basal of the same type that attacked Troy and Allana at Helska 4, but Ben, of course, had no way of knowing this. The Empress' Hand's assay to destroy the creature came up unsuccessful (as it was resistant to blaster fire and only made soft groans at lightsaber jabs), however at his command, several small warships were on-world bombing the Dovin Basal. Yet even at its death, that still didn't stop the pull on Dobido, because it was too late. The moon was practically upon Sernpidal, and Ben had little time to escape the world before Dobido crashed into Sernpidal, crushing the millions of Sernpidalans who weren't able to escape it time.

* * *

After Sernpidal came Dubrillion. Ben's forces trailed the Vong that were discovered hiding in the Julevian system, obviously to make sure everything went fine with Sernpidal's destruction, to another Tingel Arm system and world, Dubrillion, and battle erupted. 

Dubrillion, or the ocean world as it was also referred, had been somewhat of an important planet all during Baynetta's reign as Empress, since it housed one the Empire's few superlaser facilities. Alas, that had been destroyed during the GA-Empire War about a year prior to the present. In a mission Ben himself had led as a matter of fact, though not something he was proud of. It was in this way that Hand would "redeem himself" so to speak and have this go-rounds battle come out as a conquest and not a defeat.

Besides Dubrillion itself, another body the system contained was Destrillion, a barren planet of turbulent atmosphere and with the appearance of being brown and dirty from space. Ben used the turbulent aspect of the planet for success in throwing Vong ships off course and into each other for crashing explosions. The system's asteroid belt, Lando's Folly, also helped as Ben concentrated enough to hurl portions of it at Vong ships.

In short, the battle turned to be the Empire's first victory against the Yuuzhan Vong, to much delight of the Empress but scorn of the Vong.


	149. Alliance

Author's Note: Things really start to get interesting in this chapter, as the startling twist I mentioned earlier is revealed.

G-Anakin 13: Well I thought HSM2 was fabulous, and much better than its predecessor. But hey, that's just me.

Twisterblake: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 27: Alliance

Who thought it would ever come to this? Troy wondered as he piloted _Knight Crawler_ into the Galactic Core system of Corulus.

Destination: Imperial capital Corulag.

Yet there was no other way to go about this. Unless of course one chose exile again, and Troy had had enough of that. Besides, what with the way the Far-Outsiders were spreading across the Outer Rim, it would be nearly impossible to get into the Unknown Regions again if not through the Core. But Troy wasn't doing this either.

Why?

The way to peace was not through running from the problem, but by confronting it head on and bringing an end to it. And it was for this reason that Troy was seeking Baynetta out to aide in this crisis.

"You want to do what?!" Allana had shouted at Troy's informing her of this.

The poor girl had been heartbroken and drowning in grief since Jag's death, to which Troy helped her with the best he could, understanding fully what it was like to lose someone you cared so deeply about in love. Most of the time she accepted his comfort, but others she just wished to be alone. And again, he understood perfectly. There was only so much he could do to help her. The rest she needed to do on her own.

Presently, a week after the Battle of Helska, Allana was starting her recovery. She was getting better, not crying as much. And had even taken to comforting Syal and Myri alongside Troy in their dolor over the Fels, what had been their only surviving family by assumption. The fate of Wedge and Iella Antilles was unknown, yet at the same time could only be one of two things:

1) They were either imprisoned for their crimes against the Empire with Corellia's insurrection, or

2) They had perished in the war.

Troy and Allana had no way of knowing anything Imperial-related since 39.4 IE. They didn't know how the GA-Empire War ended, how long it lasted, or if it could still be going on as of the present. The last of which wasn't likely, however, Troy somehow got the feeling that it had ended not too long ago. What torture that must be for Baynetta then. To come to the close of one war, and then in the aftermath encounter another. It was like the Galactic Civil and Legacy of the Force Wars, only worse. Much, much worse. The reason Troy felt so strongly about coming to some type of agreement with the Empress concerning the extragalactic invasion and their part in bringing an end to it.

Together.

Side by side.

As a unit.

At least until the conflict ended that is.

"I don't believe you!" Allana exclaimed incredulously, picking up on his thoughts. He was so used to it by now, he didn't bother chastising her for it. "This is one of your jokes, isn't it Troy? A ploy to get me laughing again?" She shook her head. "You're unbelievable Troy! You do know that, don't you?"

"Allana, I'm as hesitant to want to go through with this as you are," Troy voiced, ignoring the question. "But there really isn't any other way. We're on our own now. There's no more Chiss Ascendancy, and soon no more anything if we don't act. We can't fight in this war alone."

"But Troy-"

"Allana, I know it'll be hard." He drew her close. "But I really don't see any other solution to this."

That had been yesterday. Today was the day it'd all go down. Baynetta could very much reject the aide Troy and Allana offered her and kill them outright without speech. But Troy knew the Empress. Maybe not as much as his parents and aunt had, but he knew her all the same. Because of this, he knew she'd be too pleased at the thought of being the only one left to turn to with he and Allana, and jeeringly accept them as her lapdogs. And then again, maybe not. She might have changed during the course of war, though that was highly unlikely. Nonetheless, Troy and Allana would ready themselves for anything.

What should be noted about Corulag here is despite its location in the Bormea Sector, formerly home of one Chandrila, even as far back as times of the Old and New Republic, the world always stood independently on its own, outside that of its surrounding sector – even having its own Senate Representative than that of the rest of the Bormea Sector in the New Republic; never swayed by what its fellow sector planets felt or did. And it was for this reason, it could easily be said, that Corulag alone was the only world still in existence in the Bormea Sector, while its fellow worlds like Chandrila and Brentaal IV were no more.

Corulag had remained loyal to the New Republic during the Clone Wars, and after Palpatine took over with the Empire, the planet's population was extremely loyal to him, something that followed into Skywalker's reign and then even Baynetta's. Its behavior was pointed out as model Imperial behavior, thus making the world extremely influential. And what with being the home to such prestigious Imperial universities like Corulag Academy (an Imperial military academy), headquarters of some of the most elite corporations (Aether Hypernautics; Danthe Artifice, Ltd; Gowix Computers; Gwain Spices; and the Mansom Corporation to name a few), base of where the TIE/adx7 Defender was developed at the Sienar Fleet Systems' Sienar Advanced Research Division, and center of Coreguard Security Services, it wasn't too much of a surprise, or it shouldn't have been anyway, that Corulag would be appointed the new galactic capital and center following Coruscant, Byss, and Corellia's liquidations.

It wasn't too hard to get past security onto the capital if one was superb at stealth work in the form of hiding in the shroud of a large carrier ship alongside semi-cloaking. Corulag was similar, but Troy always found more delightful, than Coruscant. Even the new vamped version that was created during the years of his childhood. It wasn't buildings on top of buildings, everywhere you look is buildings here. There were select districts for that, yet then there were also districts for natural oceans, plains, and underdeveloped lands of Bamboo Forests.

It'd been years since Troy had ever been here, Allana had never been here, and neither Syal nor Myri remembered the planet, yet Syal recalled her mother once telling she and Myri, she thought, of taking them there as infants for something or the other.

"I don't remember her telling us that," Myri rebutted from her spot in the cockpit, behind the copilot's station and Allana.

"We were little at the time," Syal said dismissively from her own spot, behind the pilot's seat and Troy. "I wouldn't expect you to remember."

Troy had to allow a small smirk. For some reason, ever since he met the sister pair, they instantly reminded him of his late younger sisters Elektra and River. He didn't know why, and it's not like they looked or acted like them. They just reminded him of the two for some reason. Perhaps one day the mystery would reveal itself, perhaps not.

Of the two, Syal was the eldest. At 15, currently, she had shoulder-length dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She was the more serious of the two, while Myri tried to make light of everything. However, at 13, the regular blonde haired and blue eyed girl was far more intelligent than any person of that age Troy had ever met before, save himself of course. Yet what was refreshing, notwithstanding Syal's seriousness and Myri's intelligence, both girls appeared and acted their age. Something Troy applauded, because it was so easy as a teenager to abruptly want to be older and so you start acting older, only to realize once you reach the age for so long you wanted to be, you missed out on being the age you once were, and so are immature.

Force sensitivity also seemed to play a role in how quickly a child matured, but then again, that wasn't entirely true. His mother and her own sister hadn't become Force sensitive until age 16 and they'd matured far beyond that at the acceptance point. Nonetheless, Troy was glad Syal and Myri weren't Force sensitive. Though because they weren't, he had no idea as to how and what would be done with them once they reached Baynetta and heard her verdict. It was probably best not to think about it until the time came. So Troy did that.

However much Troy had agreed upon joining Baynetta's ranks for the sake of peace, what that didn't mean is that he didn't want to surprise her with their presence, not having her expecting them. That probably wouldn't be too hard, being as he and Allana were probably the last people she expected to see, and at a time like this especially. Or not. Nevertheless, Troy and Allana kept their and the Antilles sisters' presences

shielded from outside Force-users. There was no way Baynetta would pick up on them until they so deemed it. Or in the rare instance that she was looking for them, and what were the odds of that right now?

Hardly unlikely.

The Empress' seat of residence and power on-world was hard to miss, located in the planetary capital's (Curamelle) center and structured in an especial fashion among other reasons. The Imperial Palace II was only similar to its predecessor in that it reached the height of three kilometers and was made of polished gray-green rock and mirrored crystals. Corulag's tallest structure, at night, was kept ablaze of illumination from the same phosphorescent panels, glowspheres, and electroluminescence strips which had kept the original Imperial Palace in a shower of blazing light despite the darkness of night.

But it was far from night at the present, about midday – 1405 Hours to be exact – and the light of Corulag's sun was shining brightly down upon the entire planet, though especially glistened and gleamed down at the two towered, one on either side of a hundred floored structure and crowned off with a throne shaped upper chamber atop the tower's construction.

Ship still cloaked, Troy and Allana piloted _Knight Crawler_ in approach to the Imperial residence slowly and without rush. Beside the crown atop the structure on either side were small docking stations for the Empress' use only. However, there was no guard or anything stationed to stop anyone else from docking there. They simply knew not to. But that's where Troy and Allana were different. They stubbornly docked _Knight Crawler _atop the right side of the crown, exited without Syal and Myri, and, presences still cloaked, bypassed the security code needed to enter the crown via the Force.

The chambers the crown contained seemed to be made up of three separate levels: Public office Headquarters, Private Quarters, and actual Throne Room. All belonging to Her Majesty, the Empress Baynetta. As to the precise location of the Supreme Ruler in question, Troy and Allana were in fortune. The entrance through which they came in led directly to the Empress' public office and was remarkably easy to get to without the need of twists, turns, and treachery.

There was a receptionist down and to the right of the gray wall and floored hall, who looked up from her paperwork at the door's vertical hiss opening. However, she saw nothing, and knew nothing of what was going on (why would the door open of its own accord?) until it was too late, and she was on the floor, out cold.

Beside the receptionist's desk laid a set of blast doors that led into the office proper. Troy retrieved and used the receptionist's key card to enter therein. The buzz of activity commencing inside between office workers and their supervisors was so great no one even noticed the blast doors open and close to allow two invisible beings within their midst.

Perfect. The invasion wisely has their minds elsewhere.

Troy and Allana proceeded about the vast, cubicle filled office, making sure not to bump into anyone (that would lead to suspicious questions) as they made their way to the approximately several hundred millimeters in length room's end and another blast door. Again, Troy whipped out the receptionist's key card and again no one noticed as he and Allana went through the doors, into another gray interior room: The inner hall, complete with secretary before Baynetta's actual audience chamber/public office.

The receptionist at this station wasn't nearly as alert as the prior; on the contrary, she appeared to be dozing off on the job. And as the duo came closer, they saw that she really was.

That wouldn't do. They needed her awake to get inside the Empress' office without causing suspicion.

Not sparing even one thought for remorse, Troy slapped the receptionist – Liannalana, he sensed was her name – hard across the face to wake her. She did so disoriented and confused, for a moment not even knowing where she was. And then it came back to her, and with it contempt. She'd been forced to stay here and work nonstop the past few days now because of the invasion without sleep and very little food. It was taking its toll on her. She mustn't let the Empress she her like this though. If so, there'd be hell to pay.

But wait a minute! Where was the Empress? Someone had slapped her awake. Surely, it was the Empress. Yet Her Highness wasn't here. No one was here. But then, who had slapped her awake? Was she dreaming?

Troy had to chuckle at Liannalana's thoughts. This caused her to jump and look all around herself and the hall. She was going crazy. All these long hours were getting to her.

With the snap of a finger, Troy uncloaked himself and Allana to the point of visibility, but still not detectable in the Force to other users. Liannalana gasped at their appearance and hurriedly reached for her on-desk holoprojector, only Troy stopped her in time by immobilizing the secretary where she sat, eliminating her ability to speak, walk, or move until he chose to return them.

"Secretary Liannalana Dreslin. Yes. I know who you are," Troy added at the thirtyish brunette woman's widened eyes. "But that's neither important, nor your concern. Myself and Allana here need you to alert the Empress of an Intelligence breakthrough that concerns the Far-Outsiders' plan of attacking the capital within the next few days. Tell her you need to come in her office to hand over the information manually and brief her on its contents. Do it now!"

At the same time, Troy released his hold on the secretary and both he and Allan pulled out laser ray guns to level at the woman in assurance she would do as they wished. She spared the two exiled royals fearful glances before taking a deep breath and doing what was commanded.

"Empress Baynetta," Secretary Dreslin said into the activated holoprojector, "I hope I'm not interrupting you, but Intelligence has just surfaced upon vital information that I think you might want to hear. It concerns an imminent attack on Corulag itself within the next few days. May I come in to give you the rest of the details?"

"Is that even a question to ask?" The remark was empty of emotion, yet one could pit malevolence in it if they wanted to bad enough. Classic Baynetta.

Dreslin recovered from the slight insult quicker than expected. Troy assumed she was used to the resiliency of the Empress by now, or maybe it was just because she wanted to get the guns that were being leveled at her off as soon as possible. Regardless of the reason, she said respectively, "Forgive me Your Highness. I will be in immediately."

The holoprojector was switched off and Liannalana was falling out of her chair at the desk due to Troy's stun shot at the secretary's head a moment after. She would be fine.

Leaving the body behind where it fell, Troy and Allana put away their guns and marched up to the blast doored entrance of Baynetta's office. Using again the receptionist's key card for a third time, the doors opened to reveal an interesting sight.

Baynetta was indeed inside, but with her back turned to the entrance and in an office which was so resemblant to that of the Supreme Chancellor's of the New Republic era, it was incredible. The same blood red carpeting and circular structure. The same vast windows and artifacts littered here and there. It truly was a clone of the office in the since destroyed Imperial Executive Building, formerly the New Republic Executive Building, on the equally destroyed Coruscant.

"I'll be with you in a moment Dreslin," Baynetta said from where she stood, her back still to them. "Massive reports are coming in from the Outer Rim at the present that need my attention currently."

So close.

He could do it.

Troy could avenge his family's many deaths.

Her back was turned.

She wouldn't know until it was too late.

But no. He wouldn't. Drake and Ben were still out there. Troy's disdain for her and her subordinates truly would have to wait.

For sometime, while Baynetta received reports from different officers in the Outer Rim concerning the worsening invasion, Troy pondered an opening line he could give the Empress. Finally, one came to him just as Baynetta said to Liannalana, unbeknown to her Troy and Allana, "Are you just going to stand at the entrance all day Dreslin, or are you going to come in and report your important development?"

"I'm amazed by how easy you are to fool Baynetta."

The Sith daughter of Sidious actually jumped and whipped around with wide eyes to face the last two people she ever expected to see again. And at a time like this at that. She was in the utmost shock. Troy Grievous Skywalker and Allana Djo had not only snuck into the Core, but on-world her capital and inside her very Palace without her being the wiser.

Something was very wrong with this scene, and she didn't hesitate to ignite her crimson bladed lightsaber to angle at the pair.

Troy, however, rose a hand defensively. A sure sign to back down. "Woah, woah there, Your Highness!" he said. "We come in peace. And if you'll just sit down a minute, we can talk."

"So now you want to talk." Baynetta studied the duo a moment and smirked.

No longer was Troy bald and out of sync with the Force, as he had been when she took it from him two years ago. It'd come back to him fully and then some. His hair of dark brown had grown back to its shoulder length, and he was actually leveling her with a sneer/smirk of his own, clearly pleased with himself for outsmarting her. Moving onto Allana, Baynetta saw a strikingly handsome girl of eighteen with waist-length red-gold hair, whom was a splendid mix of her mother and maternal grandmother (Anneliese and Antellica Grievous) before her. She also was quite gifted in the Force, and probably something of an apprentice to Troy. Her face mirrored that of her second cousin's, but with a trace of added pleasurable delight.

Baynetta let another moment pass before deactivating her lightsaber and waving the pair towards the couch in front of her desk. Whom she'd been speaking to over the desk holoprojector was Drake, still in the Tingel Arm with Ben and many other forces in an attempt to drive the Yuuzhan Vong back from whence they came in the Unknown Regions. Alas, they were having little success.

Being as he was still on line during her realization of Troy and Allana's entrance, Drake was now speaking concerning the matter. "Is that- No! It can't be!"

But since Baynetta had not time to continue their conversation at the present – Troy and Allana were much more important – she dismissed her younger half-brother with a brisk, "Thank you Drake, that will be all," and cut the transmission.

Troy and Allana were currently seating themselves on the couch Baynetta waved them to when the Sith Empress turned from her desk to face them.

Both had to admit that even at sixty-eight, Baynetta still looked somewhat young, about her late forties, with one change about her which made her appear older from before being her usually long dark hair that was now short at shoulder-length. Besides that, though, she looked and was the same, non-changing for anyone but herself.

"I must admit Troy," she said, breaking them from their thoughts of her, "you're impressing me more and more every time I see you."

And indeed this was true. His display of power on Ruusan had impressed yet also disturbed her. But after Mustafar was worse, in performance of Lumiya's killing, which Baynetta had been awakened by from her knocked out state, and for obvious reasons. Arica had been there for Troy practically his whole life and they were extremely close. His love for her would always be forever greater than that for Jaina.

Her admirable tone caused Troy to smirk again. "I wish I could say the same."

Baynetta returned the smirk. "Always with the jokes Troy." She shook her head and looped around the other side of her desk to be seated. "I'm assuming your being here has to do with the extragalactic invasion we're presently enduring, yes? Explain."

Troy and Allana did so, telling the Empress everything of their nearly two-years in the Unknown Regions among the Chiss, finding the remains of Outbound Flight, and through that, learning of the Far-Outsiders and their galaxy-known alien allies. Baynetta was silent the entire time, interrupting not even once, and only waited until they were finished to start asking questions.

"So you returned here, to known space, endured a battle in Tingel Arm's Helska system outside its fourth planet, of which you feel is a Yuuzhan Vong base on-world." At their slight puzzlement, she elaborated. "The extragalactic aliens call themselves the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Yuuzhan Vong," Allana repeated, going over the syllables of the strange name. "Interesting."

"Something is on Helska 4," Troy confirmed. "I sensed it. A base perhaps. But it needs to be taken out whatever it is."

"From there," Baynetta continued, "you returned to me with two Corellian girls, whom are the daughters of late GA operatives Wedge and Iella Antilles. With whom you intend to do what with?"

"Send them somewhere where they'll be safe," Allana voiced. "One of your secret throne worlds perhaps. But one nearby."

Baynetta's lips twisted into a curl. "And why would I do that?"

"If you wish for us to aide you in the annihilation of this crisis those are the terms. You take us, and with us comes the full blown protection of Syal and Myri Antilles."

"And what if I choose to reject your help?" Baynetta challenged. "What if I don't need it?"

"You need it," Troy said strongly. "You just don't want to admit you do."

Baynetta smirked at the point. Troy was right. Despite a small victory at Dubrillion, the Empire needed help if they wanted their wins to continue. Help in the form of other Force sensitive commanders who just happened to have experience in the form of fighting to win a war. She'd have to come to an alliance front with the two; Drake and Ben would also, despite their disdain for the other.

"We can worry about our intrafamily animosity at a later time," Troy voiced. "But as of the present, this is what needs to be done to ensure victory over the Yuuzhan Vong invasion force."

Baynetta was silent another moment, thinking. There really wasn't any other way. Even if she brought Kol and Kyleia back in on the action. The more Force sensitives had, the better the odds.

"There's Kalist VI and several others in the Colonies," she said. "Of throne worlds that is. Take your pick."

"Where's Kalist VI?" Allana asked.

"The Deep Core."

"How secure is it?"

"Every non-Imperial who learned of it died during the GA-Empire war, so I'd say pretty secure."

"What's its terrain and climate?"

"Hot, desert, and mountainous, though also bleak."

"So in a way," Troy surmised, "one could say its Korriban of the Deep Core."

Baynetta smirked. "Something like that."

Troy and Allana both thought a moment, exchanged a glance, and nodded. "You've got yourself a deal," Allana said.

"And we're clear on the mere thought of perfidy being answered with death," Baynetta presented.

Troy only smirked. "We're offering you and _your _empire our assistance, Baynetta. What would we gain through betraying you, when it's only together that we can defeat this enemy?"

Baynetta leveled him with an approving nod and gave as much of a smile as a twisted person like her could. "Good question. And the answer: nothing."

"Exactly."

* * *

Notwithstanding the continued upset in the Outer Rim, Drake and Ben were both commanded by the Empress to return to Corulag concerning Troy and Allana's involvement in the war on the Imperial side. Not surprisingly, both were enraged _and_ outraged by the prospect, and it took a lot for Baynetta to convince them that this really was the best call in bringing down the Yuuzhan Vong. 

"With Troy and Allana in our ranks, the chances are better for us to get through this crisis, and at a more expedient pace," she said to the pair. "Their elimination can be taken care of once it's over."

"That man killed my father and Allana approved of it!" Ben roared.

"You also killed Troy's lover and unborn son, yet he's willing to look the other way," Baynetta reminded.

The arguing went on for hours on end, mainly with Ben being the more opposing over Drake. Drake wasn't entirely thrilled over working with the Grievous-Skywalkers either, but if it would rid the galaxy of the Yuuzhan Vong faster, he was game.

In light of Ben's refusal to fight alongside Troy and Allana, Baynetta stripped him of his Empress' Hand title and then gave it to Kol and Kyleia, to much more outrage on Ben's part. The Empress' twin grandchildren were named and approved of being her Hands again only after Baynetta allowed Troy and Allana to speak with their cousins in a surveillance fitted room about the Yuuzhan Vong and their part in helping the Empire extirpate them. Though contemptuous feelings the 15-year-olds still held towards Baynetta, Drake, Ben, and the entire Empire, and despite the fact that they would never, ever forgive them for all the torture and infliction that was placed upon them over the past two years since capture after they betrayed Baynetta to side with the Grievous Skywalkers, Kol and Kyleia agreed to joining the cause against the Yuuzhan Vong for the sake of the galaxy, and felt that if Ben couldn't do the same, he was truly a child.

Comments such as these were sure to anger anyone, yet to assure Ben didn't learn of them Baynetta gave him the assignment of escorting Syal and Myri Antilles to her citadel residence on Kalist VI and the job of protecting them until he came out of his raging state to join the Empire in their united front against invasion.

In the meantime, Baynetta stepped down as official holder of the Imperial Navy's Supreme Commander for Drake to take on the position in conjunction of being Executor. This allowed the position of Commander-in-chief, Drake's former job, to go to Troy, while Allana was made the Lieutenant of her own TIE squadron. Ben, when he finally came around after growing bored with entertaining Syal and Myri, or as he called them "those blonde sister idiots", was given the rank of Navy General instead of Empress' Hand again, something he was pleasurably delighted and happy with, as this made Kol, Kyleia, and Allana his subordinates.

The first mission which was gone on in this arrangement was to Helska 4. Imperial forces led by both the Supreme Commander and Commander-in-chief were immediately being deployed there to destroy the Yuuzhan Vong's secret base on-world.

Just prior to their arrival, however, a "stylus" ship, piloted by Kol, was carried by another piloted by Kyleia, towards the ice world. The plan was to burrow beneath the surface and see how big on-world enemy forces were. And though Kol was dropped off at the planet, Kyleia's ship was engaged by the asteroid-like starfighter analogs Allana and Troy had warned them of, enemy coralskippers. At that time did Imperial forces arrive in-system to start the imminent firefight.

However, the Empire was soon overwhelmed, as they underestimated the Yuuzhan Vong force. Something referred to as the "Yammosk" or "war coordinator" was binding the soldiers together telepathically, making them fight as one. With this level of coordination, many Imperial ships – Destroyers and TIEs alike, those of which were led by Allana and Ben, were destroyed.

Before the battle ended, however, Kol managed to infiltrate the sizable Yuuzhan Vong base on-world and save two captive ExGal scientists, Nadni Eque and Miko Reglia. Though Reglia died in saving Kol from the Yammosk, of which he'd been tortured strenuously by while Eque was spared this since the Yuuzhan Vong saw her fit to die an honorable death (both of whom had been taken from Belkadan, also in the Tingel Arm, after a Vong agent called Yomin Carr began killing many of their fellow ExGal workers, save the few that went to Helska 4 to investigate the extragalactic object that had been landed there. Carr also unleashed deadly toxins in the atmosphere, making in virtually uninhabitable, and killing all local wildlife), earning the Empress' Hand's respect in death. Kol and Nadni Eque escaped aboard the stylus ship, which was picked up by Kyleia and brought back to Dubrillion where a war base of the Imperials' own was set up. The remaining Imperial forces followed.

The retreat wasn't long-lasting, however, with the twentyish blonde scientist, Nadni Eque, Drake, Troy, Kol, Kyleia, Allana, and Ben coming up with a plan to freeze the massive, tentacled creature that was the Yammosk, through which it turned out the Yuuzhan Vong had used to coordinate the attack on Sernpidal, using an ancient Yo'gand's Core tactic to crash the planet's moon, Dobido, into it, in its own icy water by turning the energy it emitted back on itself with shieldships. The Yuuzhan Vong forces, having their fleet of Coralskippers spread around after the bigger attack before, were caught off guard.

As the shieldships maneuvered into position, Kol and Kyleia took TIEs toward the planet, having many coralskippers follow them. Allana and Ben, meanwhile, joined Drake and Troy in leading the Imperials with their own separate squadrons flying in formation with either the Supreme Commander's (Ben) or Commander-in-chief's (Allana).

The evaporation was taking place soon after and working effectively, although some of the shieldships were sustaining critical damage or simply being destroyed outright. The plan worked nonetheless. The energy being reflected back on the planet evaporated the water, causing the planet to freeze, killing the Yammosk. The Yuuzhan Vong were thrown into disarray by the sudden loss of telepathic communications, and thus easily picked off. Because the ice expanded within the planet, it exploded, killing all Yuuzhan Vong still on Helska 4.

Hence came a second victory for the Galactic Empire. But the Vong didn't give up so easily. It was with this battle – the Second Battle of Helska – that the war proper began. Though the Yuuzhan Vong would not act for the next two months, using the time to amass their fleet further.


	150. Onslaught

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 28: Onslaught

41.7-8 Imperial Era

During the brief hiatus of war, refugee camps were set up by the Imperial government on Dubrillion, Destrillion, and Dantooine for those from conquered worlds likes Sernpidal and Belkadan to stay and recuperate. These became prime targets of the Yuuzhan Vong's and they attacked, leading to the planetary massacre and conquests of all three worlds. Ben and Kyleia were on hand at Dantooine's battle:

It began after the duo discovered that Yuuzhan Vong warriors had infiltrated the refugee camp through the use of Ooglith Masquers. These infiltrators then began slaughtering the helpless refugees. Meanwhile, a massive reptoid Chazrach assault force of slave soldiers approached the camp. Despite its sheer size, Ben and Kyleia discovered that these Chazrach were entirely mindless and merely the Yuuzhan Vong's equivalent of battle droids, thus making them easy to defeat. However, the large number of Chazrach resulted in the Yuuzhan Vong gaining the upper hand over Imperial forces.

Later, the cousins also discovered that the Chazrach were controlled by a beetle-shaped war beast, which came to be known as a thrall herder. The creature was protected by numerous Dovin Basals, which would intercept missiles and laser blasts directed at it. Together, Ben and Kyleia were able to use the Force to seize the black hole and have it suck itself into its own void. As a result, the Chazrach assault force was scattered and began attacking everything that moved, including each other.

Notwithstanding this success, the Yuuzhan Vong still held the upper hand. As the melee raged on, so many Imperial soldiers were being slaughtered that Ben and Kyleia had no choice but to abandon the planet and all its contents to the Vong. Troy arrived in the nick of time with a fleet of warships and escorted Ben and Kyleia's escape ship to safety.

The battle was consequently dubbed a Yuuzhan Vong victory.

Next, came the Battle of Garqi.

Going on a reconnaissance mission to the plains/ocean world of Garqi, in the Outer Rim and also a Vong-controlled planet, Drake and Allana arrived in the _Lost Hope_, a frigate rigged to explode. They, along with six stormtrooper commandos, entered the _Best Chance_, a smaller vehicle inside the _Lost Hope_. The _Lost Hope_ exploded above Garqi, raining debris, including the _Best Chance_, which was supposed to look like a piece of it. The _Best Chance_ made it to the planet, where the Imperial duo met up with resistance fighters against the Yuuzhan Vong.

The thirty-something, late teen, and their stormtrooper force waited in the underground tunnels beneath a plaza where the Yuuzhan Vong forces (3 warriors, 20 Chazrach to each) were assembling. The human slaves, called Thrall, then ambushed the Yuuzhan Vong force, and started to slice through the Chazrach, while Drake and Allana faced the Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Drake killed the first that came at him, but another issued a command to the slaves, human and Chazrach, which turned to face Allana and he.

The duo started slaughtering the slaves, and Allana managed to kill the lead warrior, while focused sniper fire from resistance fighters killed the third. The two then escaped the nearby Pesktda Xenobotanical Garden, where Ithorian Bafforr trees were housed. The Yuuzhan Vong entered the Garden. The leader warrior, named Krag Val, challenged Allana, but Drake stood in front of her, and a stormtrooper commando stood in front of him. Unfortunately, the stormtrooper was killed. Drake then attempted to engage the Vong leader, but Krag Val's Amphistaff came down, and left a huge gash in the Executor's shoulder.

In retaliation to Drake's wound, Allana engaged Krag Val, and managed to temporarily disable him until Drake himself rose behind her. But by the time Drake engaged the warriors, their armor had gone under an allergic reaction to the Bafforr tree pollen, and suffocated them. Samples of the pollen were taken, and the garden was burned, along with the warriors. Drake, Allana, and what was left of the stormtrooper commandos (two) returned to the _Best Chance_, but the resistance fighters chose to stay behind.

A troop of Imperials arrived in system with Allana's Dathomir Squadron. The plan was to pick up the _Best Chance_, only a huge Yuuzhan Vong force arrived in the area. Dathomir Squadron fought the Coralskippers, but the _Best Chance_ was being overrun. At that time did Troy arrive in-system with a slew of the Supreme Commander's forces. They engaged and overran the Coralskippers and then the enemy capital ships. This gave the _Best Chance_ time to flee, along with the Troy-led Imperial forces.

* * *

Since the previous month – as this was the war's third month – the population of Ithor had been evacuated to Mon Calamari, in the Outer Rim, at the news of an imminent attack on the Mid Rim rainforests/cities world. Troy and Allana were in command of the battle by request of Troy himself to show his allegiance to the Empress, much to Drake's disapproval, as he himself wanted to lead it. Nonetheless, Baynetta approved of Troy and Allana's lead. The Yuuzhan Vong forces arrived in-system above Ithor, led by the _Legacy of Torment_. Dathomir Squadron, led by Allana, engaged Coralskippers and started to pick off Yorik-trema. 

In spite of this, the tactics fighter pilots used against coralskippers proved ineffective against larger capital ships. The strategy generally used then was to shoot weak lasers at a fighter, resulting in a weak void created by a Dovin Basal, then to overload the void with stronger shots, killing the ship. This method didn't work, as the Dovin Basals weren't propelling the capital ships as much, and they made stronger voids.

Meanwhile on Ithor, the Yorik-trema landed their troops inside an Ithorian herd ship, the _Tafanda Bay_. There, Troy engaged Yuuzhan Vong warriors and Chazrach, and just barely sidestepped a poisonous Amphistaff bite that would've killed him.

On the surface of the planet, Yuuzhan Vong agent Shedao Shai led his warriors against a building defended by turrets and housed by droids. Little did he know, the building was a trap, an explosion set to go off when a computer console was destroyed. Because of the Vong's hatred of technology, that computer terminal was destroyed, and most of the warriors were killed, save Shai. Troy and his troops then ambushed the Vong command center, and defeated the forces there. Finding a Villip, Troy managed to contact Shedao Shai and arranged a bargain: They would duel in one week on a plateau. If Shai won, Ithor was his for the taking. But if Troy won, Ithor belonged to the Empire. Though Troy killed Shai and emerged as victor, Deign Lian, the deceased Yuuzhan Vong commander's second-in-command, answered to a higher authority, Tsavong Lah, who ordered him to unleash a biological weapon from the _Legacy of Torment_, which would reduce all life on the planet to little more than black swamps of acidic ash.

This weapon was carried by 12 seed-shaped Yorik Coral pods. Upon arriving in the atmosphere, these pods exploded, creating an enormous cloud that began spreading through the jungle, which was held sacred by the Ithorians. As they expanded, the bioengineered bacteria began destroying the native life. This later became blamed on Troy, who was known across news holos as the "Man who killed Ithor."

When Yuuzhan Vong forces attempted to retreat, the _Corusea Rainbow_, an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser, activated its gravity well generators, which caused the gravity well of Ithor to increase, pulling the _Legacy of Torment_ towards the planet. Deign Lian was killed before the ship hit the planet, and when it collided with Ithor, the atmosphere ignited, causing more carnage and finally killing the planet. The other Vong forces retreated.

During the aftermath, Troy mostly ignored his negative publicity; the Empress saw nothing wrong with what he'd done so swiftly silenced the naysayers. This battle contributed much to the Anti-Forceism of the galactic public, with many people coming to revile Force users, blaming them for the invasion.

Though of little strategic value, Ithor was a major psychological loss to the Empire. At Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong, Shimrra Jamaane's learning of Troy's media disgrace, he was delighted, and ordered his underlings to discredit Force users even further.

Yet most importantly, it was after this that the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong could no longer be denied, especially what with the major Vong victory that was soon to follow.

In the Inner Rim system of Obroa-Skai and its fourth world of the same name was a terrestrial mix of tundra, mountains, grasslands, and deserts, and known galaxy-wide for its immense libraries and wealth of galactic knowledge, being the home of the Imperial Archives, the Obroan Institute of Archeology and the Museum of Applied Photonics. The capture of this world would be crucial in providing the invaders with even more key intelligence and information on the various species and worlds of the Galaxy than what they were told by their known galactic alien allies.

Yet despite this – Obroa-Skai was an important asset to the Imperial government – defenses at the world were minor in the lead up to the battle. Notwithstanding the pleading of the Obroan Institute and its director, Bel-dar-Nolek, the world's defenses consisted of only a pair of reconditioned Golan Defense Platforms and a handful of antiquated warships. These forces would be woefully inadequate in defending Obroa-Skai from attack.

The battle, occurring a short time after Garqi, was presumably quick, as the meager Imperial defenses were shattered by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion forces. The pair of Golan platforms and handful of warships were brushed aside as Yuuzhan Vong forces settled into orbital bombardment. A quartet of TIE fighters were among the only forces to escape the battle, managing to destroy a Yuuzhan Vong gunship before retreating.

Normally a planet that appeared blue, green, and white from space, Obroa-Skai turned ash-gray and reddish-brown as Yuuzhan Vong warriors laid waste to the world. Large tracks of verdant rainforest were turned to ash while the planet's glaciers and small oceans were vaporized. The few major cities were bombarded and eventually conquered as Yuuzhan Vong warriors captured scientists and researchers for sacrifice. The planet and its libraries then passed into the possession of the Priest caste, which was tasked with translating the various texts into Yuuzhan Vong.

The loss of Obroa-Skai shocked the galaxy, while further driving a wedge between Imperial worlds located in the invasion path and those safely located in the Galactic Core. Citizens and even officials began to blame the Empress and her Force-wielding "Order of treachery makers", as they were called, while some began to contemplate separate means of peace with the invaders. Outside the Galactic Empire.


	151. Silverlining

Twisterblake: Thanks.

G-Anakin 13: I totally feel for you in the school department. Though as I recently graduated, my condolences can only go but so far. I'm quite smug over the fact that I'm done school.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 29: Silver-lining

41.9 Imperial Era

By this point in the war, not only had the Yuuzhan Vong officially turned on their known galactic alien allies and began slaughtering them in addition to humans, but Ord Mantell had been turned into a refugee relief world with thousands of misplaced citizens crowding on the plains-jungle, mesa-urban terrain planet and in the Jubilee Wheel space station in orbit. The Yuuzhan Vong launched a terror attack against Ord Mantell, hoping that the projected deaths of countless refugees would do much to destabilize the already floundering Galactic Empire.

However, Imperial forces were lying in wait for the Yuuzhan Vong. A fleet commanded by Supreme Commander Palpatine engaged the enemy warships as they emerged from hyperspace. Both fleets were roughly evenly matched in terms of numbers and fire power – at least until the Yuuzhan Vong revealed their dread weapon.

Following the destruction of the fleet's flagship battle cruiser, a lone Miid Ro'ik warship launched a Dread Weapon beast at the Jubilee Wheel, causing major damage to the station. The beast was originally thought to be trying to deprive the station's inhabitants of air, until it began to eat victims, to be held within the belly of the beast until recovered and used as slaves of the invaders.

Hence came another Yuuzhan Vong victory at Ord Mantell's fall.

Immediately after, the Expansion Region industrial world of Gyndine was quickly set up as a refugee planet and many of Ord Mantell's survivors flocked to the world. However, the Vong launched an assault on the planet soon afterwards, aided by agents disguised in Ooglith Masquers, the second time this happened, provoking hysteria among the population. Fortunately for the Empire, Ben and a legion of his own lightsaber-wielding land forces were present during the fiasco and helped defend the planet. But after a 2-day battle the Vong were still able to burn the planet's forests and boil its lakes using fire breathers, which was the first time Imperials encountered those weapons. A large number of refugee ships were destroyed in the initial wave of the Vong attack – along with passengers – and the Empire was forced to abandon the planet, its inhabitants, and the refugees, including Ben himself.

After the battle ended, he witnessed the Yuuzhan Vong gradually terraform the planet, slowly killing off the refugees trapped on Gyndine. Ben, however, was able to escape, only to then be thrown on a clustership, _Creche_, with the multiple other Vong-made slaves.

The Empress was far from pleased by Ben's capture and mercilessly killed the Imperial forces whom abandoned him to Gyndine. She then sent a team after him in the Expansion Region, led by Kol and Kyleia, only for them to come across another battle, but of the diversion kind on fellow Expansion Region world Tynna.

To the Vong, this battle was not to be fought for a specific strategic target. Rather, they launched the attack in an attempt to ensure that the Galactic Empire believed their captured intelligence in that the next Vong attack would be either Corulag or Bothawui, in three months time: 41.12 IE. The Vong hoped the Imperials would deplete their forces protecting both planets, when they actually planned to attack the Colonies world Fonder next.

During the battle, the Vong captured the Tanallay Surge Complex, a water control facility on-world, and used it to release a biotoxin in Tynna's world-sea. It quickly made the ocean deadly to any non-Vong lifeforms, therefore aiding in both their conquest and terraforming of the planet.

Yet another Vong victory.

True to Vong hope, after the fall of both Gyndine and Tynna, Imperial Intelligence did indeed believe their intercepted information retrieved from Kol and Kyleia that the next Yuuzhan Vong attack would be Corulag or Bothawui come 41.12 IE. Baynetta chose to fortify Bothawui while leaving her own capital open to attack. Despite seeming to abandon one world for another, in reality Baynetta hoped to lure the Vong to Corulag and activate the remains of Centerpoint Station in the empty Corellia system as a massive gravity well to trap them within the system.

In preparation for the showdown, while a fleet was assembled in the Colonies' Commenor system in preparation for a quick jump to Corulag, and the Fifth Fleet strew itself across the Human-inhabited Bothan space in order to protect its back door, Troy felt compelled to return to the Unknown Regions, because of the Force's urgings that he'd find help to the war effect therein.

Naturally, Baynetta wasn't entirely thrilled by this, and for a while refused him leave. However much his allegiance to her in the light of crisis, Troy wasn't about to be bossed around by Baynetta and left within the night, him being found gone the next morning. Furiously enraged, Baynetta wanted him to be gone after and brought back, but Drake urged her not to, voicing it was Troy's own stupidity for leaving, and if he died, it was no one's fault but his own. Baynetta saw this point so left things they way they were, though a close eye was kept on Allana and the twins in the event they wanted to go after him.

* * *

"I was looking for somewhere to settle down away from it all, so ventured into the Unknown Regions. I'd known, of course, about the ten worlds your mother discovered Troy. And yet, somehow I'd always known there was more to it than that. And there was and is." 

Troy remembered the words of Soontir Fel concerning how he stumbled upon Chiss space following his retirement from active Imperial duty in 22 IE to settle down with his family like it was yesterday, notwithstanding that it'd been nearly two years since its telling. Troy had asked Fel out of curiosity soon into his and Allana's residence in the Chiss sector and so told him of his discovery of a wormhole just southwest of the region's second world, referred to as "Rocky" in official documents. From there, he found a side route that bypassed the wormhole's other slew of worlds and led eventually to Chiss space.

This same wormhole, of course, led to the old Sith world Jen'jein that Troy spent much of the past decade on with his mother and Lumiya. But this made Troy stop and wonder. Were there any other wormholes like Rocky's in the Unknown Regions which led to even more worlds or groups of worlds? There had to be, otherwise the Force wouldn't be compelling him to the Unknown Region's third official planet – recorded as "Darkness" – so strongly. And there was, right beneath the as black as night planet at an abrupt angle. Onward in, after the usual bumpy wormhole entrance, laid shrouds and shrouds of darkness, yet he knew something else was out there. He could feel it.

Troy endured a month of empty, starless space before encountering the border of what was surely a planetary cluster. It was and, remarkably enough, reminded him of the type of border the Hapes Consortium once used to keep trespassers out from within the 63-world Inner Rim government before its Imperial annihilation in 23 IE. A region of ionized stars, known as Transitory Mists in known space, surrounded the cluster, and just inside this was a surrounding ring of spacecraft, ready to engage any trespasser that dared oppose them.

There was no way around it, under or above it. The ionized stars wouldn't allow it. It was either straight forward or eradication. Troy liked that. Hence he didn't even attempt to hide _Knight Crawler_ from surveillance view and didn't object to having the vessel be caught in a tractor beam and surrounded by the cluster's forces either. He was hauled sometime after, and subsequently taken prisoner on the command ship _Ni'Korish_ by a squad of near-Humans of handsome appearance after they searched his ship for being a stranger in their domain.

Ni'Korish. Where had he heard that name before? But of course! It was that of a former Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium during some of the final decades of the New Republic. She ruled from 58-22 NRE until her daughter and Chume'Ta (heir), Ta'a, was crowned following her mysterious death by means of a brain hemorrhage.

Consequently, Ta'a only ruled until early 6 IE when her second son, the Chume'da Isolder (her first son, Kalem, had since been murdered, and by her authority at that, as she didn't feel him a suitable heir) took to marrying a Dathomir Witch he came across in the Outer Rim on her Dathomir homeworld, Teneniel Djo, a second cousin of Allana's, and she was forced to finally leave behind the throne at Teneniel's crowning (Ta'a, known for her manipulative, ruthless, and arrogant personae, had once gone as far as having Isolder's first potential wife drowned to sustain the throne).

Nonetheless, Ta'a had done everything in her power to get the crown back, including an assassination attempt at a state dinner, where the former Queen Mother was caught trying to poison her daughter-in-law's wine glass. From there she was given house arrest. Alas, she finally achieved the title Queen Mother again at Troy's own mother's killing of Teneniel for turning the consortium against the Empire in an act of war. This eventually led to the government's destruction, though, before then Ta'a was Queen Mother following both Teneniel and Isolder's deaths by Troy's mother Arica, and sister, Gabriella.

The High Imperial Family – the Grievous Skywalkers at the time – came to an alliance with the treacherous woman in an attempt to luring her Jedi granddaughter, Tenel Ka, to Hapes to kill her and whatever Jedi force came with. This was during the Legacy of the Force war. The trap worked. Tenel Ka came, along with three others, including Jacen Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Ta'a ended up dead in a midnight confrontation when Gabriella abruptly shot the very person she was supposed to protect, Ta'a, thus naming herself Hapes' new Queen Mother since the current had made her a successor following death.

In short, Tenel Ka was eventually made Queen Mother and proclaimed the consortium free of Imperial control again (Hapes back under Imperial jurisdiction was also part of the alliance with Ta'a), the reason for its extermination, to be made an example out of.

Yet despite the Hapes Consortium's death, there were still others of the Hapan race whom escaped their home's horrid fate some years prior:

In 17 NRE, five years after Ni'Korish's death and Ta'a's original crowning, a mutiny came against the Queen Mother in the form of an assassination attempt conducted by Ta'a's three younger sisters, Tanginika, Thalassa, and Tiponya, and a group of allied nobles. It was done mainly to move Ta'a out of the way of power for another, but also because it was rumored Ta'a had something to do with her mother's death so she could get the Queen Mother seat a year sooner than she was supposed to at 21. This was never proven, however, and usually dismissed as fittle-faddle whenever brought to light. Nonetheless, there were those – Ta'a's sisters and Palace nobles – whom believed it to be true, thus the assassination attempt. And though the attempt wasn't successful, Tanginika, Thalassa, and Tiponya, along with their six daughters (two each) and a slew of nobles were banished from the consortium to the Unknown Regions. No one had heard wink, hair, or tail of them since the event fifty-eight years ago, but Troy began to wonder.

The ionized star region surrounding the cluster. The strong military presence on its borders. The fact that the Defense Fleet's Command ship was named Ni'Korish. Plus, the officers Troy was collectivized by were almost exact clones of how Hapans appeared in all the research studies he'd done of them as a teen. It had to be one in the same. What he'd stumbled upon was another Hapes Consortium of sorts.


	152. Reunion

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 30: Reunion

Unknown Regions – Hapes Consortium

Troy's guess that the cluster of space he'd come across in the Unknown Regions was a Hapes Consortium of sorts was confirmed at his taking to _Ni'Korish's_ ranking officer aboard. Not surprisingly, a woman. Like the Dathomir Witches of old, the culture of Hapes was also matriarchal. Because of this, Troy had well prepared himself to be degraded terribly by the female commander, whose name he sensed was Guada, upon meeting.

"So, you're the stranger that dared enter our domain." About middle years, perhaps early to mid 50s, Commander Guada was impressively beautiful with a forever young face, which was presently formed in a sneer as she looked him up and down. Donned in customary military grub of olive green uniform and brown boots, she was about middle height. "We don't like outsiders. Even one so stately appearing as yourself. What's your name and purpose in our land?"

"Troy Grievous Skywalker," he said. "Ex-Third Imperial Prince-"

"I'm sorry, did you say _Grievous Skywalker_?" Commander Guada asked inquisitively.

"Yes. I'm the late Emperor and Empress Anakin and Arica Grievous-Skywalker of the Galactic Empire's third child, second son, and only remaining descendant." He paused a moment to look at her. "Is the name familiar to you for some reason I should know about?"

"I've heard it before," Commander Guada confirmed. "Our Queen Mother's mentioned it several times. Not recently, mind you. But priorly..."

The rich rust-color haired, with no traces of gray, Commander leveled Troy with an intriguing stare for a moment and then clapped twice, signaling for the squad of men that were surrounding him to leave. They did so, and she spoke again.

"At this point, it doesn't much matter what your purpose for being here concerns. You can tell it to our Queen Mother."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Troy said. "But I must ask, just to be sure: What area of space is this exactly?"

Commander Guada gave him a strange look before answering. "The Hapes Consortium of the Unknown Regions of course."

* * *

Fifty-five to sixty-three. Not much of a difference really, save eight, and even that was practically nothing in the sense of comparison. 

Fifty-five was the number of bodies in the Hapes Consortium of the Unknown Regions, and despite the number eight difference, the similarities between this Hapes and the original of the Inner Rim were extraordinary. Not only did both share the same terrain of urban, mountains, forests, and oceans, shimmering nebulae surrounded this Hapes as well as the late one with seven moons in the sky after sunset, disallowing Hapans to ever know the darkness of a true night and giving them proverbially poor night vision.

Here, also, were few neat cities of small size in-between most of its unspoilt wilderness. However, one difference was Hapes' capital city, Ni'Korish 'Dan, unlike the original which bore the name Ta'a Chume 'Dan – of which Ni'Korish's first daughter was named after. The city hadn't in fact been named after her as was commonly thought.

Entirely, this Hapes wasn't a precise clone of the original, but close to it. The same could be said concerning the consortium as a whole, as well as its premier royal capital residence, Fountain Palace, resting tome of the Queen Mother. Currently of whom was Antonella Theophilia Chume 'Dan, daughter of predecessor Queen Mother Nysa 'Dan, whom was daughter of prior Queen Mother Tanginika 'Dan, who shared the title as ruler of the consortium alongside sisters Thalassa and Tiponya 'Dan, all of whom were descendants of Ni'Korish 'Dan of the original Hapes Consortium.

As to how Queen Mother Antonella Theophilia could've heard of the Grievous-Skywalker House when her own was banished from known space at a time when the Clone Wars had yet to start and Troy's parents yet to meet, he had no idea. Perhaps the consortium had agents that kept tabs on the known galaxy's comings and goings from time to time. Anything was possible he supposed, yet somehow he wasn't so sure. Hapans were always known as a fiercely isolated bunch. In fact, Troy was beginning to see more of Chiss society in Hapan the more he thought about it. Both had haughty attitudes, finding themselves far superior to all others and usually didn't become involved in the affairs of outsiders unless a reason was had for it. What reason would the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium have in keeping tabs on the known galaxy?

Curiosity?

Interest?

Not likely. Yet it didn't much matter, Troy supposed. He'd find out soon enough. Especially since the shuttle that came from _Ni'Korish_ in orbit had just arrived at Fountain Palace itself. He was sure the Queen Mother who'd heard of his family could probably be convinced into telling him anything he wanted to know if the price was right.

Upon mere glance, one could know this Fountain Palace was decades-old, probably built soon after the exiled Hapans arrived, and also overlooked the city as it did on the original. It's architecture was closely the same in style of old royalty structures, and for a moment, Troy was distantly reminded of the Imperial Castle of Mustafar. Thoughts of that god-awful place were quickly dismissed from his mind, however, almost as quickly as they entered, and he refocused his mind on the present. The squad of men surrounding him were back and Commander Guada was just now leading him, escort in tow, inside the royal residence.

As so many other palaces Troy had been to, this opened with a vast entrance hall, soon followed by a set of stairs that eventually forked off and led to numerous chambers within, including residence and such. Yet there was another path one could go, straight ahead, and it would lead you directly into the Fountain Palace Royal Throne Room. This is the path Troy was led along not surprisingly.

Golden carpeted and high ceilinged, white walls that were lined with portraits of predecessor Queen Mothers of this consortium and the last, Troy and his escort strode at a brisk pace along the foyer hall. Two Hapan males, guards, were stationed outside two great doors and without a word moved out of the way so they could be opened.

Troy was expected.

The opening of the doors revealed a luxurious golden room, but Troy hardly paid attention to its interior. His eyes were strangely being drawn from a respective glance at the court of nobles and royal family members to the Queen Mother herself, seated regally atop her throne of excellence.

Thick auburn hair of pure richness at medium length, a stately green semi-casual woodish silk dress of slender, around his own age approximately with beauty as radiant as any Hapan Queen Mother, there was something about her presence that seemed oddly familiar to Troy.

"Your Highness." Commander Guada's voice broke Troy out his revive. "Here is the male trespasser we spoke of via holo-line. Troy Grievous Skywalker he claims to be and-"

"Troy?"

Troy's eyes had began to wonder around the room, finally interested in its interior, when the sound of Queen Mother Antonella Theophilia's voice saying his name in the form of an inquisitive question brought his attention back to her.

There was still the familiarity, he sensed. Only this time, it was also coming from her. The Queen Mother's face was filled with that of astonishment yet also joyous pleasure, and the more Troy continued to gaze at her, trying to pinpoint why it felt like he knew her somehow, the familiarity became clear and he actually recognized her from a long time ago.

He couldn't believe it! It'd been nearly seventeen years since he last saw and knew her, but in known space and Coruscant at that, and as someone else.

"Regina Galas?!"

A noble sniffed beside him. "I think you mean to be addressing the Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, young man." Her tone was severe. "Her Majesty, Antonella Theophilia."

Troy glanced over at the female noble who spoke and was mildly surprised to find his escort gone except for Commander Guada, whom was still on his left. That who'd spoken appeared to be an aunt of some kind to "Antonella Theophilia"; probably a grandaunt, and one of Ta'a's sisters, or a grandmother.

This was just as much confirmed at the Queen Mother's, Regina Galas' Troy couldn't help but think, next words. "No grandaunt Tiponya. It's okay."

"Do you know this man?" another noble, but male and also around the Queen Mother's age, though Troy sensed younger and a cousin of Hapes' ruler, asked, looking from the addressee to Troy with a superior stare.

"Do I?" Her tone suggested gaiety and face was a lit with the utmost delight. "Certainly! He was one of my many suitors during my time as Regina Galas, that blonde haired air-headed holostar I told you I posed as during my time away." She shook her head, obviously reminiscing on those times via thought, her face still aglow. "Troy Zachary Stavros Grievous Skywalker, ex-holostar himself, though also Third Imperial Prince of the Galactic Empire, or shall I say...ex-Prince since his family was dethroned shortly before my return here. It was the reason, in fact, I returned home..."

* * *

Beyond the rear of Fountain Palace, encircled in a courtyard, was a private jungle Queen Mother Antonella Theophilia 'Dan, 34, enjoyed coming to to be alone, or as much as could be expected for a Hapan Queen. But this time, today, she truly was alone, without courtiers following her along, even so out of sight, as she roamed in their attempt to "keep her safe". She didn't need them today because she was in the presence of a Force sensitive warrior whom could handle anything that was thrown at him. 

"At least you used to be anyway," she'd said to the person in question, her old flame Troy, sometime earlier than the present, with a wink.

This had brought her as she hoped, a laugh. "That's kinda something I'll be for the rest of my life, darling."

She smirked delightedly at Troy's use of his old nickname for her and couldn't help but thrill in the scowls that were being thrown at him from all around the throne room.

But that was a few hours ago. Now, she and Troy were strolling side by side, alone without security despite much disapproval, along a stone path that wound its way through the jungle beside a small stream.

Through the lush foliage and gurgling of water the jungle presented, the pair could be heard laughing along in conversation as the path they strolled came to a jungle pond, complete with a waterfall and a small island rising out of the green water.

"I still can't believe it," Troy was saying. "I truly cannot believe it! My ex-girlfriend, the air-headed Regina Galas, former holostar triple threat and It girl of the Galaxy is actually the Queen Mother of another Hapes Consortium. Antonella Theophilia." He shook his head with a grin. "I am in a state of shock here Regina! Surely this is one of your jokes you're pulling."

"No, it's actually true Troy." Her enthusiasm continued to be seen the more time she spent in his company. "As hard to believe as it sounds."

The twosome bypassed the waterfall and island after stopping a moment to take in its beauty and continued along the path and stream.

"How come you never told me?" Troy wanted to know. "We have so much in common. And I thought we'd told each other everything during our periods of togetherness."

"I couldn't have told you Troy," Antonella replied, "and you know I couldn't have. It would've raised far too many questions. Plus, when I learned of what your family did to the original Hapes Consortium, I was even more determined than ever before to not tell you. And besides, you wouldn't have believed me even if I did tell you. I was air-headed, remember?" She chuckled. "That was all an act, you know?"

He returned the chuckle. "I know. And no, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But all the same..."

It was just like old times between the two. Troy and Antonella were truly happy and enjoying one another's presence. They talked and talked and walked and walked all about the jungle garden, filling each other in on their lives since parting, and in Antonella's case, her life prior to that born a Hapan Chume'Ta and the history behind the Hapes Consortium of the Unknown Regions.

"Following the assassination attempt my grandmother, Tanginika, and grandaunts, Thalassa and Tiponya, performed on their elder sister, the Queen Mother Ta'a, an escort was made for them, their six daughters (two of which being my mother, Nysa, and her younger sister, Akanthe, of whom you met at the Palace), and several dozen nobles involved to the Unknown Regions, where their banishment would be fulfilled amongst whatever the undiscovered areas of space had to offer.

"For two years did the group of forty-five roam the Unknown Regions in five ships before stumbling across an almost exact replica of the original Hapes with similar terrain and chose to reside there, here, to start their own Hapes Consortium. In the years to come did our consortium's other fifty-four worlds be discovered and in the same sector/cluster at that.

"In 7 NRE, a decade after the banishment, our capital world, which came to be called New Hapes until I discovered the original was destroyed and it went on to be called Hapes singularly, and its fifty-four planet members became the Hapes Consortium of the Unknown Regions, with Tanginika, Thalassa, and Tiponya being crowned equal Queen Mothers, each of their oldest daughters (my mother in addition to Thalassa's Calandra and Tiponya's Chelik) named Chume'Tas. However, it was decided that whomever of the three bore an heir first would be crowned the next Queen Mother solely.

"Two years after this, Chume'Ta Calandra, at just 15, took on a consort, but was deemed barren sometime after, eliminating her chances of becoming the next Queen Mother. Though she tried anyway, perpetually, she never once conceived no matter the consort.

"Three years after this, Chelik, at 18, took on a consort and conceived but suffered her first of three miscarriages soon after. One year after the other.

"Try as they might, the other three Hapan heirs (Tiponya's Alyssia, Akanthe, and Thalassa's Calliope) couldn't conceive either, making my mother the next Hapan Queen when finally in 13 Hapan Era – what you Troy would call 6 Imperial Era – the consort she acquired seven years prior at 19, fathered her daughter and heir, Antonella Theophilia Chume'Ta 'Dan, yours truly.

"What was so remarkable about my birth, however, is that it seemed to lift whatever curse was on Ni'Korish's three youngest granddaughters. Because immediately after, and I mean _immediately after_ in the string of days, they started conceiving and having children of their own. One after the other continuously. First came Alyssia later that very same year, towards it's end, with her son and heir, Samos. Then, Aunt Akanthe a year later with her son and heir, Ozterik, of whom you've also met Troy. And lastly, Calliope and her two daughters, born one year after the other, Calixte in 15 HE (8 IE) and Apollonia, 16 HE (9 IE).

"Calandra and Chelik remained childless, however. Yet at that point, it didn't really seem to matter. There were five Third Generation Heirs total: 3 girls, 2 boys. And the matter of the girls soon led to a dispute between House, started by Thalassa. She felt that Calixte and Apollonia should also be named Chume'Tas in addition to me and have the same done between us as was with the Second Generation Daughters. This wasn't agreed to, however, despite much upset concerning the issue. I remained the sole Chume'Ta and Thalassa seemed to be fine with that. But it should've been known to only be a matter of time before she did something concerning the matter. Yet I'm getting way ahead of myself." Antonella laughed. "There's still the question of how a Chume'Ta and potential Queen ended up in the known vector of space as the HoloNet singing, acting, and modeling star Regina Galas. That's the interesting part. Wanna take a random guess as to how it occurred?"

"I'm thinking kidnapping, you ran away from home, or were forced to leave," Troy said right off the bat.

Antonella nodded. "Correct to the second guess, my friend. I ran away from home, but not because I was forced, of my own free will.

"I grew up as an heiress with everything my heart desired, yet I resented my title. I didn't want to be Queen Mother. I wanted the freedom to do what I wanted to do, not what everyone was telling me to do. Thalassa noticed this and used it to her advantage to push me so far over the edge that by 16 I'd had enough. I left the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium and never turned back.

"For a while, I simply roamed empty space. Though after about a year of this, I came upon the known galaxy and was discovered at a spaceport on Axxila, as you know, as the latest face of Ted Mapleleaf's entertainment line of holostars. Thus, Regina Galas was born. I dyed my auburn hair blonde, wore blue contact lenses, and soon became the Galaxy's newest 'It Girl' and 'Triple Threat', as I was called, with my multiple drama skills. I also thought it a good idea to dumb myself down a bit. People often grow more suspicious of those who are overly intelligent and thus investigation commences to dig up secrets. And I _so_ didn't want or need that. For the first time in my life, I was actually happy. I loved what I did, the people I worked with, and more importantly, I was finally free.

"For two years this lasted, in which time the two of us met and dated several times. But I should've known it wouldn't last forever. No matter how much I may have wanted it to, eventually things went from fabulous to horrid in the galaxy. Your family was dethroned by that former Empress you told me about (and I'd also read about in some research studies out of interest of how the New Galactic Republic became an empire), Baynetta-Padme Amidala, and wanted dead at all costs. I was scared and horrified by the happenings and fled known space for the Unknown Regions once more, fearing my connection to the Grievous-Skywalkers through you could get me killed also. And it probably would've, for I heard a rumor that your first girlfriend, Zenon Da'xia, was killed not long after Baynetta's overtaking under Imperial order. Is that true?"

"Yes, quite," Troy confirmed with a hint of remorse. "It really is too bad though. She wasn't _that_ bad of a person, notwithstanding her lies. She didn't deserve what happened to her: to be gunned down during a fashion show catwalk."

Antonella gasped. "My goodness!" she exclaimed. "Is that really what happened?"

He nodded. "You knew Da'xia. She was a clothing designer in addition to being a hotel heiress to Da'xia Suites. It was her line of work to make money outside the Da'xia family. Approximately two weeks after the Battle of Coruscant, Zenon was to have a fashion show for her new line of clothing, named _Simply Zenon_ funny enough, on the Outer Rim world Dubrillion, hence her arrival three weeks prior to, I'm assuming, prepare and enjoy an amount of downtime before her line's galaxy-wide tour kicked off. Only it never kicked off, and Dubrillion's fashion show was nearly canceled after the theft of her design workshop star vessel, _Zenon_, was stolen some days previous to Simply Zenon's launch. It was never revealed who stole the ship, but I happen to know them personally."

Antonella smirked. "You."

Troy shook his head. "Allana."

"Little Allana?" she asked doubtfully. "That toddler cousin of yours?"

"That _toddler cousin of mine_, as you say, is presently 18 going on 19, and she had help pulling it off. But that's not the point." He waved a dismissive hand to silence Antonella's obvious questions. "The point is Zenon reportedly 'freaked out' following the theft, as it was something of a life's work for her, and wanted the show called off.

"Long story short, the show went on, and as she was walking the runway with a slew of models, a photographer, actually Empress' Hand Jaina Solo in disguise, came up to take a picture, only for the camera to turn out to be a gun, and you can easily figure out the rest. Actually, this is information I just found out recently out of interest of what ever happened to her."

Antonella was puzzled. "But I thought Jaina Solo was a Jedi _against_ the Galactic Empire?"

"She was...but then changed sides during the prelude of Baynetta's insurrection."

The Queen Mother grimaced. "You'll have to tell me all about that. But not yet. I haven't finished with my tale yet."

By now, the two were walking past a mess of leaves and violet flowers, intertwined within them dewberry bushes. Antonella stepped forward off the path to collect a bushel of the blackberry fruit, only Troy stopped her by doing so himself. He handed her the leafy jumble with a smile, but then picked one of the berries from within and ate it with a smirk. Antonella laughed and after accepting the bushel from Troy, slipped an arm through his and leaned her head against his shoulder as they continued to walk. Troy responded by planting a peak on her auburn head several inches below his own (she was about 1.79 meters in height, 5'8'). Antonella smiled warmly, but soon returned to tale-telling following a few more bites of berry.

"It's best I left when I did then, because I was scheduled to model at one of her shows. The same could've easily happened to me."

She was silent a moment to eat another berry, one in which Troy stole from her fingers to eat himself. She laughed, but then picked another and officially continued speaking sometime after.

"Following my leave and return to the Unknown Regions – it didn't take long as I was already in the Outer Rim filming a holodrama – it took a lot for me to convince myself to come back here. I missed my family, yes. And even Hapes itself, no question. But I was free, and I knew if I returned that would no doubt be taken away. And it was.

"My mother...she-she was giving a speech. Don't ask me what on. I don't even remember. But what I do remember is walking into the outdoor assembly hall in Ni'Korish Square and..."

At the sound of her becoming choked up, Troy wrapped the arm that she'd entwined hers with out from it and around her shoulder in comfort.

"...locking eyes with her for the first time in nearly four years. She stopped talking altogether, so I know she saw me and recognized me despite my still blonde hair. She smiled at me and then...and then she was shot. Just out of nowhere the bullet came. After being away all that time, I couldn't even have one conversation with my mother. I watched her die! It was an assassination conducted by Thalassa and Calliope. Of course, they wouldn't admit to it. Oh no! They pinned it on mutinous nobles, but I knew better. My family was far from pleased by my return, save a spare few.

"I conducted a full-scale investigation for the next month, my mind on nothing else but that, and I discovered that Thalassa and Calliope's perfidy was also shared by their descendants: Calixte, Apollonia, and a Fourth Generation Heir.

"At that point, I really didn't know who I could turn to Troy. I really didn't." Her tone became steady again as she wiped away her tears. "Finally, I-I said something to my grandmother, Aunt Akanthe, and Ozterik, of whom were also doing an investigation of their own concerning the matter.

"At mother's death, my grandmother and her sisters were named Queen Mothers again, something Thalassa intended to use as an advantage in the sense that she was the only of the three to have a Fourth Generation Heir, thus giving her the authority to make either of her own granddaughters Queen Mother. But I had never abdicated the throne as Chume'Ta; I simply ran away. And while Thalassa seemed to think they meant one in the same, the fact was they didn't, something grandmother and grandaunt Tiponya made quite clear to her. With mother dead and my return, that made me the new Queen Mother." Antonella shook her head. "Thalassa wouldn't have that, and neither would her second daughter or granddaughters – Calandra wasn't in on any of this interestingly enough. They lambasted me for running away and privately threatened that if I didn't back down, I'd end up the same way my mother did. They confessed to killing her, but said they would deny it if I tried using this against them.

"Little did they know, I'd bugged the majority of my clothing with listening devices in the case they did something of the sort to take them down. And it worked. The recorded confession was presented in court and the four were given life imprisonment, while Calixte's two-year-old heir was cared for by Calandra. I wish that's the way it could've ended, but it didn't.

"The four escaped prison and assayed at assassinating me during my coronation as Queen Mother. In retaliation, I used this," she pulled something out of a gown pocket and presented it to Troy, "to defend myself. Do you remember giving it to me?"

Troy gasped down at the object in question and took it into his hands with astonishment. "The lightsaber I made for you!" he exclaimed, turning it over in his hands and then turning to smile at her. "I can't believe you still have it."

Identical to his own black bladed original, Troy had constructed this for her about a month into their first of three years ago relationship's start as a means to keep her safe.

"_With the war going on, I won't always be there to have your back babe," an eighteen-year-old Troy said to a seventeen-year-old Antonella, or as he knew her, Regina, in 24 IE. "So with this, you can watch your own back without me. You can handle that, can't you?"_

"_Of course Troy," she laughed happily and gave him a kiss. "Thank you."_

Troy smirked at the remembrance and handed the lightsaber back to its owner. Antonella smiled at acceptance. "I take it with me everywhere," she said in response to his last present words. "There's not a place I go that it doesn't follow. It's been very useful that way."

"So you used it to kill them, I'm assuming," Troy voiced.

Antonella grew somewhat uncomfortable at the phrasing. "It was for the sake of justice," she tried to justify. "What they did was wrong. They needed to be given a punishment that prison obviously couldn't. So yes. I killed them. That I do not regret. What I do regret, however, is the slaughter that followed.

"Outraged by my actions, Alyssia and her son, Samos, came at me to finish what the deceased couldn't: my assassination. Only this time, I wasn't the only one involved in the fight to stay alive.

"The twelve family members that remained that day, yes counting Calixte's toddler son and myself, either wanted me dead or fought to prevent it. No matter the case, only four survivors surfaced: Tiponya, Akanthe, Ozterik, and, of course, myself. My crowning as Queen Mother has gone down in history as the 'Bloodbath Coronation'. It really is a shame to have ended that way, but the good news is that the bad seeds of the 'Dan dynasty have been extirpated forever. We've been experiencing a time of peace for the past fourteen years now, the consortium continues to blossom and bloom, and all is well in our land."

"I wish I could say my life's been as peachy through that stretch of time," Troy said. "But the truth is, it hasn't."

"I can imagine," Antonella surmised, "following your family's dethroning. But do tell! I'm quite interested."

Troy did so over the next few hours, starting at the beginning of the crisis in 26 IE and all its contents, to the period of exile until 31 IE, their semi-emerging in 36 IE, official resurfacing in 39 IE, the GA-Empire War, another bout of exile, and presently, the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Antonella listened attentively and made comments here and there. Especially about _Knight Crawler_ when she learned he'd been the one who stole it from the Outer Rim hotel she was staying at prior to her leave ("I can't believe you did that! Did you really hate me that much?") and even more at the discovery of his recent love affair ("You Troy, in love?! With Jaina Solo? And there was a child in the mix too? Woah! I guess you really have changed.")

"I get that a lot," he responded with a laugh.

By the end of their catch up chat, it was nearing sundown – Troy had arrived that morning – and by the time they left the depths of the jungle garden soon after, the sun had set and Hapes' seven moons were aglow in the indigo sky. Rather than return to the Palace right away, however, Antonella showed Troy a glade close by that was perfect for star gazing.

"It's a great way to set your mind at ease after a long day," she said, leading him by hand into the open grassy field, "which we've both had."

The pair settled down in the soft lush grass and simply sat, alternating between gazing up at the stars and each other, only to look at the stars again when they felt their own was too long.

They were so close.

Troy didn't realize until then, with her being no more than a few inches away from him, how much he'd actually missed Regina/Antonella, whatever.

Missed this.

The closeness between two people that wasn't family-related.

With Jaina, it had been all-too-brief – nearly two months. The old flames that had been extinguished between he and Antonella at their final split the last time they saw one another seventeen years ago were coming back. Troy wanted more than anything to close the several inch distance between them on the ground and kiss her passionately on the lips. But he didn't. Why?

He wasn't entirely sure, though something was keeping him back. And it was the same thing that was keeping Antonella back also.

Fear.

Fear of what giving into their emotions once more would cost them.

Troy had been in love once and lost it. He wouldn't risk letting it happen again. He couldn't. Who knew what the loss would do to him a second go-round.

Yet there was a part of him that didn't care. And it was that part of him that was crossing the distance between himself and the Queen Mother and kissing her sweetly, simply, on the lips under the moonlight. No added lewdness was necessary, and Antonella didn't add any as she began to softly kiss back into his mouth. Neither wanted to rush anything too quickly this time, unlike last where they ended up sleeping together the very night they met. They didn't need that at the present, or want it. They just wanted to be with each other in the sense of holding one another and merely being in each other's presence.

Why oh why couldn't it have been here he and Allana ended up instead of Chiss space? Troy wondered as he slipped an arm around Antonella's shoulders and through her thick, soft hair, as he moved her body closer to his so she was resting her head into his upper chest.

If that had happened, war would've been the last thing anyone had to worry about. The Yuuzhan Vong had overlooked this area of space. It was peaceful here, in addition to being beautiful. The perfect place for an exile to reside. And then he remembered his reason for being out here to begin with. It was to call upon military aide in the upcoming battle the Yuuzhan Vong were to throw upon Corulag in the year's final month. It'd been three months to the present at his leave, but since then one month had gone by, meaning he still had two months. All the same, rather than him sitting here in reunion with his ex/current flame, he should be presenting a proposal to the Queen Mother in why she should send some, if not all, of her consortium's naval forces to known space in alliance to helping the Empire against a swarm of extragalactic aliens that probably, though not necessarily, eventually would invade her own land sooner or later.

Yet he didn't.

Not yet.

It was too soon.

He'd wait a little while. He still had two months to spare.

There was no rush, right?


	153. Ruin

Author's Note: I turned 18 yesterday. But I assure you, being that age isn't all it's cracked up to be. I feel the same as I did at 17.

G-Anakin 13: You will.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 31: Ruin

The next morning, Troy, still on Hapes, got somewhat of a surprise following his arrival in Fountain Palace's Royal Dining Hall for breakfast.

After his rendezvous with Antonella the night before, the two had returned to the Palace and she showed him to a guest room not too far from her own chambers. From there, the couple parted, yet not before Troy got in one last kiss goodnight.

He still couldn't believe he was with her again. Never in a million years had Troy ever expected to be reunited with his last and favorite "plaything" or imagined there being anything else between them besides-

"Who are you?"

Troy was pulled from his thoughts upon entering into the Royal Dining Hall at the sound of a child's voice, female, asking him a question. He looked down before him to see the source was a dark auburn haired little girl of about 8, elaborately costumed and with a golden tiara crowning her head. She appeared to be a royal lady of some kind, maybe a nobles' daughter. He smiled down at her and was actually surprised when it was returned.

"You can call me Troy."

"Troy," she repeated. "You don't look or sound to be from around here." She suddenly looked fascinated. "Are you that outsider everyone's been talking about?"

Troy inwardly smirked at the prospect of being the pinnacle of everyone's attention, but flashed, Chezarina he sensed was her name, a grin. "You could say that."

The girl, who confirmed her name to being Chezarina a moment later, requested he sit with and tell her of his native homeland over a meal of oatmeal. Since no one objected, he did so to pass by the time until the Queen Mother's arrival in the hall.

He and his new little friend were soon joined by another noble child. Another girl, but younger, around age 4, with medium auburn hair. She was just as elaborated dressed as Chezarina and introduced herself as such: "I'm Adelphie! I'm a Princess!"

Chezarina was soon clarifying that this was her younger sister, though before anything else could be said, Queen Mother Antonella was arriving and Adelphie was jumping out of her seat beside Troy to meet her.

"Mommy!"

Troy choked on the milk he was downing at this proclamation, causing Chezarina to worriedly pat him on the back. "Are you alright?"

Troy lowered the glass from his mouth, but did not answer. His and Antonella's eyes were locked onto one another, a stare which only he held for another moment before turning to give a confused Chezarina a forced smile and say, "Excuse me Chume'Ta Chezarina."

He rose from the table and exited the hall for the outdoor glade he and Antonella had star gazed in the night before, ignoring the calls after him by Chezarina ("Hey! Where are you going?") and the Queen Mother herself ("Troy! Troy, come on! Don't do this to me!").

No one stopped him from reaching his destination, something he was quite thrilled over, or once reaching it from collapsing to the ground within its lush depths and against a tree stump.

Troy let out a deep sigh. He felt so betrayed. How could she _not_ have told him? He told her everything of the events that led up to him being here, except the part where he involves her consortium's military into a war that doesn't concern them. He dismissed these thoughts. That wasn't important yet. The fact was she'd led him on into believing there was something between them now, when actually she was merely playing him from the get for a fool.

Troy sensed Antonella coming up behind him in the glade before he heard her gentle footsteps and felt her troubled spirit. He waited until she was several meters behind before speaking.

"Why didn't you tell me you had two daughters, Antonella?" His tone wasn't cold, but it wasn't exactly warm either.

"I thought it was obvious," she said softly, seating herself down beside him in the grass. "I've been Queen Mother fourteen years now."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Does the name Ni'Korish ring a bell to you?"

"Troy, it's not like I'm married."

"You honestly expect me to believe you had them illegitimately," he said in a tone which spoke volumes of how he felt. "As a Queen Mother, you had two daughters out of wedlock."

"No!" she said desperately. "I had a consort."

"_Had_?"

"He died two years ago in a boating accident."

"How tragic."

"Troy!"

Disgusted, Troy made to get up, only Antonella held him down. He turned to her, his eyes cold, and she nearly recoiled at the sight, hurt by how he was treating her. Nevertheless, she continued. "Believe me Troy when I tell you I didn't want you to find out that way. I didn't tell you yet because I was scared of how you'd take it. I'm sorry."

Troy gazed into her glistening eyes and face, and his own softened. She was telling the truth. He really did sense that she was sorry and wasn't playing him. He felt like a stupid jerk for jumping to conclusions, and reached over to take her into his arms. She cried into his shoulder and addressed him again. "Troy, I am so sorry."

"Shh." Wiping away her tears, he took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. "I'm the one who should be apologizing, for being a fool."

"We were both obviously in the wrong," Antonella presented. "Let's just put it behind us. Or try to anyway."

"I don't try." He flashed her a smirk. "I do." Her lips were within his own once more, both glad that things had been patched up between them.

* * *

It turned out that Chezarina and Adelphie's full names were Chezarina Giselle Chume'Ta 'Dan and Adelphie Cadelaria 'Dan. Troy absolutely loved the two and grew close to the "little angels", as he was common of calling them, the period of three weeks he spent on Hapes. They, in return, also grew close to him, and he became something of a father figure in their lives. 

On the Antonella front, little by little the Queen Mother and he began to go further in their broadening feelings for one another until one day they finally gave into them fully and were intimate.

Not too surprisingly, though it wasn't intended, Antonella became pregnant with a son soon after, of which she was utterly delighted over at the telling and begged Troy to stay with her for always, marry, and build a family together. Troy wanted nothing more than to do this, and had Allana, Kol, and Kyleia been with him here, he probably would've. But he couldn't just abandon them to Baynetta and the Empire in their war against the Yuuzhan Vong. It was then that he finally told Antonella of his mission into the Unknown Regions for military assistance.

"Why didn't you tell me this before Troy?"

The couple were in the Queen Mother's private quarters, one of the real places they could be alone at the Palace, snuggled up in bed after a bout of lovemaking.

"I didn't want you to think I only came here because I wanted something from you. And I guess after that I got so wrapped up in everything here with you. Us. Together." He gave her a lewd kiss. "I may not be able to stay with you now, but I do want us to get married, and after everything else is taken care of, I promise I'll come back to you and we can live out our lives together. Forever."

Queen Mother Antonella Theophilia 'Dan and Ex-Prince Troy Zachary Stavros Grievous Skywalker did indeed marry, not a week later at a deluxe ceremony at Reef Fortress (the private shore side retreat owned directly by the crown and for their use only, which was an exact copy of the original), attended by family only but aired for the kingdom's viewing, and spent three days after for a short honeymoon. But the pleasure ride Troy had been on for the course of the second month, in which time he celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday, came to an end afterwards.

By order of the Queen Mother, the Hapan Navy was assembled, debriefed, and then incited under the command of Supreme Commander Guada and Troy himself. About seventy-five percent of the consortium's military arms left their home in the Unknown Regions for known space and war, while the remaining twenty-five percent stayed to protect the cluster from any attack, should it come. The Queen Mother herself also joined the majority of her forces in their leave from Hapes, yet only because she'd insisted to her newly-wedded, though unsure, husband. Eventually, Troy figured it was best that she did come to stay in his company and approved. Chezarina and Adelphie, however, would remain behind at Fountain Palace under the care of their great-grandaunt, grandaunt, and second cousin.

Troy used his Force bond connection with Allana to determine where exactly it was he should be leading the Hapan fleet to. Though mainly, where exactly it was that _Baynetta_ wanted them stationed for use.

Allana, naturally, was floored he'd actually found and was bringing back help for the upcoming battle, and from another Hapes Consortium no less. This was shared in also Baynetta, Drake, Kol, and Kyleia, however, the orders were eventually made that the Hapan Navy join the fleet that was already assembled in the Commenor system.

Their arrival, 41.12 on the button, came not a moment too soon, for not long after, through Imperial forces stationed in the Inner Rim, it was revealed that the Vong had launched their against neither Corulag nor Bothawui, but Fonder in the Colonies, the site of a massive Imperial shipyard complex.

Prior to this though, Allana was assigned to leading her Dathomir Squadron, along with Kol and Kyleia whom were currently included on a provisional basis, to the Mid Rim in an attempt to rescue slaves being held aboard the clustership _Creche_. However, their pivotal goal was to acquire Ben, as he was also being held therein.

Under siege, Yuuzhan Vong Commander Chine-Kal jumped the ship to Fonder, the intended target. Satisfied that everything was ready, Nas Choka, the Supreme Commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, ordered the fleet to attack. With routes from Bothawui to Fonder lined with mines, Troy led the Hapan fleet from Commenor to Fonder. Before they could arrive, however, suicide-bombing coralskippers had destroyed much of the shipyards, as well as most of the thirty capital ships docked there.

Making her way onto the _Creche_, while Kol and Kyleia remained in the space battle, Allana managed to rescue most of the slaves on board, Ben included, and together with her half-brother, killed the yammosk. Only by that time the vessel began to die. The two managed to get off in time, but Chine-Kal was able to inform Choka that the Hutts had betrayed them: the only species of known aliens the Vong were still working with it turned out. These were among the few that escaped the Grievous-Skywalker's massacring wrath in 20 IE.

When word of the attack at Fonder reached Corulag, as planned, while Drake rushed off to the system with an assembly of Imperial naval forces, the Empress Baynetta armed what was left of Centerpoint Station in the ruins of the Corellia system. It was her intent to use the station's massive repulsors to literally smash the Vong fleet, however, because of its semi-destruction two years ago, she was unable to properly aim the beam, resulting in disaster. While the massive repulsor beam destroyed half of the Vong fleet, causing them to withdraw, it came at a large cost. Most of the Hapan Navy assembled – about three quarters – was destroyed and the beam grazed and eradicated a section of Fonder's penultimate moon. The beam also singed Fonder's northern hemisphere before continuing away from the planet and out into the black of space. With the yammosk dead and the unsureness if there was going to be another energy beam, Choka ordered his fleet to withdraw fully out of the system and from the battle.

The aftermath of Fonder's battle was just as disastrous. Not only was Queen Mother Antonella blamed for the loss of the Hapan fleet upon the return to her Unknown Regions consortium along with Troy (by her grandaunt Tiponya in particular, who hadn't at all approved of Hapan involvement in affairs that didn't concern them from the jump and expressed deep disappointment with the two of them), but the Force-feedback from so many deaths caused the pregnant ex-holostar to miscarry, to much grief from her and the entire Royal House, Troy included.

These incidents inevitably forced the Queen Mother to disallow any further aid to the war, and necessarily closed the consortium's borders to the outside Galaxy and all except her husband. For she didn't blame him for the disastrous occurrence as Troy thought she might. He was furious with Baynetta for what she'd done, and in that in itself showed Antonella he was regretful. Troy accompanied his Royal Hapan wife back to her home, but was urged to leave soon after, which he did out of respect for the cluster and returned to known space, Corulag, and war.

The fact of Troy's marriage to the Hapan Queen Mother and miscarriage that followed in the Battle of Fonder was something which remained secret to everyone, notwithstanding his anger to the latter, even Allana. Though it pained Troy to keep that part of his life from her, he couldn't risk what might happen at its public learning; at _Baynetta's _learning. Troy had fallen in love for a second time in his life, and he absolutely would not allow a repeat of Jaina to happen to Antonella. He would rather die first.


	154. Conquest II

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 32: Conquest II

The dawn of Year 42 IE began with the Battle of Kalarba. Its location being the Mid Rim Sector capital of Kalarba in the system and around the planet of the same name. This battle saw the destruction of the pleasant and largely undeveloped world and its moon Hosk Station through the use of the Yo'gand's Core tactic employed earlier at Sernpidal.

In an attempt to cut off the Corellian Run, a major galactic trade route that stretched from the Core to the Outer Rim, the Yuuzhan Vong attacked Kalarba and Hosk Station. During the assault the Yo'gand Core tactic, which involved using a Dovin basal to pull Hosk Station into a collision course with Kalarba, was deployed. In response, Imperial forces began evacuating the populations of both worlds. And fortunately, many lives were saved before both the station and planet were destroyed.

During the space battle that surrounded the tragedy, Lieutenant Allana Djo and Dathomir Squadron engaged the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. However, enemy forces then assaulted the Imperial flagship of the Commander in charge of the military unit stationed therein, and Allana, in response, attempted to defend the ship, though the Yuuzhan Vong succeeded in destroying it. The explosion also destroyed Allana's TIE, though she managed to eject in time and was eventually retrieved. Unfortunately for her, she suffered injuries that temporarily blinded her and scorched her long red-gold hair to an uneven shoulder length. Consequently, this made Allana receive a medical leave transfer to the Core World Duro.

Defeat #1.

This was followed by the Battle of Druckenwell, also in the Mid Rim and the Yuuzhan Vong's continued campaign to cut off the Corellian Run.

By this time, the problem of refugees from shattered invasion conquered planets rose so much that the Imperial government could no longer ignore it, thus the creation of SCR (Select Committee for Refugees), with its home base on Duro.

During the Battle of Druckenwell, the Galactic Empire was able to evacuate most of the planet's population to this location, where SCR was operating a terraforming project to make Duro green and habitable again since the GA-Empire War, which turned it into a near-wasteland. However, they were not able to prevent the Yuuzhan Vong from conquering the overpopulated urban planet that was Druckenwell. And the alien invaders then began terraforming the planet to suit themselves.

Defeat #2.

Next came the Battle of Rodia, yet again in the Mid Rim on the Yuuzhan Vong march to the Galactic Core and to cut off the Corellian Run. Rodia had become a major member of the Galactic Empire since the extermination of its native species, and as such, a target of the Yuuzhan Vong.

To further the conquest of Rodia, a world of estimated population being 1.85 billion, the extragalactic alien invaders inserted a Yammosk into the planet's mantle. The Yuuzhan Vong forces then brutally massacred countless Humans and Rodians alike, the last of which returned to their homeworld following the Vong's betrayal of them (most of which had been imprisoned in their aide to the Empire), and destroyed the cities of the industrial-rainforest world. Those Rodians that managed to flee Rodia – the Humans were shown no mercy – found themselves refugees from persecution.

Shortly after the battle, the Master Shaper Taug Molou began a series of experiments to forge the Rodian captives into deadly warbeasts to further the Yuuzhan Vong cause. The Master Shaper had been partly inspired by the violent attitude of the Rodian species. He would take his Rodian experimental subjects apart on a cellular level, reassembling their genetic code with bits from other creatures. This experiment resulted in the creation of the Vogh Rodiek – mindless warbeasts that moved on crab-like legs with sharp half-meter long scythes of bone in place of arms. Their natural head-spines were also mutated into razor-sharp quills. While this conflicted with the protocols of the Shaper caste, the Vogh Rodiek's effectiveness in combat caused this heresy to be overlooked. Later, Warmaster Tsavong Lah himself arrived on the planet to oversee the "breaking" of the Rodians.

Defeat #3.

Another battle, another world conquered, another Yuuzhan Vong victory in the Mid Rim to cut off the Corellian Run: the Battle of Falleen.

Since this world of the native humanoid and long lifespan species of the same name had shunned joining the Galactic Empire following the GA-Empire War, the vast world population could expect no Imperial reinforcements to save them from annihilation. Following the battle, the Yuuzhan Vong terraformed the planet and chose not to kill the population but send them to reeducation camps. The planet would be used as an outpost by the Yuuzhan Vong to monitor the defunct Corellian Run.

After which was the Battle of Nal Hutta and in the Mid Rim, though not necessarily on the Vong's continued march to the Core.

After the disaster at Fonder, the Yuuzhan Vong concluded that the Hutts were no longer reliable allies. Seeking just retaliation – and to shore up his status for his role at Fonder – Nas Choka led an assault on Nal Hutta.

The Yuuzhan Vong pounded the barren, yet 7 billion populated world and Nar Shaddaa, one of the five moons of Nal Hutta, from orbit, unleashing massive destruction. They also unleashed bacteria, one designed to break down metallic structures, the other to attack the Hutts' formidable immune systems. Eventually, the Hutts fled the planet, relocating to Tatooine, outside of Hutt space. The Yuuzhan Vong then began to Vongform Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa to suit their own needs, and started a full victorious invasion of Hutt Space.

The Battle of Kubindi, at the Outer Rim forest world of the same name, brought General Ben Skywalker, now 16, back into action after a period of rest following his capture and return to the Galactic Empire some months earlier. What attracted the Vong to this Force nexus famous planet was by the Kubaz history of genetically-engineering insects therein.

Yuuzhan Vong Lieutenant Mujmai Iinan suggested to Warmaster Lah that the battle could be launched with only half the number of coralskippers originally intended. However, Ben, stationed on Bothawui, anticipated the attack, and brought his forces to the planet. Because of the lack of coralskippers, he was able to hold off the Yuuzhan Vong fleet until the Kubaz had executed all space-worthy craft, although the planet did fall to the Yuuzhan Vong.

As a result, Lah had Iinan sacrificed to the gods after the battle.

The march of the Yuuzhan Vong to the Core came to a semi-halt at their reach of Duro, the first Core world to be conquered by the extragalactic aliens and the result of millions of refugee and civilian casualties due to the SCR's placing there.

During the battle in space, despite Supreme Commander Palpatine and his forces' move against it from occurring, the 20 orbital/floating cities that surrounded the planet Duro itself were pulled down onto the formerly polluted wasteland, yet becoming agriplanet world via Dovin Basals that were deployed by Yuuzhan Vong forces upon arrival in the system. All these cities were destroyed upon crashing on Duro's surface except Urrdorf, which managed to escape along with thousands of citizens. The Yuuzhan Vong also deployed the Ychna – a giant space snake which attacked the orbital floating city of Orr-Om and two powerful serpentine monsters called Tu-Scart and Sgauru. However, Drake, armed in a TIE, succeeded in destroying the Ychna by firing a proton torpedo into its mouth. Yet the Yuuzhan Vong succeeded in conquering Duro anyway.

During the battle in land, Kyleia, also recently turned 16 along with Kol, the leader of ground assault against the Vong, was captured by Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who proceeded to torture her to the brink of paralysis. Lah then intended to sacrifice Kyleia to the Yun-Yammka, the God of War and the patron deity of the Warrior caste. However, Troy and Kol managed to locate their fellow, but Lah was unconcerned, as he had every intention of facing the two in what was sure to be an interesting challenge. And to this he got. In the end, though, the male duo used the Force to create a whirlwind of loose objects around the room, knocking Lah out a window and causing the Warmaster's left foot to be torn loose.

In the aftermath of his defeat, Lah offered to halt the invasion at Duro, and leave the rest of the Galaxy in peace. But in return, he called for the lives of every Force user alive, which would amount to seven officially and included the Empress herself. However, there were plenty of other Force sensitives out there to which no one knew about and were causing harm to no one. Nonetheless, Lah wanted them too and even threatened that any world which gave a Force sensitive refuge would be targeted for attack.

Nas Choka, on the other hand, criticized this decision from day one, believing that Lah spent too much of the Warriors resources trying to destroy Force users. In Choka's own words:

"Tsavong Lah would have directed the entire armada against a handful of upstarts with magic swords. It would be frankly laughable if it were not so tragic."

However, many planets took Lah at his word. Many Force sensitives popped up across the galaxy being killed or betrayed to the Yuuzhan Vong in hopes of protection or fair treatment. But, the galactic populace had yet to understand a subtle nuance of Yuuzhan Vong: Peace meant the same as submission.


	155. Praxeum

Author's Note: Hey guys. Here's a five chapter update for today and the usual three days to follow. I'll be updating with several chapters from now on per day, as I've been becoming bored with this for the past few weeks now. I'm eighteen now. I started this back when I was fifteen I think. God knows looking back at it now I could've made it better. However, I look at it as something of an accomplishment for a teenager who doesn't drink, smoke, or do drugs and party at bars and clubs like most rift rafts by age. And if anyone, _anyone_, has a problem with that (ffcritic anyone?) you can just go jump off a building. Because all that matters is that I like it. The hell with critics and naysayers. I could careless. I'm eighteen and a high school graduate. I don't care anymore. I really don't. I'm eighteen and have never felt better about myself. Ever. So there.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 33: Praxeum

42.7-9 Imperial Era

Tsavong Lah's call and response for Force sensitives continued to be answered by many in the Galactic Empire. So much, in fact, that a paramilitary organization known as the Peace Brigades was formed, secretly by the thought dead Nom Anor, who obtained an extensive list of Forcees from highly placed sympathizers in the Imperial government (Baynetta kept a list of them to ensure no overthrowing or Jedi business occurred within her empire).

Most of these leaks in Intelligence and the Navy were from people who genuinely believed that they could secure peace with the Yuuzhan Vong, or else that it was a choice between defeat and cooperation. Others blamed Force sensitives for provoking the war. Some were simply in it for the credits. In short, it was done out of fear. The fear of survival.

It was for this reason, in part, why Baynetta was not at all surprised when this 'Peace Brigade' tried overthrowing her from power following Duro's conquest. She expected something of the sort to happen and met them head on in battle in their attack on Corulag's Imperial Palace. They did not succeed, as the Empress still had many allies on-world, and were driven off-world and out of the system, back to Duro where they were abandoned to rot.

A Peace Brigade loss. However, the insurgent group's next attack wouldn't be so non-fulfilling.

Back in 41.9, nearly a year prior, during Troy's leave and rendezvous in the Unknown Regions' Hapes Consortium and Ben's Yuuzhan Vong captivity, it became more than clear to Baynetta that the amount of seven, at the moment five, Force sensitives in an Order of the Light and Dark Sides wasn't going to cut it against the Vong. They needed help. The help of other Sith or established Force-users. Or maybe that of regular civilians who became Force sensitive and were trained to become established. Thus, the Sith Praxeum on the forest-mining colony Vanquo, a world which also happened to be one of the Empress' secret throne worlds, was born.

Though its location was along the Jebble-Vanquo-Tarnith line (in relative proximity to Mandolore and Bandomeer and in the Outer Rim), as the Vong were, for the most part, not attacking Outer Rim worlds anymore, and even if they had, there were plenty of systems in that region which hadn't been attacked or touched due to the secrecy surrounding them. They were so well hidden that it was utterly impossible to find them unless you were looking for them particularly. It was for this reason that Baynetta was not at all worried about her twenty-some students at the Praxeum on Vanquo, two of which being the Antilles sisters that were still thought to be on Kalist VI by everyone save herself and also, unbeknown to her, Kol.

Between missions in early 42, the teen Hand ventured to the Deep Core world Syal and Myri had been secluded on since the greater part of a year to visit them (he liked to think they'd become friends during his, Kyleia, and Allana's escorting of them to Chiss space; though, especially had found himself drawn to Syal, and dreamt of her often), only to find they weren't there. This confused him, and ultimately led to his interrogating of the Palace staff on Kalist VI for their location, which he received. But to ensure it wasn't discovered, erased the incident from their minds. As to why Kol never said anything, even so much in secret to Kyleia, Allana, or Troy, about the matter was simple. The seven of them were just starting to work together flowingly without back bites or scorn and were growing an admiration for each other in the way they worked. Why, just the other day Kol had overheard a conversation between Drake and Allana where the pair were actually sharing a laugh, even if in an insulting manner for the other. The seven adversaries had officially, _finally_, joined a united front with the other, and what a way that would be to tare it apart by revealing Syal and Myri's transport to Vanquo and the Outer Rim, when Troy and Allana pacifically stated they wanted the two out of harm's way a way from the war, not training to fight within it.

It was the Peace Brigade's rise against Baynetta on Corulag, accompanied by nightmares of Syal herself in danger alongside Myri and others, that began to worry the sixteen-year-old into thinking the paramilitary organization and the Vong's next assault might be on Vanquo itself to take out the Sith Praxeum. It was quite the vulnerable target after all, alone by itself in the Outer Rim and laying quite the distance beyond the space under effective Imperial control. And while a Fallanassi illusion protected the world and academy therein as its primary defense, this could prove ineffective against the nulling effect the Yuuzhan Vong had in the Force: they couldn't at all be felt within it.

At first Kol was going to present these concerns to his Empress grandmother, but then thought against it. Who knew what she would do to him upon discovering he knew of the secret she probably intended to eventually use against the Grievous Skywalkers in their endgame match up.

No. He would go alone. There was always Allana, of course. She was just officially recovering from the injuries sustained at Kalarba and was about to return to the field shortly. But no. He wouldn't bother his cousin with this. Despite the fact that he was also supposed to be returning to the field, and with the nineteen-year-old Lieutenant at that, this was something he must do himself. So kissing (on the cheek, of course) the still recovering Kyleia goodbye – she'd suffered quite the ordeal on Duro, but would be alright – Kol snuck out of the Imperial Palace II by means of stealth and used slicing tricks taught to him long ago by former master Jaina Solo to sneak off-world through Corulag's security perimeter aboard his TIE XJ Defender. He figured it'd take a few hours before anyone noticed he was gone, and there would be hell to pay afterwards for sure, yet Kol found that he didn't much care. If all worked out, Baynetta should be thanking him once this was over.

The only type of fame Vanquo had was that it was the place of battle between Old Republic and Mandolorian armadas in 103, 964 ORE. Besides that, however, the world had no connection whatsoever to the surrounding galaxy and was solely alone.

On arriving outside the planet sometime later, Kol discovered the presence of a Corellian light freighter in orbit around the dark world, scouting the place out. Although the ship initially claimed to be a corusea gem prospector, a heavily armed flotilla of twelve more ships then dropped into the area, including several starfighters, corvettes, and a frigate. Kol realized that his worst fears had been correct: the Peace Brigade had indeed arrived to take out the Sith Praxeum, and in strength.

The Empress' Hand managed to fight his way past the Brigadiers, and landed at what was a Great Temple/Imperial Citadel in the backdrop of blue mountains and leaf greenery (it was currently night), where he found Sith trainees running about in chaos with no one to guide them. It turned out that Baynetta's means of turning the twenty-some Force sensitive made recruits into accomplished Force-users was via holoprojected lessens from her and Sith Holocrons. Within the jumble, Kol was reunited with Syal and Myri, now ages 16 and 14, and with the sisters brought some order to the situation and came up with a plan. While half of their number would hide in passageways and caves that spread beneath the Temple area and the surrounding riverland, Kol and the remaining half would stay behind at the Academy to create a diversion against the Brigade assault: five ships full of troops, led by Lieutenant Kot Murno. However, to much disapproval, the half that was assigned to hide refused to go through with their orders, calling them cowardly and naively remained with their fellows, determined to help fight off the attack.

On Corulag, Baynetta discovered Kol's leaving sooner than intended and sensed his destination of purpose, which greatly surprised her. Nonetheless, she sent the newly recovered Allana after him with a moderate sized militia unit in addition to Dathomir Squadron. Naturally, the teen was furious at the learning of a secret Sith Praxeum, including the Antilles sisters no less, but her desire to return to war after five months on leave outdid the anger and she raced to Vanquo, arriving outside the world to find the other seven ships of the Peace Brigade squadron in orbit around the planet. A tense standoff ensued, but Allana was eventually successful in taking out the Peace Brigade ships.

Soon after, however, just as Allana was about to join Kol and the Antilles' on-world with the rest, the tables turned from victory to near-conquest for the the Imperials, as a powerful Yuuzhan Vong task force arrived, led by two Miid Ro'ik warships and bombarded their enemies in battle.

On the surface, things weren't going any better. The Peace Brigade's attack on the temple was horrendous and resulted in the deaths of all twenty inexperienced Sith trainees, save Syal and Myri. And on top of that, while Kol managed to hijack a Peace Brigade light freighter for the trio to escape on, Myri was injured covering the escape and Syal, taken prisoner. Kol tended to Myri's shoulder blast wound as much as possible as they made to flee the planet, but were pursued by three smaller Peace Brigade ships. And although they were able to take out their pursuers after sustaining a few hits, the damaged freighter was itself shot down and crashed deep in the overpopulated oak tree forest. After which, Kol, after bandaging up Myri's arm with a piece of cloth, began to lead a salvage mission to repair the ship so they could flee the planet.

Days passed, and the standoff above Vanquo continued between Allana and the invading forces, while Syal languished in Peace Brigade captivity. In the widescaping forest, Kol worked, with Myri's help, to repair their freighter, and also to improvise a repulsorsled out of a crashed E-Wing: he was determined to go back for his friend, her sister, as he'd promised Syal that upon captivity.

A week passed, and he dreamed of her again, now seeing Syal shaped and turned to the utmost Dark Side by the Yuuzhan Vong.

At this point, the mid-teen retrieved his damaged TIE for parts, and was joined by an ex-Imperial pilot named Qorl, who had been living on Vanquo for many years as a hermit and brought he and Myri news of the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong. Kol asked the old TIE pilot to take charge of Myri and to repair the damaged freighter, while he himself set out to rescue Syal. Myri, however, would not have this and demanded Kolto let her come along. This led to a heated argument, which included Kol's fair point of Myri not being accomplished enough of a Force user yet ("No matter my disapproval of you being made Force sensitive at all, I will not take the risk of you getting hurt.") and the inevitable discovery that Kol did indeed have feelings for Syal that were obviously shared.

"Syal thinks of you often," Myri informed. "And I know she likes you. All I'm saying Kol is this: We both care about her, so let us both rescue her. I won't let you go after her alone. Even if I have to tie you down to ensure this."

So it was decided. Kol and Myri left behind Qorl with their freighter to rescue Syal together as a team.

At about the same time, a senior Yuuzhan Vong officer, Commander Tsaak Vootuh, arrived on Vanquo. It is not clear whether the initial Yuuzhan Vong task force of a week before had come to raid the Academy, or, as they claimed to the Galactic Empire later, simply to tap water from stroiketcy, but now they resolved to hold and garrison the forest world, take possession of any _Forcees_ they could find, and establish a damutek colony for the Shapers. Tsaak Vootuh took Syal into his own custody, while subordinate warriors rounded up the other Brigadiers for interrogation and ritual execution.

A fortnight later, Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad arrived on Vanquo. A secret heretic answering directly to the Supreme Overlord, she and her apprentice, Nen Yim, claimed Syal as a specimen for their experiments. Their aim was to physically and psychologically transform her into a Force sensitive Yuuzhan Vong, replacing her personality with a new identity called Riina Kwaad, based on memories copied from Nen Yim's own childhood.

Meanwhile, Kol and Myri journeyed through the forest, occasionally evading Yuuzhan Vong patrols. They discovered that the damuteks had flattened the Temple/Citadel, and encountered a Yuuzhan Vong outcast named Vua Rapuung. Once a renowned warrior, he had been the lover of Mezhan Kwaad, but when he decided to break off the affair, she had infected him with a virus that caused his body to reject his ritual implants, making him seem to be a Shamed One. Rapuung, however, knew that Kwaad was responsible, and believed that Kol and Myri, though mostly Kol, could help him vindicate his honor.

Weeks more passed, while Syal's brainwashing continued, Kol and Myri, disguised as slaves, infiltrated the Yuuzhan Vong colony. Together with Vua Rapuung, they broke into the damutek where Syal had been shaped, but even as they made their way towards the heart of the Shaper facility, Mezhan Kwaad was being apprehended by Tsaak Vootuh on a charge of heresy. Kol and Myri arrived just in time to see the commander and his personal guard leading away the captive Shapers, accompanied by the brainwashed girl who now believed herself to be Riina Kwaad.

The infiltrating trio fought their way through the compound, to where Syal and the prisoners were being hustled aboard a ship for transport off-world. In front of dozens of Yuuzhan Vong, ranging from Intendants to Shamed Ones, Vua Rapuung confronted his former lover, and demanded she speak the truth. Mezhan Kwaad calmly and boldly proclaimed her heresy, then killed Tsaak Vootuh and his surviving guards with a weapon concealed in her Shaper Hand, before using it to hobble and overpower Kol, Myri, and Vua, ordering Nen Yim to take them aboard the ship for transport to the Supreme Overlord.

At this point, however, Syal called Kol's lightsaber to herself and used it to decapitate the Master Shaper, while the badly-injured Vua Rapuung fought to give she, Myri, and Kol enough time to escape aboard the ship. The Force sensitive trio joined up with Qorl on the now-repaired freighter, and ran the Yuuzhan Vong blockade, just in time to be rescued by Allana's temporary flagship, _Ricochet_, and the newly-arrived armada of the Imperial Fleet led in part by Drake, Troy, and Ben, though Kyleia also came as a passenger.

While Allana had been furious, Troy was enraged to learn of Baynetta's secret Sith Praxeum and the Antilles sisters involvement in it. He pointed out to her quite fiercely that if she hadn't killed off his parents, siblings, cousins, aunt, and Jaina "maybe we'd have a better chance against the Vong than this."

"Remember Troy that you yourself killed Luke," she rebutted only as a way to place some of the blame on another, even if she was responsible for the other sixteen. The fact was, Baynetta knew he was right. Yet how was she supposed to have known an extragalactic race was to eventually invade the galaxy?

A space battle played out accordingly, in which Allana's fleet, augmented by at least a million under the Navy's top officers additionally, destroyed the Yuuzhan Vong ships in orbit and bombarded the colony on the surface, destroying the damuteks and more ships that had been brought into land. Allana then deployed troops, who liberated the enslaved captives the Yuuzhan Vong had been using, leaving the Shamed Ones and a few other survivors to await rescue by their own people.

Although the Empire withdrew from Vanquo soon after, and the Yuuzhan Vong eventually reoccupied the Outer Rim world, the battle was in most respects a victory for the Imperial government. Syal had been scarred mentally and physically by her ordeal, and the other twenty Sith trainees, save Myri, had of course been lost, much to the Empress' disappointment, but the slave population the aliens had subsequently brought to the forest world had been saved. And on a military level, the Navy had wiped out a Yuuzhan Vong task force and utterly destroyed the most important Shaper compound in the Galaxy.

Upon their return to Corulag, this mission elevated Allana's military status from Lieutenant of a squadron to Lieutenant General of the Imperial Navy, right beneath Ben in the slot of General. Kol was also elevated to Sith Knight from Apprentice, and Syal and Myri were placed under Drake and Troy as apprentices, but with the warning from Baynetta: "I will not stand for a repeat of Antellica and Arica Grievous. The first sign of treachery and you're gone. I don't care what the odds are."

Also in the aftermath, as Syal was able to heal somewhat and rid herself of her split Nen Yim personality, as much as could be anyway, she and Kol explored their feelings for one another, giving each other their first kiss, and acquired a semi-romantic relationship that was only approved of by Drake, Syal's master, so long as it didn't interfere with her continued training or the war effort.

Moreover, a belief developed among the Shamed Ones that Vua Rapuung had been redeemed in death thanks to his alliance with Kol and Myri. This marked the beginning of the Forcee Heresy, an underground movement which regarded Force-users as saviors rather than enemies.


	156. Remnant

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 34: Remnant

42.12 Imperial Era

In the months to follow, soon to be aged 39, Drake found himself being drawn to scout out particular areas of the Tingel Arm during a brief battle front hiatus until a reason finally came to him upon the remains of the Julevian system its third world and moon – Sernpidal and Dobido.

In the shipwomb of the liquidated Sernpidal laid a worldship of gravitic superweapon-like power. This needed to be abolished before the Vong could even get through the preliminaries of its use against the galaxy. Yet upon showing holographs of it to Empress Baynetta, however, she expressed a desire to perhaps acquire and use this against the Vong, only to change her mind soon after and be in agreement with Drake's decision to destroy it, saying it was probably for the best that way.

A team of forces, which included Drake himself, apprentice Syal, and a fully recovered Kyleia and Ben, were sent to take out the potential danger weapon, using an Immobilizer 418 frigate as a distraction to enter the system. Therein, they encountered stiff resistance, but were able to destroy the weapon nonetheless.

At the same time of this occurred the Battle of Yag'Dhul in the Inner Rim with its players being the other half of Baynetta's Force sensitive subordinates: Troy, Kol, Allana, and Myri.

Nom Anor, disguised as a Givin, the world's native species, attempted to sabotage the Yag'Dhul system's defenses in preparation for an upcoming major attack somewhere in the Core, probably the capital. A Yuuzhan Vong force assaulted the planet in hopes of using it as a staging area to attack the center most galactic region, only to then be thwarted in effort of the foursome team; Nom Anor's plans being hindered, if only for the time being anyway. The Givin fleet, in accompaniment of Imperials, defended Yag'Dhul, but were outnumbered by approximately two to one. However, since the Yuuzhan Vong forces were withdrawn due to the Battle of Sernpidal this, in its own way, saved the barren Inner Rim world that was Yag'Dhul.


	157. Immolate

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 35: Immolate

43.0 Imperial Era

The start of Year Two of the Yuuzhan Vong War perpetuated the way it began. The extragalactic alien invaders continued to rage war, causing worlds to fall one by one, and with the nearing arrival of the Empress' jeweled seventy years of living, not that it mattered much, she was determined more than ever to drive back the Yuuzhan Vong before she became too useless with age. A way at this soon came when Intelligence surfaced of a Yuuzhan Vong creation known as Force sensitive-hunting Voxyn, modeled after the native vornskr wolves of the Inner Rim world Myrkr, of whom were the only known animals in existence to hunt exclusively by sensing the Force. So it came as no surprise that the Yuuzhan Vong base of operations for their fearsome beasts, in the form of a cloning facility, was in the Myrkr system.

In response, a team was assembled of the youngest of Baynetta's Order, the teenagers – Allana, some weeks shy of twenty; Ben, 17; Kol and Kyleia, 16; Syal, 16; and Myri, 14 – to destroy the Voxyn Base. However, because of Kol's daring skills on Vanquo, the leadership of the mission was given to him, much to Ben's annoyance. He felt himself much more superior than his male cousin, and even voiced that Allana leading the mission would've been much better as she was the oldest. There was no need for him to add anymore than that though, for the block of ice that had once been between he and his half-sister, for her involvement in his father's, her step-father's death, was saw to be melting gradually by everyone. Ever since Allana's rescuing of Ben at Fonder, the younger had been warming up to the older somewhat, and since her appointment directly beneath him in the Navy, the pair had been working together a lot on assignments and such. Of course, the half-siblings were far off still from reacquiring any bonds that had been between them during childhood, but it was a start. Allana, along with everyone else, humbly accepted Kol's role as Head of the mission, and urged Ben to do the same. Whether or not he chose to listen to her, though, remained to be seen.

At the mission's start, to get them inside, Troy and Drake, disguised, pretended to be Yuuzhan Vong sympathizers from Talfaglio, a planet under Yuuzhan Vong blockade. They delivered the six-teenager team to a rendezvous point with a Yuuzhan Vong scout ship, which delivered the group through the heavily minded Vong frontier to Myrkr. During their captivity, the group of six were badly injured by Vong torture, and Syal, never the same since her shaping on Vanquo, almost died with Kol coming in second place as to whom was injured the worst. Using a technique called Force Meld, the team managed to survive, then turning on their captors, they secured the ship in hyperspace.

On arrival in the Myrkr system, several Vong ships, led by Nom Anor and Vergere on _Ksstarr_, pursued the Imperial frigate. Syal, seeing no other way to accomplish victory, sacrificed her life to allow her fellows to land on the worldship, _Baanu Rass_, on which the Voxyn cloning facility was located and in Myrkr's orbit, and led the enemy away while Kol's force entered the ship. Syal perished soon after the strike team was off loaded, to much grief from Kol and Myri. It destroyed them both.

Following their entrance into _Baanu Rass_, the now group of five encountered a rogue Nightsister, much to Allana's interest, Lomi Plo, and her male apprentice, Welk. They agreed to assist the teens in finding the Voxyn queen in return for safety and protection. Under Kol's leadership, the team avoided a trap in a slave city and on board a captured AT-AT Walker, home to an insect nest. Nom Anor and Vergere relentlessly pursued the group towards the voxyn queen's lair throughout the journey; however after the encounter in the slave city, Kol's spleen was ruptured after rashly rescuing his sister. The remaining mission was spent in an attempt to stay away from the Yuuzhan Vong long enough for Kol, who refused the team to stop the mission because of his wounds, to go into a healing trance. Not along afterward, the seven person group reached an arena-like area nearby the shaper damutek where the queen hid from them.

As they neared the arena, they found a freighter, _Tachyon Flier_, which they assayed to repair as a means of escape. While Ben repaired the crashed ship with Myri's insisted help to take her mind off Syal, Kyleia recovered from her recent injuries and kept close to Kol. Allana, meanwhile, chatted with Lomi Plo and Welk, who soon after showed their true colors by stealing the newly-repaired _Tachyon Flier_ immediately after Ben and Myri's announcement that it was fixed and flew it off into the Unknown Regions.

Disappointed and enraged, though in an effort to complete the mission, the team continued along in the worldship. In a rearguard action, a severely wounded Kol fought many Yuuzhan Vong as a means of allowing the remaining four team members enough time to escape. He also levitated a thermal detonator to destroy the remaining voxyn tissue, which prevented from the further creation of the Force sensitive hunting creatures. Moments before his death, Kol became a blinding pillar of light as he became one with the Force, forcing Ben to take on the role of leader to his fellow female three. Kyleia, blinded by her grief, drifted into the uttermost darkness of the Force in order to retrieve her brother's body; Force lightning, alchemy, the whole nine yards.

Becoming separated after killing the queen, Allana was captured by Nom Anor and Vergere, though it was made thought she'd fallen in the process of the voxyn queen's death, and forced to face the Embrace of Pain, which ultimately led to the declaration of her death also through the Force. Unable to return to the worldship, and no longer caring to do so, Ben, also grief-stricken because of Allana's loss, led Kyleia and Myri onto _Ksstarr_, which they used to flyaway from Myrkr with.


	158. Collapse

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 36: Collapse

During the same time as the Mission to Myrkr's conclusion came an attack Baynetta had long foreseen since the invasion's start, notwithstanding her moves to prevent it from happening: The Yuuzhan Vong's taking of the Imperial capital, otherwise dubbed the Fall of Corulag.

The Yuuzhan Vong fleet attacked Corulag from the OboRin Comet Cluster, having assembled at Colonies world Boreleias, and used refugee ships containing prisoners from earlier battles to shield themselves with. Even with the efforts of the strongest of the Imperial militia, which at first attempted to confront the Vong fleet head on, then stand off to the side while resorting to long range combat, the Yuuzhan Vong were too plentiful to be stopped. The extragalactic fleet numbered "tens of millions", while only half of the Imperial Navy was present, about a third of the enemies' amount. Distress signals were sent out for the rest of the fleet from (Core world), Kuat, Balmorra, and Kashyyyk, but even then answers weren't in the ranks of greatness.

The refugee ships, taken from captured refugee conveys from worlds including Ralltiir and Rhinnal, and piloted by Yuuzhan Vong, were deliberately smashed into Corulag's shields to weaken them. This tactic worked, as eventually whole shield-grids failed, and the surface shield-generators exploded. Even the orbital defense platforms could not stop the advance of the Yuuzhan Vong. Soon Corulag's skyline was burning with crashing vessels and plasma fire from the battle above. Even Orbital Defense Headquarters was crippled, and fell out of orbit to the surface. The second assault wave were thousands of Yorik-trema dropships, Tsik-Seru airskimmers, swarms of Yorik-Vee assault cruisers and Coralskippers, legions of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, and Chazrach support troops. During the raging battle, Drake and Troy, whom had since returned to the capital following their drop off of the teenagers, targeted the enemy war coordinating Yammosks, and managed to destroy four of them.

Baynetta, meanwhile, knowing the Vong's intention of making her surrender, faked her own death for a second time in life by exploding the Imperial Palace while it was thought she was still within it. When, in fact, she actually wasn't and was with Drake and Troy, but with her presence cloaked. The blast of the proton bomb planted in the since demolished Imperial Palace took out over 25,000 Yuuzhan Vong warriors, many surrounding buildings and several Yuuzhan Vong vessels. However, it also resulted in the Imperial trio's escape from the capital on _Knight Crawler_ to a Deep Core asteroid field known as The Eclipse.

The battle surrounding and within Corulag, nevertheless, lasted several days, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Chazrach slave soldiers performed most of the hard fighting, after the Empress' unbeknown abandoning of her government to the Vong, in the planet's underdeveloped areas of Bamboo Forest, plains, and rivers were a good many citizens that were unable to flee the former capital world of the Galactic Empire went to hide. Most of these, though not all, died as a result. However, there were that spare few that like _Knight Crawler_, were able to flee somewhere off-world.

By it's end, the Imperial Defense Fleet was practically diminished, and the Vong's third wave assault worsened the situation even more. A biotoxin in the form of green algae was released in Corulag's center, Curamelle, devouring many buildings and dead bodies, but also leaving behind black spots. Coralskippers and Yorik-Vec squadrons bombed the devastated city world, causing damage to the defenders. The Yuuzhan Vong eventually fully captured Corulag and had it terraformed and renamed Yuuhan'tar after their own homworld in their own galaxy.

But Tsavong Lah had also made a huge military mistake in the battle. By simply sending warriors in waves, and by ordering some of his own vessels to collide with the planet's shields, he caused massive casualties among his own soldiers. Exact casualties are unknown, but Supreme Overlord Shimrra was soon commenting that following the costly loses of 'Battle Plan Corulag' a full third of the warrior caste had died during the course of their invasion of the Galaxy. And the Yuuzhan Vong now had a massive empire to control, causing Domains to start competing again for resources.


	159. Heiress

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 37: Heiress

43.5-6 Imperial Era

The Galactic Empire had all but disintegrated following the Fall of Corulag, with planets everywhere capitulating themselves outright immediately after but receiving little better treatment from the Vong in result.

Or so it was thought that the Galactic Empire had all but disintegrated, and that's the way Baynetta wanted to keep it. Because little to anyone's knowledge, she'd been secretly withdrawing portions of the fleet in the Unknown Regions' wormhole beneath Hills since the war's beginning.

From the Eclipse asteroid belt, _Knight Crawler_ traveled the final leg of the Deep Core and past the Core sun into the Unknown Regions, where its journey extended over a course of five months through the region's week-long asteroid field and past nine of the ten worlds of the "known vector" of the mostly unknown region. Upon arrival at Hills, the wormhole beneath it was taken and _Knight Crawler_ was found joining a flock of Imperial troops in orbit of and on Jen'jein. Among them were Ben, Kyleia, and Myri. Following their own escape from Myrkr, the teen trio had come here under Ben's direction, as he'd been the only one of the former six-some group to know of this Imperial Last Stand, and directed _Ksstarr_ in the direction of the Unknown Regions at the feel of carnage and disconcert on the capital.

The reunion between trios was simple enough at the Old Sith Temple, as each group brought the other up to speed on the latest happenings of war. The sense of victory that came with the Voxyn Facility's destruction was turned bittersweet at the informing that it'd cost the lives of Syal, Kol, and Allana. Baynetta and Drake were both startled shock by half the team's loss and Troy was utterly distraught, most especially at Allana's demise. He blamed himself for not joining the team in their mission and secluded himself in isolation at an unknown location on-world for a period of time to mourn. What finally brought him out of this after a month was a disturbance concerning the Yuuzhan Vong.

They were close.

Nearby.

So much that Troy could practically taste them.

But where?

And then, he achieved a location. It made his heart sink with horror: the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium was under siege.

"Even so, that doesn't necessarily mean we have to aide them."

The six remaining Imperial Forcees were in a conference hall/temple room of sorts in the Old Sith Temple, conversing over the Yuuzhan Vong's warfare activity in Hapes. Some were seated, others, like Troy, stood. Naturally, it was Baynetta who'd spoken, much to Troy's anger. However, Kyleia talked first before he himself could.

"What better way for us to rejoin the war effort is there than this?"

"Especially after they aided us, and you were responsible for the eradication of a third of their forces. Do I detect guilt Empress, as a reason you don't wish to aide them?"

"You'll feel no such thing from me Troy," she rebutted haughtily.

"Then why not?"

"Simple: Despite their help at Fonder, this Hapes Consortium isn't exactly apart of my empire."

"What empire?" Troy exploded. "Do you see an empire here? The empire's dead Baynetta! It died a long time before the Vong arrived."

"I'll overlook that statement Troy since you're still suffering from Allana's loss." Her tone was that of acid. "Don't let it happen again however. I may not be as merciful next time."

The arguing went on for sometime, back and forth over reasons why or why not the last stand Imperials should put out their necks for the fifty-five world cluster. Baynetta and Drake on one side, Troy and Kyleia on the other, and Ben and Myri somewhere in between. What all said isn't important. What matters is that eventually when Baynetta decided to put the issue to a vote, four voted in fair, two against.

"Well Troy," she said after its following," it would seem you have your wish. But I must ask you, why are you really doing this? Because I know this far succeeds the events of Fonder. Maybe you're trying to protect someone you care about." Her smile went slightly sly. "The Queen Mother perhaps."

"Not at all," Troy answered nonplussed. "I simply feel we, _you_, owe them that much."

"Come now Troy," Baynetta said, her tone indicating she didn't believe a word of what he just said. "I've seen the Queen Mother. You yourself introduced her to me. She's your old paramour Regina Galas. You can't tell me part of the reason you want to aide Hapes doesn't have to do with her. I wouldn't believe you even if you said so. We're on the same side now Troy, or have you forgotten? That can change at any given moment. So I'm going to ask you again, and _you're_ going to give me a truthful answer: Why are you really doing this?"

Troy sighed deeply, partly irritated, partly with hesitation. He should've known this would be brought up eventually. The special aspect of his life that featured the 'm' word was something he'd rather keep to himself. Or his family, which now only featured Kyleia since Allana was gone, though mostly himself to ensure actions weren't made to bring about its undoing. Yet on the other hand, his main hesitation – _his main fear_ – was for Baynetta to find out and kill Antonella in consequence merely to anger or hurt him. But now someone else was going to kill Antonella if he didn't do anything to stop it. Could he risk telling another potential killer about this, only to receive their aide then be betrayed soon after?

"You've got all kinds of time to answer Troy."

Baynetta's sarcastic quote brought Troy out of his thoughts and to the matter at hand curtly. He made his decision.

"Why am I really doing this besides Fonder's happenings? Simple: Because I absolutely refuse to lose my wife and stepdaughters – the Queen Mother, her Chume'Ta, and second heiress – to the same fate as Allana..."

* * *

It was a trap. (Partially anyway.) 

It turns out that the Yuuzhan Vong had tracked the Imperials to the Unknown Regions by means of _Ksstarr_ and were only attacking the Hapes Consortium, mostly, to draw them out. But also because they'd accidentally overlooked this cluster of space and, for some reason, wanted Kyleia especially for capture.

The reason Imperial arrival in the Hapes Consortium was only a partial trap is because Kyleia discovered beforehand how exactly it was the Yuuzhan Vong tracked their ships, and how to compound that technique. By utilizing a small repulsor device created by Ben, of whom Kyleia became semi-close to since Kol's death and Ben likewise since Allana's, the Empress' Hand was able to send up countless decoys to both test her theory and infuriate the Vong. And it worked! Soon, Yuuzhan Vong forces were departing consortium worlds only to be met in combat by the Imperial Last Stand.

On the Vong side, Commander Khalee Lah, son of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, and the Priest Harrar, had been dispatched after _Ksstarr_ to the Unknown Regions with a battle fleet and the intent of capturing Kyleia Skywalker Grievous due to her part in the Myrkr Mission and role in being blood-related to the still Nom Anor-captive and Voxyn Queen slayer Allana Djo. It was the extragalactic aliens' intent to sacrifice the two Force sensitive young women together to their gods. However, at the discovery of an unconquered cluster this far out in space and the fact that their military vessels were recognized as those that allied themselves with and were partially destroyed by the Imperials at Fonder, Khalee Lah ordered his armada to attack and capture the vast sector of worlds.

The Vong were met in battle, naturally, by the Unknown Regioners, but soon were finding conquest upon their enemies due to their less-than-stellar amount of militia since Fonder. However, it just so happened that's when the Imperials chose to arrive. And in quite the strength at that. Lah found that his own were being overwhelmed by the might of the empire. Yet rather than fall back as many urged him to do, being the son of a Warmaster made Lah immune to failure and pushed his forces onward to meet the Empire.

Back to the Imperial side of the battle, Kyleia, aboard the newly-named _Trickster_, formerly _Ksstarr _(she chose to make the stolen Vong vessel a personal transport of hers as reward to herself), used her experience with the spacecraft to manipulate the gravitic signatures of the bioengineered vessels of the enemy fleet. Hence, the Yuuzhan Vong were tricked into firing on their own vessels.

After a long extensive battle, which featured the Hapan Armada joining forces with the Imperials and both sides taking hits, though mostly the extragalactic aliens, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated and the Hapes Consortium free.

In result, on the Vong side, rather than accept his defeat and bring dishonor to his father and the Domain Lah, Khalee Lah committed suicide and what was left of his militia withdrew, only to then be pursued and blasted out of the sky to ensure the Hapan/Imperial victory.

Empress Baynetta, Troy, and the rest were welcomed onto the Hapes capital as heroes, and Queen Mother Antonella informed her husband of a pleasant surprise once it was assured she could announce it publicly in front of his Imperial fellows: another heir had been born to the Hapan Royal House during his 18-month absence. Following the Queen Mother's miscarriage in Fonder's battle, when Troy accompanied her back to Hapes and during his brief stay afterward, she'd conceived again and gave birth nine months later (42.9 IE; 49.9 HE) to a third daughter, which she took to name Tempest Tzarina Giselle 'Dan Grievous Skywalker.

"Do you like it?" she asked somewhat apprehensively.

"Yes." He gave the name another run through in his mind. "Yes I do."

"I wasn't sure when I would see you again is why I didn't hold on naming her," Antonella explained. "I really did want you to be apart of it Troy, and you still can if you like."

Out of tribute to Allana, Troy added her namesake to Tempest's name before Tzarina, making it then Tempest Allana Tzarina Giselle 'Dan Grievous Skywalker.

Though greatly surprised, Troy was also delighted and overjoyed at the news of being a father, but also apprehensive at Baynetta, Drake, and Ben's knowing of it. The Yuuzhan Vong War was still on, yes. But eventually it would end, and when that occurred they, Troy, Kyleia, and probably Myri also, would go head to head in an endgame battle to fulfill their tasks of annihilating the other family: the Grievous Skywalkers vs. the Palpatines.

Antonella, Tempest, and even Chezarina and Adelphie were now apart of the Grievous Skywalker clan, and Troy realized more than ever that it might have been a mistake to become romantically involved, marry, and produce heirs prior to this end match. He should've waited until after, especially following Jaina's own death because of this very same reason. With the murderous trio on Hapes with the very ones Troy needed protecting from, the Hapan Royal House's lives were in just as much danger as they'd been at Vong hands. Because of this, Troy decided that he and the Imperial troop leave as soon as the next day to finish the war.

This was objected to considerably, especially by Antonella, and only at Baynetta's voicing that she would do nothing against Troy and his family until this was over did he decide to stay awhile. The rest, on the other hand, sans Kyleia, would return to known space with the Grievous Skywalker duo joining them shortly. Troy met his nine-month-old infant daughter soon after (she was a pure image of his mother, Arica, with black hair and blue eyes; it was so sad she would never get to meet her, she would've loved her), and for a while, if only a little, was able to experience peace from war and the joys of being a husband and father.


	160. Warfare

Author's Note: Here's four more chapters. I know I said I'd give you five every update now, but I was busy today and didn't feel like editing the fifth.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks. My aim is to interest, though not in an overly drawn out nature.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 38: Warfare

43.8 Imperial Era

Only once Troy and Kyleia regrouped with the Imperial Last Stand (ILS) following their leave from Hapes were any more steps made against the Vong.

At this point, eight months after Corulag's and a semi-Galactic Empire fall, the extragalactic aliens were fanned out throughout the galaxy, taking worlds almost at will. Planets that were not conquered outright often capitulated, or collapsed internally due to the efforts of collaborators. The Yuuzhan Vong controlled most of the Core, the Inner Rim, and the galactic eastern area of the Mid and Outer Rims. This left the Empire to reduce a wedge in the southwestern Outer Rim, a small pocket connecting Kashyyyk to Mon Calamari, the Deep Core, and other minor areas.

However, the Vong also began to experience internal difficulties, as the stress of gaining an Empire so large and so quickly, as well as reduced military strength, began to take its toll on the invaders. Their numbers beginning to drop from the past years at war, they now were being faced with unified forces, determined to rid the galaxy of their horridness, as they reigned victorious across many, many more worlds. And this is where the ILS came in. Their first target upon reentering the known galaxy and getting back into the game of war being the Colonies world Borleias in the Pyria system.

The fourth in a system of five, versed asteroids and a sole moon coded 'Blackmoon' by Imperials because of its black surface covered in canyons, volcanic craters, and thin atmosphere, the choice of Borleias, a jungle planet with beautiful beaches and seas, as the first capture target of the Imperial Last Stand was simple: The poor in natural resources world had been used by the Vong as a staging point for the assault on Corulag, under the granting of one called Domain Kraal.

In a move to give the Yuuzhan Vong a taste of their own medicine, and in another instance to open up a world near the Core for refugees and Imperials to base themselves on, Baynetta herself attacked the planet in space as Supreme Commander with the aide of Drake as Commander-in-chief and Troy, third-in-command. This was followed by the ILS quickly establishing orbital superiority over Domain Kraal, and beginning their assault on Borleias.

Taking a vessel down to the surface, Ben, Myri, and Kyleia unloaded swarms of Imperial stormtroopers in the rainforests. The Yuuzhan Vong initially used the foliage to provide themselves cover, so as to launch thud and razor bugs at their opponents. However, Ben gave the stormtrooper forces a sneering battle cry to serve up that he and his female cohorts, nonetheless, also took up: "We, as machines, are greater than the Yuuzhan Vong!"

The warriors, whipped into a homicidal frenzy, immediately broke cover and assaulted the strike team and troops face-to-face. Both were able to mow them down. However, the Yuuzhan Vong had summoned a rakamot to provide better cover. Ben, undeterred, buried a load of explosives in the rakamot's path with Myri and Kyleia, and detonated them once the creature was above their location. The rest of the battle was mostly a mopping up action, as the Kraal survivors were forced to retreat and regroup.

It should be noted that this was the first and only instance in the Yuuzhan Vong War thus far that the Galactic Empire actually retook a planet from the alien invaders.

On Borleias, Empress Baynetta and those beneath her set up base and made sure it was widely publicized that Baynetta was indeed alive and of their victory over the Vong to both draw refugee populace to the system and retaliation from the Vong. And to these were gotten. Yet not before remnants of Imperial forces scattered in hiding across the galaxy flocked to Borleias in allegiance to their Supreme Ruler, ready to fight in the ensuing battle.

Due to Borleias' proximity to Corulag/Yuuzhan'tar, Tsavong Lah ordered that a fleet under Wyrpuuk Cha, a rival of Domain Kraal, retake the planet. However, Cha was outmatched by Baynetta, who realized her superiority. The Empress planned to wear away Cha's forces with little damage to her own, giving Cha the illusion of victory, but draining valuable Yuuzhan Vong resources.

This plan was ruined when, during what was planned to be an inconclusive space battle, another military unit of hiding Imperials reverted in-system in the middle of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Baynetta then ordered the rest of her forces to join the attack. In the resulting barrage from Imperial forces, Cha's matalok was destroyed, along with most of his fleet.

The Sith Empress was displeased at this turn of events, knowing that a more competent Yuuzhan Vong Commander would be sent to retake Borleias with a larger fleet.

The Yuuzhan Vong did respond, and in force. Advised by Maal Lah that the Empress herself was in command at Borleias, Tsavong Lah sent Czulkang Lah, his father and one of the greatest strategists in the Yuuzhan Vong armada, to retake Borleias.

Czulkang Lah launched a full-scale offensive both in space and on the ground, slowly pushing back Baynetta's beleaguered garrison. Baynetta forced Lah to expend considerable effort to win the battle, prodding him with a variety of tricks and decoys to attract his attention.

The first of these deceptions was the "incarnation" of the Yuuzhan Vong trickster goddess Yun-Harla in Kyleia. Because of the seventeen-year-old's role in deceiving the Vong at Hapes and also being apart of the Mission to Myrkr, as well as subsequent disinformation by what was left of Imperial Intelligence, the horrified Yuuzhan Vong began to believe that she, Kyleia, was Yun-Harla, the Goddess of Deception. Kyleia, with aide of formerly Allana's, currently her, Dathomir Squadron, was placed in command of another military unit and given the rank Lieutenant General under Ben. This gave her top priority and command privileges, placing the late teen over top numerous more experienced pilots in the Navy; something which didn't go unnoticed but wasn't spoken against in the position the Empire was currently.

Additionally, other familiar tactics such as yammosk jamming, stuttering firing, and Force shadow bombs were also employed. Kyleia, with Ben and Myri, also worked on using the Force to coordinate firing times to deliver high damage at exactly the same time and location.

Despite these new innovations and tactics, Baynetta continued to withdraw Imperial forces until they were concentrated in a tight perimeter around Borleias' old Alderaanian Biotics facility, an operation established in 800 NRE but since abandoned after Alderaan's destruction, which was slowly being surrounded by concentrated Yuuzhan Vong ground troops. Many of her pilots chafed under the constant retreating, until Operation Emperor's Hammer was initiated – the use of _Iron Fist III_, the Empress' flagship, to deliver a punishing orbital bombardment to the massed Yuuzhan Vong ground troops, a tactic which they had never encountered. After the loss of so many ground troops, the Yuuzhan Vong temporarily withdrew.

Another perpetuated on the Yuuzhan Vong by Imperial defenders was "Operation Starlancer", which was a fake long range weapons system supposedly formed by the merging of Yuuzhan Vong lambent crystals and super laser technology. In a demonstration, the pipefighters involved "fired" on the Yuuzhan Vong fleet over Corulag. Actually, the weapon was a pure fake – the damaging blast fired at the Yuuzhan Vong fleet actually being a long range turbolaser burst from an Imperial warship. The Yuuzhan Vong were even more convinced after one of their operatives on Borleias, Tam Elgrin, spotted the Goddess Yun-Harla, Myri, and a team of Intelligence agents working on plans for the large lambent crystals needed in the pipefighter. However, the operative was discovered, turned back to the Empire's side, and used to sow misinformation to Czulkang Lah.

Despite her amazing success in depending the besieged Pyria system, the Empress knew she would not be able to resist a full scale assault by the Yuuzhan Vong forces. In the ensuing skirmish, the Yuuzhan Vong targeted the space fleet, slowly whittling away at the numerically inferior Imperial forces.

The Yuuzhan Vong had slowly drawn the noose around the Borleias garrison and finally launched their final all-out assault. Baynetta rapidly began evacuating as many troops as she could off the surface of the planet. Then allowed the Yuuzhan Vong to believe the battle was going their way, and even drew off part of her fleet.

Through the use of the new pipefighter and Kyleia's growing reputation as the avatar of Yun-Harla, Baynetta drew the focus of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet to Borleias. When a sufficient portion of the YV had gathered in the Pyria system, the Empress knew the time had come for the Vong to launch their final assault.

However, the entire engagement was an immense trap by the Dark Lady of the Sith. First, thanks to Myri, Kyleia, and their Intelligence group, Dathomir Squadron launched a number of missiles that released the gravitic signature of _Trickster_. Also, members of Dathomir Squadron changed the role of "Kyleia" around, simulating her behavior so she could escape Yuuzhan Vong attacks. The battle came to a head when Imperial forces began yammosk jamming and brought in the rest of the fleet, including the battered _Iron Fist III_. In preparation for Operation Emperor's Spear, _Iron Fist III_ had been slowly stripped of useful components and weapons while being converted into a massive, explosive-filled spear with only one purpose: the destruction of the Yuuzhan Vong Koros-strohna worldship. Using specially modified missiles to disrupt the maneuvering dovin basals of the worldship, Imperial forces pinned the worldship in place while the massive _Palpatine_-class Star Destroyer Flagship was driven deep into the heart of the worldship, where it detonated, destroying it and killing Czulkang Lah. All aboard sacrificed their lives in the suicide vessel, but it was worth it.

Baynetta coordinated the battle from the ground, but as the final defenses were overwhelmed, took off in a TIE. She then demonstrated piloting prowess by engaging two squadrons of coralskippers alone in the defense of a transport and largely defeating them.

The Yuuzhan Vong were thrown into confusion by these losses and the surviving Imperial forces withdrew without any further major engagements. While they were successful in retaking Borleias, the Vong suffered heavily in terms of ships and personnel, including the legendary Czulkang Lah.

Succeeding this, the Empire took to basing themselves on a nearby Imperial throne world of Baynetta's in the Colonies region, Cilpar.

Liberated from the Empire by the Second Rebel Alliance in the Galactic Civil War, it was eventually retaken by the war's end and then extinguished to nonexistence during the GA-Empire War. Or so was thought.

Cilpar, a planet covered with mountains, jungles, and forests, was a rare new throne world of Baynetta's, as another was also held in the region. However, as of the present, that world would remain unoccupied until further notice.

The Empress' Palace on-world was built in the mountains west of Cilpar's capital, Kiidan. And it was from here that the Imperial government settled, plans in mind for their next move.

Chapter 39: Liberation

43.11 Imperial Era

In the months to follow Imperial arrival on Cilpar, the Colonies' other throne world, Hok (primary terrain: deserts, crystals; split into two sides: one, that of a desert wasteland which looked like Tatooine; the other, a shroud of utter darkness that harbored a rich supply of crystals which were once mined and traded until Baynetta's rise to power; citadels were on both sides) was also based upon by portions of the Galactic Empire.

As was the less than popular Core world Necropolis, located right at the edge of the region where the Colonies began and not far from where Core/Colonies world Labore laid. The reason for Necropolis' non-populace was simply this: the world of perpetual mist served as the burial place for all citizens of the Core.

Originally known by its system's name, Dahrtag, after the planet and surrounding system itself was opened up to the rest of the galaxy, the name Necropolis was coined by many visitors in reference to the Necropolitians' reverence for their dead. Overtime, the name Dahrtag was all but forgotten, remaining only on military star charts.

The Yuuzhan Vong had no purpose or need for a graveyard world, the reason for its formerly desolate state until Imperial arrival.

But the growing strong again Galactic Empire didn't stop with just Cilpar, Hok, and Necropolis. Another near the border of the Galactic Core and in the Colonies, the industrial/plains world of Balmorra, was soon joining the ranks of those being retaken from the Vong, freeing up the manufactured weapons, including AT-AT walkers, which were produced at Imperial construction yards on-world for the Imperial Armada.

Yet even Balmorra and the success that came with it didn't halt the Imperial liberation of another Vong-held world in the Colonies. Byblos and its global-spanning metropolis Byblos City was the headquarters of Byblos Drive Yards, and some other important technology brands, like BlasTech, SoroSuub, and Sienar Fleet Systems, all maintained corporate towers there. In short, it was a densely populated manufacturing center for high technology and military items. And a great win for the slightly inept Galactic Empire.

With these five worlds and the systems that contained them, the Imperial government was able to spread itself out more enactment of further planetary retaking in the near future. As of the present, however, Baynetta was more concerned with rebuilding the vastness that the Navy and Army once beheld through Balmorra and Byblos. This period, therefore, was a semi-hiatus of the nearly three-year war. Yet not for everyone though...

Following the independence of Byblos from Yuuzhan Vong control, Ben began hearing rumors that his half-sister, the thought dead Allana, was indeed alive in the form of capture after the Mission to Myrkr eleven months ago, so took it upon himself to hunt down the source of the rumors, despite Baynetta and the others' objections, with Myri in tow.

Since Myrkr, the seventeen and fifteen year olds had become extremely close, even sharing a paramour type relationship, mostly to overcome and forget about the sorrow and despair that came with their siblings' demise. Notwithstanding this however, the pair did like each other very much, and Ben had a hard time seeing how he could've ever seen Myri and her late sister as brats during the war's start, when they weren't Force sensitive and he was assigned to protect them.

The duo's hunt, starting in the Inner Rim and Myrkr itself, eventually led them aboard a refugee vessel which contained a captured but twenty-year-old Allana in disguise. Unfortunately, Ben and Myri were also captured and ended up being taken prisoner on Yuuzhan'tar.

Meanwhile, Allana allowed Nom Anor to take her captive again after having evaded it in the bio-engineered jungle that now covered much of the planet, claiming to have become a convert to the True Way of the Yuuzhan Vong, but really to aide Ben and Myri from capture. To test her loyalty, Nom Anor suggested that Allana sacrifice Ben and Myri at the Well of the World Brain, which used to be an old secondary Galactic Senate Grand Convocation Chamber to the one that once resided on the dead Coruscant.

Thousands of Yuuzhan Vong were present at the ceremony when Allana, Ben, and Myri were marched to the Well of the World Brain. However, Allana turned on her captors by opening up her mind to the dhuryam and giving it a special message. Meanwhile, Ben and Myri defended the entrance using the fallen lightsabers of Kol and Syal retrieved against a multitude of Yuuzhan Vong warriors led by Nom Anor and Ch'Gang Hool in order to allow Allana enough time to complete her mission. During the fight, Ben embraced his destiny and finally, for the first time in a near eighteen years of living, found himself in the Force. His battle cry "None shall pass!" would mark his legacy on both the Galaxy and the Yuuzhan Vong. Thousands of Yuuzhan Vong were up against just 3 Force-users.

As the fight wore on, Ben achieved a state of oneness with the Force, using both the dark and the light, something he'd never done before. The Force became him, and he became the Force. Calling upon this enormous power, Ben defeated one Yuuzhan Vong after another, killing hundreds, possibly thousands of warriors. The Vong mentally aided him in this, as at first the Vong concentrated on honorable single combat with Ben still alongside Myri. The duo used this to their advantage by slaying a very large number before the Vong could even begin attacking in pairs.

As the numbers increased, Ben drew more and more on the Force, animating outside plaza statues, and battering his enemy with two halves of the Senate Rotunda Great Door. Ben and Myri, though mostly Ben, killed all of the Vong, and found themselves without any enemies remaining.

That was when the artillery arrived: a firebreather, supported by infantry. Knowing that the fight could not go on much longer in these circumstances, Ben intended to perform the ultimate sacrifice, only Myri beat him to it. She abruptly turned away from the battle they were in the center of to passionately kiss him on the lips and whisper, "I love you Ben. And that's why I won't let you die today." Myri then ran away from him to what Ben knew would be her death. As he screamed and ran after her to "stand down!", Myri took the beast's initial attack on one half of the Great Door, and then, using an immense amount of the Force Ben didn't even think was possible from her, collapsed the ceiling on everyone in the chamber, including herself and Nom Anor, thus allowing Allana and Ben to escape.

While, in addition to Allana and Ben, Nom Anor also survived, Myri, however, passed on into the Force. She died in Ben's arms. Her heroic sacrifice earned the respect and awe of the warrior caste, and her death helped stir up even more of the Forcee heresy among the Yuuzhan Vong Shamed Ones.

Yet the battle was more significant than the Yuuzhan Vong ever realized. While Ben and Myri were battling the warriors, Allana was able to sway the World Brain over to her side. In an attempt to teach the Yuuzhan Vong just how dangerous their fanaticism was, Allana convinced the World Brain to begin sabotaging the Vong forming of Corulag into Yuuzhan'tar. The Yuuzhan Vong would either be forced to kill the World Brain and start over – a sacrilege and logistical impossibility – or be forced to accept compromise.

During their journey back to the Imperial-occupied sector of the Core/Colonies, Allana comforted a distraught Ben over Myri's loss, easily knowing full well how it was to lose someone you happened to be in love with. For at Myri's death, just then did Ben realize that his feelings for her had surpassed fondness and sex. He loved her far more than he ever could like her.

It was from then on that half-brother and sister finally let go of the past and whatever ill-feelings that were held between them and accepted the fact that they were siblings with gratefulness and gratitude that they had each other through the thick and thin no matter what.

Troy especially, though the others were also, was over the moon with joy that Allana was still alive at she and Ben's arrival on Cilpar, but saddened that it'd cost Myri, his Force apprentice's, life. A debriefing followed of the mission's entirety and Allana's time of captivity, which mostly consisted of constant torture infliction, both of which interested the others a great deal, especially concerning the World Brain, Corulag's Vongformed jungle terrain and the reversal Allana was able to influence within it.

A month passed, and the Imperial rebuilding on Balmorra and Byblos continued. Only to halt at the receiving of information from Imperial Intelligence that Supreme Overlord Shimrra was on the move, presumably to his new capital, Yuuzhan'tar. Soon after, however, agents on the ground at Obroa-Skai learned that a large fleet was moving into the system, assumingly to view something of importance in the libraries. Imperial Intelligence guessed that it was Shimrra, and Kyleia came up with a plan to use _Trickster_ to attack the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, taking out Shimrra and thus crippling the extragalactic aliens' leadership.

When the Yuuzhan Vong fleet arrived in-system, Kyleia, aided by Allana and Ben, managed to make the _Trickster_ appear damaged. As the Yuuzhan Vong force slowly moved towards Obroa-Skai, trying to contact their "damaged" frigate, a task force of Imperial warships under the eco-command of Troy and Drake leapt into the system. From his flagship, the _Annihilator_, Troy coordinated with the various personnel leading the TIE fighter squadron, including the newly formated Nightsister Squadron; Kyleia's moves to surrender Dathomir back to its head commander were denied as Allana formed another and took on the rank of Major General, just beneath her cousin. All the time away made her want to work it back to the top from the semi-middle.

Flying in ultra-secret snoopcraft, Nightsister Squadron deployed a yammosk jammer. Its effort was short lived, as Yuuzhan Vong forces continued to be coordinated, responding to each move made by the Imperial forces. As losses amongst pilots mounted (the casualties being 60 total), Kyleia realized that the tactic had not failed – there was a _second_ yammosk. Contacting the Nightsisters again, Kyleia ordered them to deploy a second jammer.

The effect was instant. The once coordinated Yuuzhan Vong fleet began to move sluggishly, not responding in unison. Imperial forces, long used to imperfect communication, pounced on the disorganization. Dathomir Squadron and the Death II Avengers (Ben's squadron) managed to destroy numerous coralskippers, while decoy dovin basals attached to Yuuzhan Vong warships caused them to open fire on one another.

The final act of the battle occurred when a Hapan fleet under the direct command of Queen Mother Antonella abruptly jumped into the system, completing the trap. The Hapan warships had been equipped with quick-charge turbolasers, a gift from the Galactic Empire and its Empress, unbeknown to Troy, following the disaster at Fonder. The duo of Battle Dragons and three Nova-class cruisers tore into the Yuuzhan Vong formation, destroying the two large troop transports and laying siege to the massive command cruiser. As the Yuuzhan Vong flagship began to break apart, another frigate was destroyed by Imperial cruisers. The battle turned into a complete rout, with only a single Yuuzhan Vong frigate managing to escape.

Yet another major Imperial/Hapan victory.

It was only after the battle that the Imperial fleet learned that Shimrra had not been killed. The flagship of the Yuuzhan Vong forces was Komm Karsh's, a Supreme Commander.

However, the battle was still more insignificant than the Galactic Empire had thought – Karsh's fleet was the Yuuzhan Vong's sole extragalactic reserve. From that point on, the Yuuzhan Vong could expect no further assistance from beyond the galaxy. Furthermore, the success of the combined Imperial/Hapan attack ensured further cooperation between the two governments, contributing to a decision of rather or not the Hapans wold join the Galactic Empire once the extragalactic crisis was over with.

Notwithstanding this however, the Hapes Consortium had decided to join the Imperial war against the Yuuzhan Vong with half of their number in known space, while the other half resided in and outside their Unknown Regions cluster. The Hapan Armada back home would stay under the direct command of Guada and the consortium under Tiponya, while Antonella herself led the militia in known space accompanied by she and her husband's presently 17-month-old daughter Tempest. Chezarina and Adelphie, on the other hand, were to remain on Hapes; the only reason for Tempest's coming being so Troy could see her on a regular basis. To this he was as much delighted over as he was worried. His paternal and marital instincts couldn't help it. And yet at the same time, there was apart of him that was glad both would be near him more. In the light of his thirty-seventh birthday, Troy realized he wanted this war over by the time he was 40 or his daughter 5. Either way 45.11 or 47.9 IE.

Chapter 40: Tides

44 Imperial Era

Year Three of the Yuuzhan Vong War commenced with the Raid on Ylesia in the Outer Rim.

The sudden attack was launched by the Empire against the still existing Peace Brigade. Drake led a force which included himself and Kyleia, while Ben led the conventional military forces of the Navy.

The battle was decisive, resulting in the capture of the Peace Brigade leadership, of whom then tried to negotiate a "peace treaty" between the Brigade and Galactic Empire. This was denied in the form of being slaughtered by Drake and Kyleia.

In space, Allana's Nightsister Squadron was instrumental in driving off the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, allowing the ground forces to escape to the ships following their captives' death. Meanwhile, Troy defeated an enemy reinforcement fleet, allowing Imperial forces to flee virtually unscathed.

This was counted as a light Imperial victory.

As part of Empress Baynetta's plan to season the Imperial Defense Force's new recruits from Balmorra and Byblos, and wear down the Yuuzhan Vong, Troy launched a raid, alongside the Hapan Armada, on the Vong held world Duro, captured nearly two years earlier. The Yuuzhan Vong, augmented by Peace Brigadiers, had three cruisers in the system, being outnumbered three to one by Troy and Antonella's fleet of nine each. After jamming the planetary yammosk, Troy sent in the Allana and Kyleia commanded squadrons first. Then, once they had destroyed or crippled the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers, the fleet positioned itself in orbit, and proceeded to orbitally bombard Duro, attacking any warrior grashals, Shaper damuteks, and starports housing the enemy. At this point, seven additional Yuuzhan Vong capital ships arrived. Husband and wife, however, decided to play it safe, and ordered their fleets to withdraw to hyperspace.

Though the Imperial government was slowly but surely reestablishing itself with the aide of the Hapes Consortium, even so it was still on the verge of defeat. This became more and more apparent to the Sith Empress as time and battles went by. One more major defeat like Duro's first go-round or Corulag could destroy the ILS. However, she soon realized and began to see while annualizing stimulations of battles prior that the Yuuzhan Vong's greatest strengths were also the source of their greatest weaknesses. Their unswerving loyalty to their leaders and the fact that they never retreated made them perfectly predictable. Something that was greatly proven in an Imperial trap against their enemies at the rocky Deep Core moon Ebaq 9.

Traveling from the Colonies to the Unknown Regions and through its known vector's entirety to the Deep Core region, their arrival came at the year's halfway point: 44.6. By feeding false information to Peace Brigade agents via some of their own still on Byblos, the Empire managed to convince the Yuuzhan Vong that Empress Baynetta and a troop of advisors were taking refuge in a secret base on the moon. And were (allegedly) under the protection of an "army" of Force sensitives, including Allana Djo, Kyleia Skywalker Grievous, and Ben Skywalker, the three Forcees most sought after by the invaders (Allana, because she had converted to and renounced the Yuuzhan Vong religion; Kyleia, for declaring herself to be an avatar of Yun-Harla; and Ben, for his impressive display of power at the World Brain). The prospect of decapitating the Imperial government and killing additional Force sensitives appealed to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who set out with a massive armada to crush the base. Though it was nowhere near the size of the Corulag invasion fleet, it was described as the largest fleet seen since the fall of the capital world, consequently eclipsing the fleets at Hapes, Borleias, and Obroa-Skai. As Baynetta had surmised, the Yuuzhan Vong were predictable and a major portion of the fleet was flying into a trap.

The strategy used by the Galactic Empire in the battle revolved around three basic elements:

1) Whenever a new fleet arrived, they could engage the Vong until Lah forced his efforts on them and spread his forces out. The initial defense was led by Ben, who had a fairly small force. He was reinforced by Troy's also relatively small fleet and the Hapan Armada led by Antonella. These forces were then reinforced by massive Imperial fleets, including one under the command of Drake. When Troy's squadron arrived, for example, they saved Ben's from being enveloped.

2) When Ben's squadron enveloped the Battle Group of Yun-Txiin, with Troy's assistance, the Vong took heavy casualties until the Battle Group of Yun-Harla arrived. When it did Ben's squadron went around the space mines previously placed by an unarmed task force, which was being pursued by the Battle Group of Yun-Qaah; any following ships were subsequently destroyed by the mines. The ships which reduced speed to avoid the minefield would have been harassed by the starfighters on their tails. The Vong couldn't have possibly noticed the space mines, as Lah failed to order them to spy on the system, and their obedience and lack of initiative prevented them from doing it on their own. This resulted in the Yuuzhan Vong sending troops down to the moon.

3) Once the Imperial fleets under Drake arrived, the trap was complete with his trio of fleets decimating numerous warships.

Realizing that his forces had been led into a trap, Warmaster Lah ordered several of his battle groups to retreat. Those that did encountered tens of thousands of mines, which tore apart formations of the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships, and killed thousands of warriors. Others were stopped by the interdictor mine and advanced upon Ebaq 9.

As the additional Imperial forces arrived, their numbers grew to the point that Tsavong Lah's flagship, _Blood Sacrifice_, ran out of blaze bugs to properly represent the enemy forces. As his own numbers dwindled, this is when Lah finally realized he had been led into a trap. And as he came to the understanding that the battle was lost, and that Supreme Overlord Shimrra would kill him if he returned alive, Lah then noticed that the Empire was still protecting Ebaq 9, and realized that there were Forcee there. Lah decided to attack the moon, in hopes of killing some Force sensitives before he himself was slain, and ordered his personal battle group to assault the moon. Lah took ten thousand of his remaining troops to the surface of Ebaq 9, leaving the rest to guard the invasion force. The Imperial fleet wiped out the remains of his battle group, but having brought no ground troops, was unable to dislodge the Warmaster and his troops.

During the battle, Kyleia, heartbroken that it would cause more grief, yet knowing it had to be done by someone, preferably Force sensitive, sacrificed her life by flying her TIE fighter into the tunnels of Ebaq 9. The trapped Yuuzhan Vong were killed in the explosion, the only survivor being Tsavong Lah, spared only because his own subalterns had given him time to live. Lah was later killed, nevertheless, in a duel with Allana, who had holed up on the moon with Ben following the battle in space.

The battle resulted in a tremendous victory for the Galactic Empire, save Kyleia's demise, which was mourned strongly by those closest to her: Allana, who looked at her as one would a sister, Ben, Troy, Antonella, Tempest, and even Drake and Baynetta were disappointed by her loss.

Despite all this, over one third of Warmaster Lah's armada had been destroyed, along with its commander, and the tide of the war had finally turned in the Empire's favor. Seizing onto victory, Empress Baynetta and her government returned to the Colonies the way they came with plans of finally retaking the Core, and thus bringing the war to a close.

For the Yuuzhan Vong, the defeat had multiple consequences. Realizing that he had been duped, Nom Anor was forced to kill High Priest Yoog Skell to cover his escape as Shimrra soon called for his skin. While on the run, Anor assumed the guise of Yu'shaa, and began turning the Forcee heresy into a true threat to the Yuuzhan Vong leadership. Having lost two of the Senior members of the Elite, Shimrra escalated Nas Choka to the position of Warmaster, while Drathal, Prefect of the _Harla_, was escalated to High Priest. Choka, unlike Tsavong Lah, knew when he couldn't win a battle, and ordered his subordinates to respond in kind. Drathal was secretly a Quorealist, those who opposed Shimrra's ascensions and the invasion itself. Under any other circumstances, the Galactic Empire could've expected a brief respite, but the YV were no ordinary enemy. In an effort to secure his position, Shimrra ordered new campaigns to be launched, including an official invasion of the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium.

Chapter 41: Extinction

44.11 Imperial Era

Back on Cilpar, while Hapan Queen Mother Antonella aided the Galactic Empire in their plans of retaking the Core, little did she know that her own government was under assault for a second time, with no way of being let known because of the extremeness of it.

Yuuzhan Vong Commander B'shith Vorrik was tasked directly by Supreme Overlord Shimrra to "invade and extinguish" the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium of all life and structure, starting with the cluster's capital.

Vorrik's forces unexpectedly arrived in the Hapes Division of the Unknown Regions soon after, their base being at the Outer Rim system Bastion, easily destroying planetary defense systems and catching the Home base Hapan Armada off guard. Only Commander Guada's own Star Destroyer, _Ni'Korish_, responded with appropriate efficiency. Despite this, the star fleet was able to hold its own at first, until the Yuuzhan Vong pulled back to make way for swarms of thousands of grutchins. The Hapans responded to the grutchins with appalling disorganization, and the resulting losses forced Guada, with Lady Tiponya's consent, to order the evacuation of the 55-world consortium, a nearly impossible feat.

Before Guada herself could participate in the evacuation, however, she was assigned the duty of retrieving the Hapan Royal House, though preferably the Queen Mother's oldest daughters, Chezarina and Adelphie, now ages 11 and 7, on Hapes itself, the site of most of the Yuuzhan Vong-caused carnage. At this point, _Ni'Korish_ had already undergone much considerable damage as it was. Journeying directly through the heavy jumble of strength that was the Yuuzhan Vong attack force at its strongest was sure to bring even more critical injury to the Command Destroyer and its surrounding 5-ship escort, tasked with evacuating the rest of the capital planet. Nonetheless of this, Guada and her unit made for Hapes anyway, determined to do all that could be or die in the attempt.

Two of the five accompanying vessels were rammed by coralskippers on the way, resulting in their loss in the depths of nearby worlds, and _Ni'Korish_ almost suffered the same fate had it not pulled up in time. Upon reaching Hapes, the result was realized. Unbeknown to the Hapans, but much quite to the Yuuzhan Vong, this all-out invasion was just like the extirpation of Chiss Space over three years ago, but worse. Much, much worse. The entire cluster was suffering, all was being lost, and no prisoners were taken, only dead victims. This was the case everywhere, but none so much as Hapes itself. What greeted Guada at arriving on-world the capital was blood, chaos, and the slaughtering of countless innocents in the streets and lush fields. It was too late from the jump. The Yuuzhan Vong had come to the consortium and would not rest until the entirety was eradicated and made extinct.

Fountain Palace was the first to be hit of the entire capital, and with it the deaths of the Hapan Royal House (Ladies Tiponya and Akanthe, Lord Ozterik, Chume'Ta Chezarina Giselle, and Second Heiress Adelphie Cadelaria) and its accompanying nobles.

Guada, renown for being sharp-tongued and firm at all times, was utterly heartsick by the display of unnecessary violence coming to Hapes of all places, a world of beauty and peace. However, through this dolor and sadness was fueled a sense of the previous determination, but to save all that could be so the Hapan Legacy wasn't completely lost as it was in the known galaxy's Inner Rim twenty-one years ago. And to this Guada did, urging her militia commanders to do the same.

Much and many were lost in the mission of evacuation; on consortium worlds, outside in space, and even en route to escape outside the cluster and its surrounding areas. Out of the tens of thousands of ships that made appeals in escaping, only fifteen actually did, including _Ni'Korish_, under the cover of vast wreckage from surrounding ships and the brave sacrifices made by those whom chose to do so.

What was left of the Home Base Hapan Armada (HBHA) fled from their immensely destroyed cluster, bound for the known galaxy, but trailed by the Yuuzhan Vong a short distance off. They were able to shake their pursuers by jumping in and out of lightspeed and then splitting up in the Outer Rim; one half destined for the orbital asteroid belt surrounding Borosk, Guada's half for Yaga Minor – a world of caves, forests, and mountains – a short ways off. It was only from there, each settling themselves in Vong-free territories, that word could be sent to the Imperials of the disastrous occurrences of the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium.

When Queen Mother Antonella learned of the enormous Yuuzhan Vong invasion of her consortium and the death of her oldest daughters, family, and kingdom as a result, she was utterly destroyed and heartbroken. Not even the informing that at least several thousand of her people had survived cheered her. The Hapan Queen slipped into a state of depression, notwithstanding her remaining family's (Troy, Tempest, and Allana) support and comfort. She became a hallow shell of her prior self; in active, losing a sense of her own worth, and forever always dejected. She felt worthless in not being able to stop the attack from happening, and deplored that she hadn't been present to witness it. To which Troy quickly dismissed had she been present, and she and Tempest in-cluster, they most likely would've died also. But Antonella was far from wanting to hear anything Troy had to say and dismissed he and Tempest and anyone else who wanted to help her get through this difficult time.

Troy let Antonella have her space, understanding firsthand what it's like to lose everything, your identity included, and want away from it all. Yet his wife of three years wasn't the running type and knew she'd eventually be fine, so long as she was given her just time to mourn. Despite all this, however, there was a part of Troy that was deeply pained by the events surrounding the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium's annihilation.

He'd brought it upon them.

Not literally of course, but his arrival in the cluster those several years ago forever changed it in the way it was looked at by the galaxy as a whole and its extragalactic invaders. They'd been doing just fine until he came along. Their countless years of peace and joy stolen from them at the drop of a hat. He knew he shouldn't blame himself and that Antonella would tell him the same (he and she were the best things that ever happened to one another; they both said so, each were a silver-lining to the other in this war). And yet, he did anyway and probably perpetually would until he heard Antonella actually tell him and say it wasn't his fault.

On the military side of things, Baynetta expressed her condolences to the tragedy by sending a moderate sized task force of Imperial troops led by Allana and Ben to counter any further attacks made against the Hapan refugees in hiding in the Outer Rim and informed them of such. In the meantime of their arrival, though, vital Imperial Intelligence on the Vong was released to the Hapans. So while waiting for Imperial backup to arrive at Borosk, the Hapan forces worked to repair their strength, and Guada made sure the officers beneath her learned everything they could on Vong tactics and weaknesses from provided information.

The Vong commander of the Hapan invasion, B'shith Vorrik, was quite well informed of the friendship between the Empire and Hapans, so made sure his forces were well prepared. However, he was not aware (how could he be?) of the repairs made to what was left of the Hapan fleet, so launched an attack on Borosk at the learning of Hapan presence therein. As such, the Vong were unprepared at the massive coordination and effectiveness of the Hapans this go-round.

Guada, still aboard _Ni'Korish_, successfully captured a Yuuzhan Vong slaveship by using an automated dreadnaught _Braxant Bonecrusher_, set in reserve at Yaga Minor, as bait, rescuing a large number of Hapan prisoners that the Vong had decided to take after all as a means of making their Queen Mother surrender. Then, using an Imperial-donated Yammosk jammer, the 15-ship Hapan Armada threw Vorrik's fleet into disarray, and the Yuuzhan Vong Commander ordered a retreat.

By that time Allana and Ben's task force had arrived in-system, accompanied by several dozen Hapan Battle Dragons, and pursued Vorrik's withdrawal alongside the HBHA to Yaga Minor, where Allana and Ben sensed the Yuuzhan Vong Commander's intent was to destroy the major Imperial shipyard in system as means to both cripple them and get revenge for the defeat that came with Borosk's battle at the hands of what he thought was a crippled enemy.

The local sector fleet at Yaga Minor held off Vorrik's forces until, at the approach of Imperial/Hapan reinforcements from Borosk, Vorrik decided against a second battle. He fled back towards the main Vong concentration near the Galactic Core, pulling the last Vong forces from the Bastion-Borosk-Yaga Minor territory of the Outer Rim.

The Home Base Hapana Armada and the thousands of refugees it contained were then escorted back to their new home among the Empire in the six Colonies/Core worlds in controlled, as Labore was recently liberated during the Imperial/Hapan-Yuuzhan Vong battles in the Outer Rim. The liberation of Labore was more or less the same as the others, with battle yet eventual conquest by Drake. To meet the surviving Hapans of the consortium, and their Imperial escort, outside Cilpar was the rest of the Imperial Navy. Though on-world, in addition to a distraught Queen Mother herself, were the Empress and Troy solely with a slew of stormtroopers, as Drake was still on Labore.

The Hapan Queen was still exceedingly grief stricken over the loss of her consortium and near-extinction of her people, blaming herself for what happened. But ample time in their company was soon changing this. She was still sad and battling depression to a certain extent, yet the thirty-eight year old monarch was also mobilizing herself again and not staying trapped in a room for hours on end, alone, and pushing everyone away. She accepted the comfort Troy and the others offered her, but most especially that of her zany, happy-go-lucky two-year-old and only remaining daughter and heiress, the obvious new Chume'Ta, Tempest. Like her father, the royal descendant of two separate monarchical families enjoyed being the center of attention, was Force sensitive, and beautiful with thick shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. Through Tempest, Antonella continued to see a reason to live, and absolutely refused to swivel up and die for her sake.

Inevitably, however, it was only until the conception of another child with Troy at the year's end, another son, that the Hapan Queen Mother began to recover fully and let everyone back in, as was her husband's intent. Troy was far from wanting anymore children born during a time of war, but if it would help his wife, as he knew it would and did, he was more than ready to do what was necessary.


	161. Liberation

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 39: Liberation

43.11 Imperial Era

In the months to follow Imperial arrival on Cilpar, the Colonies' other throne world, Hok (primary terrain: deserts, crystals; split into two sides: one, that of a desert wasteland which looked like Tatooine; the other, a shroud of utter darkness that harbored a rich supply of crystals which were once mined and traded until Baynetta's rise to power; citadels were on both sides) was also based upon by portions of the Galactic Empire.

As was the less than popular Core world Necropolis, located right at the edge of the region where the Colonies began and not far from where Core/Colonies world Labore laid. The reason for Necropolis' non-populace was simply this: the world of perpetual mist served as the burial place for all citizens of the Core.

Originally known by its system's name, Dahrtag, after the planet and surrounding system itself was opened up to the rest of the galaxy, the name Necropolis was coined by many visitors in reference to the Necropolitians' reverence for their dead. Overtime, the name Dahrtag was all but forgotten, remaining only on military star charts.

The Yuuzhan Vong had no purpose or need for a graveyard world, the reason for its formerly desolate state until Imperial arrival.

But the growing strong again Galactic Empire didn't stop with just Cilpar, Hok, and Necropolis. Another near the border of the Galactic Core and in the Colonies, the industrial/plains world of Balmorra, was soon joining the ranks of those being retaken from the Vong, freeing up the manufactured weapons, including AT-AT walkers, which were produced at Imperial construction yards on-world for the Imperial Armada.

Yet even Balmorra and the success that came with it didn't halt the Imperial liberation of another Vong-held world in the Colonies. Byblos and its global-spanning metropolis Byblos City was the headquarters of Byblos Drive Yards, and some other important technology brands, like BlasTech, SoroSuub, and Sienar Fleet Systems, all maintained corporate towers there. In short, it was a densely populated manufacturing center for high technology and military items. And a great win for the slightly inept Galactic Empire.

With these five worlds and the systems that contained them, the Imperial government was able to spread itself out more enactment of further planetary retaking in the near future. As of the present, however, Baynetta was more concerned with rebuilding the vastness that the Navy and Army once beheld through Balmorra and Byblos. This period, therefore, was a semi-hiatus of the nearly three-year war. Yet not for everyone though...

Following the independence of Byblos from Yuuzhan Vong control, Ben began hearing rumors that his half-sister, the thought dead Allana, was indeed alive in the form of capture after the Mission to Myrkr eleven months ago, so took it upon himself to hunt down the source of the rumors, despite Baynetta and the others' objections, with Myri in tow.

Since Myrkr, the seventeen and fifteen year olds had become extremely close, even sharing a paramour type relationship, mostly to overcome and forget about the sorrow and despair that came with their siblings' demise. Notwithstanding this however, the pair did like each other very much, and Ben had a hard time seeing how he could've ever seen Myri and her late sister as brats during the war's start, when they weren't Force sensitive and he was assigned to protect them.

The duo's hunt, starting in the Inner Rim and Myrkr itself, eventually led them aboard a refugee vessel which contained a captured but twenty-year-old Allana in disguise. Unfortunately, Ben and Myri were also captured and ended up being taken prisoner on Yuuzhan'tar.

Meanwhile, Allana allowed Nom Anor to take her captive again after having evaded it in the bio-engineered jungle that now covered much of the planet, claiming to have become a convert to the True Way of the Yuuzhan Vong, but really to aide Ben and Myri from capture. To test her loyalty, Nom Anor suggested that Allana sacrifice Ben and Myri at the Well of the World Brain, which used to be an old secondary Galactic Senate Grand Convocation Chamber to the one that once resided on the dead Coruscant.

Thousands of Yuuzhan Vong were present at the ceremony when Allana, Ben, and Myri were marched to the Well of the World Brain. However, Allana turned on her captors by opening up her mind to the dhuryam and giving it a special message. Meanwhile, Ben and Myri defended the entrance using the fallen lightsabers of Kol and Syal retrieved against a multitude of Yuuzhan Vong warriors led by Nom Anor and Ch'Gang Hool in order to allow Allana enough time to complete her mission. During the fight, Ben embraced his destiny and finally, for the first time in a near eighteen years of living, found himself in the Force. His battle cry "None shall pass!" would mark his legacy on both the Galaxy and the Yuuzhan Vong. Thousands of Yuuzhan Vong were up against just 3 Force-users.

As the fight wore on, Ben achieved a state of oneness with the Force, using both the dark and the light, something he'd never done before. The Force became him, and he became the Force. Calling upon this enormous power, Ben defeated one Yuuzhan Vong after another, killing hundreds, possibly thousands of warriors. The Vong mentally aided him in this, as at first the Vong concentrated on honorable single combat with Ben still alongside Myri. The duo used this to their advantage by slaying a very large number before the Vong could even begin attacking in pairs.

As the numbers increased, Ben drew more and more on the Force, animating outside plaza statues, and battering his enemy with two halves of the Senate Rotunda Great Door. Ben and Myri, though mostly Ben, killed all of the Vong, and found themselves without any enemies remaining.

That was when the artillery arrived: a firebreather, supported by infantry. Knowing that the fight could not go on much longer in these circumstances, Ben intended to perform the ultimate sacrifice, only Myri beat him to it. She abruptly turned away from the battle they were in the center of to passionately kiss him on the lips and whisper, "I love you Ben. And that's why I won't let you die today." Myri then ran away from him to what Ben knew would be her death. As he screamed and ran after her to "stand down!", Myri took the beast's initial attack on one half of the Great Door, and then, using an immense amount of the Force Ben didn't even think was possible from her, collapsed the ceiling on everyone in the chamber, including herself and Nom Anor, thus allowing Allana and Ben to escape.

While, in addition to Allana and Ben, Nom Anor also survived, Myri, however, passed on into the Force. She died in Ben's arms. Her heroic sacrifice earned the respect and awe of the warrior caste, and her death helped stir up even more of the Forcee heresy among the Yuuzhan Vong Shamed Ones.

Yet the battle was more significant than the Yuuzhan Vong ever realized. While Ben and Myri were battling the warriors, Allana was able to sway the World Brain over to her side. In an attempt to teach the Yuuzhan Vong just how dangerous their fanaticism was, Allana convinced the World Brain to begin sabotaging the Vong forming of Corulag into Yuuzhan'tar. The Yuuzhan Vong would either be forced to kill the World Brain and start over – a sacrilege and logistical impossibility – or be forced to accept compromise.

During their journey back to the Imperial-occupied sector of the Core/Colonies, Allana comforted a distraught Ben over Myri's loss, easily knowing full well how it was to lose someone you happened to be in love with. For at Myri's death, just then did Ben realize that his feelings for her had surpassed fondness and sex. He loved her far more than he ever could like her.

It was from then on that half-brother and sister finally let go of the past and whatever ill-feelings that were held between them and accepted the fact that they were siblings with gratefulness and gratitude that they had each other through the thick and thin no matter what.

Troy especially, though the others were also, was over the moon with joy that Allana was still alive at she and Ben's arrival on Cilpar, but saddened that it'd cost Myri, his Force apprentice's, life. A debriefing followed of the mission's entirety and Allana's time of captivity, which mostly consisted of constant torture infliction, both of which interested the others a great deal, especially concerning the World Brain, Corulag's Vongformed jungle terrain and the reversal Allana was able to influence within it.

A month passed, and the Imperial rebuilding on Balmorra and Byblos continued. Only to halt at the receiving of information from Imperial Intelligence that Supreme Overlord Shimrra was on the move, presumably to his new capital, Yuuzhan'tar. Soon after, however, agents on the ground at Obroa-Skai learned that a large fleet was moving into the system, assumingly to view something of importance in the libraries. Imperial Intelligence guessed that it was Shimrra, and Kyleia came up with a plan to use _Trickster_ to attack the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, taking out Shimrra and thus crippling the extragalactic aliens' leadership.

When the Yuuzhan Vong fleet arrived in-system, Kyleia, aided by Allana and Ben, managed to make the _Trickster_ appear damaged. As the Yuuzhan Vong force slowly moved towards Obroa-Skai, trying to contact their "damaged" frigate, a task force of Imperial warships under the eco-command of Troy and Drake leapt into the system. From his flagship, the _Annihilator_, Troy coordinated with the various personnel leading the TIE fighter squadron, including the newly formated Nightsister Squadron; Kyleia's moves to surrender Dathomir back to its head commander were denied as Allana formed another and took on the rank of Major General, just beneath her cousin. All the time away made her want to work it back to the top from the semi-middle.

Flying in ultra-secret snoopcraft, Nightsister Squadron deployed a yammosk jammer. Its effort was short lived, as Yuuzhan Vong forces continued to be coordinated, responding to each move made by the Imperial forces. As losses amongst pilots mounted (the casualties being 60 total), Kyleia realized that the tactic had not failed – there was a _second_ yammosk. Contacting the Nightsisters again, Kyleia ordered them to deploy a second jammer.

The effect was instant. The once coordinated Yuuzhan Vong fleet began to move sluggishly, not responding in unison. Imperial forces, long used to imperfect communication, pounced on the disorganization. Dathomir Squadron and the Death II Avengers (Ben's squadron) managed to destroy numerous coralskippers, while decoy dovin basals attached to Yuuzhan Vong warships caused them to open fire on one another.

The final act of the battle occurred when a Hapan fleet under the direct command of Queen Mother Antonella abruptly jumped into the system, completing the trap. The Hapan warships had been equipped with quick-charge turbolasers, a gift from the Galactic Empire and its Empress, unbeknown to Troy, following the disaster at Fonder. The duo of Battle Dragons and three Nova-class cruisers tore into the Yuuzhan Vong formation, destroying the two large troop transports and laying siege to the massive command cruiser. As the Yuuzhan Vong flagship began to break apart, another frigate was destroyed by Imperial cruisers. The battle turned into a complete rout, with only a single Yuuzhan Vong frigate managing to escape.

Yet another major Imperial/Hapan victory.

It was only after the battle that the Imperial fleet learned that Shimrra had not been killed. The flagship of the Yuuzhan Vong forces was Komm Karsh's, a Supreme Commander.

However, the battle was still more insignificant than the Galactic Empire had thought – Karsh's fleet was the Yuuzhan Vong's sole extragalactic reserve. From that point on, the Yuuzhan Vong could expect no further assistance from beyond the galaxy. Furthermore, the success of the combined Imperial/Hapan attack ensured further cooperation between the two governments, contributing to a decision of rather or not the Hapans wold join the Galactic Empire once the extragalactic crisis was over with.

Notwithstanding this however, the Hapes Consortium had decided to join the Imperial war against the Yuuzhan Vong with half of their number in known space, while the other half resided in and outside their Unknown Regions cluster. The Hapan Armada back home would stay under the direct command of Guada and the consortium under Tiponya, while Antonella herself led the militia in known space accompanied by she and her husband's presently 17-month-old daughter Tempest. Chezarina and Adelphie, on the other hand, were to remain on Hapes; the only reason for Tempest's coming being so Troy could see her on a regular basis. To this he was as much delighted over as he was worried. His paternal and marital instincts couldn't help it. And yet at the same time, there was apart of him that was glad both would be near him more. In the light of his thirty-seventh birthday, Troy realized he wanted this war over by the time he was 40 or his daughter 5. Either way 45.11 or 47.9 IE.


	162. Tides

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 40: Tides

44 Imperial Era

Year Three of the Yuuzhan Vong War commenced with the Raid on Ylesia in the Outer Rim.

The sudden attack was launched by the Empire against the still existing Peace Brigade. Drake led a force which included himself and Kyleia, while Ben led the conventional military forces of the Navy.

The battle was decisive, resulting in the capture of the Peace Brigade leadership, of whom then tried to negotiate a "peace treaty" between the Brigade and Galactic Empire. This was denied in the form of being slaughtered by Drake and Kyleia.

In space, Allana's Nightsister Squadron was instrumental in driving off the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, allowing the ground forces to escape to the ships following their captives' death. Meanwhile, Troy defeated an enemy reinforcement fleet, allowing Imperial forces to flee virtually unscathed.

This was counted as a light Imperial victory.

* * *

As part of Empress Baynetta's plan to season the Imperial Defense Force's new recruits from Balmorra and Byblos, and wear down the Yuuzhan Vong, Troy launched a raid, alongside the Hapan Armada, on the Vong held world Duro, captured nearly two years earlier. The Yuuzhan Vong, augmented by Peace Brigadiers, had three cruisers in the system, being outnumbered three to one by Troy and Antonella's fleet of nine each. After jamming the planetary yammosk, Troy sent in the Allana and Kyleia commanded squadrons first. Then, once they had destroyed or crippled the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers, the fleet positioned itself in orbit, and proceeded to orbitally bombard Duro, attacking any warrior grashals, Shaper damuteks, and starports housing the enemy. At this point, seven additional Yuuzhan Vong capital ships arrived. Husband and wife, however, decided to play it safe, and ordered their fleets to withdraw to hyperspace.

* * *

Though the Imperial government was slowly but surely reestablishing itself with the aide of the Hapes Consortium, even so it was still on the verge of defeat. This became more and more apparent to the Sith Empress as time and battles went by. One more major defeat like Duro's first go-round or Corulag could destroy the ILS. However, she soon realized and began to see while annualizing stimulations of battles prior that the Yuuzhan Vong's greatest strengths were also the source of their greatest weaknesses. Their unswerving loyalty to their leaders and the fact that they never retreated made them perfectly predictable. Something that was greatly proven in an Imperial trap against their enemies at the rocky Deep Core moon Ebaq 9. 

Traveling from the Colonies to the Unknown Regions and through its known vector's entirety to the Deep Core region, their arrival came at the year's halfway point: 44.6. By feeding false information to Peace Brigade agents via some of their own still on Byblos, the Empire managed to convince the Yuuzhan Vong that Empress Baynetta and a troop of advisors were taking refuge in a secret base on the moon. And were (allegedly) under the protection of an "army" of Force sensitives, including Allana Djo, Kyleia Skywalker Grievous, and Ben Skywalker, the three Forcees most sought after by the invaders (Allana, because she had converted to and renounced the Yuuzhan Vong religion; Kyleia, for declaring herself to be an avatar of Yun-Harla; and Ben, for his impressive display of power at the World Brain). The prospect of decapitating the Imperial government and killing additional Force sensitives appealed to Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who set out with a massive armada to crush the base. Though it was nowhere near the size of the Corulag invasion fleet, it was described as the largest fleet seen since the fall of the capital world, consequently eclipsing the fleets at Hapes, Borleias, and Obroa-Skai. As Baynetta had surmised, the Yuuzhan Vong were predictable and a major portion of the fleet was flying into a trap.

The strategy used by the Galactic Empire in the battle revolved around three basic elements:

1) Whenever a new fleet arrived, they could engage the Vong until Lah forced his efforts on them and spread his forces out. The initial defense was led by Ben, who had a fairly small force. He was reinforced by Troy's also relatively small fleet and the Hapan Armada led by Antonella. These forces were then reinforced by massive Imperial fleets, including one under the command of Drake. When Troy's squadron arrived, for example, they saved Ben's from being enveloped.

2) When Ben's squadron enveloped the Battle Group of Yun-Txiin, with Troy's assistance, the Vong took heavy casualties until the Battle Group of Yun-Harla arrived. When it did Ben's squadron went around the space mines previously placed by an unarmed task force, which was being pursued by the Battle Group of Yun-Qaah; any following ships were subsequently destroyed by the mines. The ships which reduced speed to avoid the minefield would have been harassed by the starfighters on their tails. The Vong couldn't have possibly noticed the space mines, as Lah failed to order them to spy on the system, and their obedience and lack of initiative prevented them from doing it on their own. This resulted in the Yuuzhan Vong sending troops down to the moon.

3) Once the Imperial fleets under Drake arrived, the trap was complete with his trio of fleets decimating numerous warships.

Realizing that his forces had been led into a trap, Warmaster Lah ordered several of his battle groups to retreat. Those that did encountered tens of thousands of mines, which tore apart formations of the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships, and killed thousands of warriors. Others were stopped by the interdictor mine and advanced upon Ebaq 9.

As the additional Imperial forces arrived, their numbers grew to the point that Tsavong Lah's flagship, _Blood Sacrifice_, ran out of blaze bugs to properly represent the enemy forces. As his own numbers dwindled, this is when Lah finally realized he had been led into a trap. And as he came to the understanding that the battle was lost, and that Supreme Overlord Shimrra would kill him if he returned alive, Lah then noticed that the Empire was still protecting Ebaq 9, and realized that there were Forcee there. Lah decided to attack the moon, in hopes of killing some Force sensitives before he himself was slain, and ordered his personal battle group to assault the moon. Lah took ten thousand of his remaining troops to the surface of Ebaq 9, leaving the rest to guard the invasion force. The Imperial fleet wiped out the remains of his battle group, but having brought no ground troops, was unable to dislodge the Warmaster and his troops.

During the battle, Kyleia, heartbroken that it would cause more grief, yet knowing it had to be done by someone, preferably Force sensitive, sacrificed her life by flying her TIE fighter into the tunnels of Ebaq 9. The trapped Yuuzhan Vong were killed in the explosion, the only survivor being Tsavong Lah, spared only because his own subalterns had given him time to live. Lah was later killed, nevertheless, in a duel with Allana, who had holed up on the moon with Ben following the battle in space.

The battle resulted in a tremendous victory for the Galactic Empire, save Kyleia's demise, which was mourned strongly by those closest to her: Allana, who looked at her as one would a sister, Ben, Troy, Antonella, Tempest, and even Drake and Baynetta were disappointed by her loss.

Despite all this, over one third of Warmaster Lah's armada had been destroyed, along with its commander, and the tide of the war had finally turned in the Empire's favor. Seizing onto victory, Empress Baynetta and her government returned to the Colonies the way they came with plans of finally retaking the Core, and thus bringing the war to a close.

For the Yuuzhan Vong, the defeat had multiple consequences. Realizing that he had been duped, Nom Anor was forced to kill High Priest Yoog Skell to cover his escape as Shimrra soon called for his skin. While on the run, Anor assumed the guise of Yu'shaa, and began turning the Forcee heresy into a true threat to the Yuuzhan Vong leadership. Having lost two of the Senior members of the Elite, Shimrra escalated Nas Choka to the position of Warmaster, while Drathal, Prefect of the _Harla_, was escalated to High Priest. Choka, unlike Tsavong Lah, knew when he couldn't win a battle, and ordered his subordinates to respond in kind. Drathal was secretly a Quorealist, those who opposed Shimrra's ascensions and the invasion itself. Under any other circumstances, the Galactic Empire could've expected a brief respite, but the YV were no ordinary enemy. In an effort to secure his position, Shimrra ordered new campaigns to be launched, including an official invasion of the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium.


	163. Extinction

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 41: Extinction

44.11 Imperial Era

Back on Cilpar, while Hapan Queen Mother Antonella aided the Galactic Empire in their plans of retaking the Core, little did she know that her own government was under assault for a second time, with no way of being let known because of the extremeness of it.

Yuuzhan Vong Commander B'shith Vorrik was tasked directly by Supreme Overlord Shimrra to "invade and extinguish" the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium of all life and structure, starting with the cluster's capital.

Vorrik's forces unexpectedly arrived in the Hapes Division of the Unknown Regions soon after, their base being at the Outer Rim system Bastion, easily destroying planetary defense systems and catching the Home base Hapan Armada off guard. Only Commander Guada's own Star Destroyer, _Ni'Korish_, responded with appropriate efficiency. Despite this, the star fleet was able to hold its own at first, until the Yuuzhan Vong pulled back to make way for swarms of thousands of grutchins. The Hapans responded to the grutchins with appalling disorganization, and the resulting losses forced Guada, with Lady Tiponya's consent, to order the evacuation of the 55-world consortium, a nearly impossible feat.

Before Guada herself could participate in the evacuation, however, she was assigned the duty of retrieving the Hapan Royal House, though preferably the Queen Mother's oldest daughters, Chezarina and Adelphie, now ages 11 and 7, on Hapes itself, the site of most of the Yuuzhan Vong-caused carnage. At this point, _Ni'Korish_ had already undergone much considerable damage as it was. Journeying directly through the heavy jumble of strength that was the Yuuzhan Vong attack force at its strongest was sure to bring even more critical injury to the Command Destroyer and its surrounding 5-ship escort, tasked with evacuating the rest of the capital planet. Nonetheless of this, Guada and her unit made for Hapes anyway, determined to do all that could be or die in the attempt.

Two of the five accompanying vessels were rammed by coralskippers on the way, resulting in their loss in the depths of nearby worlds, and _Ni'Korish_ almost suffered the same fate had it not pulled up in time. Upon reaching Hapes, the result was realized. Unbeknown to the Hapans, but much quite to the Yuuzhan Vong, this all-out invasion was just like the extirpation of Chiss Space over three years ago, but worse. Much, much worse. The entire cluster was suffering, all was being lost, and no prisoners were taken, only dead victims. This was the case everywhere, but none so much as Hapes itself. What greeted Guada at arriving on-world the capital was blood, chaos, and the slaughtering of countless innocents in the streets and lush fields. It was too late from the jump. The Yuuzhan Vong had come to the consortium and would not rest until the entirety was eradicated and made extinct.

Fountain Palace was the first to be hit of the entire capital, and with it the deaths of the Hapan Royal House (Ladies Tiponya and Akanthe, Lord Ozterik, Chume'Ta Chezarina Giselle, and Second Heiress Adelphie Cadelaria) and its accompanying nobles.

Guada, renown for being sharp-tongued and firm at all times, was utterly heartsick by the display of unnecessary violence coming to Hapes of all places, a world of beauty and peace. However, through this dolor and sadness was fueled a sense of the previous determination, but to save all that could be so the Hapan Legacy wasn't completely lost as it was in the known galaxy's Inner Rim twenty-one years ago. And to this Guada did, urging her militia commanders to do the same.

Much and many were lost in the mission of evacuation; on consortium worlds, outside in space, and even en route to escape outside the cluster and its surrounding areas. Out of the tens of thousands of ships that made appeals in escaping, only fifteen actually did, including _Ni'Korish_, under the cover of vast wreckage from surrounding ships and the brave sacrifices made by those whom chose to do so.

What was left of the Home Base Hapan Armada (HBHA) fled from their immensely destroyed cluster, bound for the known galaxy, but trailed by the Yuuzhan Vong a short distance off. They were able to shake their pursuers by jumping in and out of lightspeed and then splitting up in the Outer Rim; one half destined for the orbital asteroid belt surrounding Borosk, Guada's half for Yaga Minor – a world of caves, forests, and mountains – a short ways off. It was only from there, each settling themselves in Vong-free territories, that word could be sent to the Imperials of the disastrous occurrences of the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium.

When Queen Mother Antonella learned of the enormous Yuuzhan Vong invasion of her consortium and the death of her oldest daughters, family, and kingdom as a result, she was utterly destroyed and heartbroken. Not even the informing that at least several thousand of her people had survived cheered her. The Hapan Queen slipped into a state of depression, notwithstanding her remaining family's (Troy, Tempest, and Allana) support and comfort. She became a hallow shell of her prior self; in active, losing a sense of her own worth, and forever always dejected. She felt worthless in not being able to stop the attack from happening, and deplored that she hadn't been present to witness it. To which Troy quickly dismissed had she been present, and she and Tempest in-cluster, they most likely would've died also. But Antonella was far from wanting to hear anything Troy had to say and dismissed he and Tempest and anyone else who wanted to help her get through this difficult time.

Troy let Antonella have her space, understanding firsthand what it's like to lose everything, your identity included, and want away from it all. Yet his wife of three years wasn't the running type and knew she'd eventually be fine, so long as she was given her just time to mourn. Despite all this, however, there was a part of Troy that was deeply pained by the events surrounding the Unknown Region's Hapes Consortium's annihilation.

He'd brought it upon them.

Not literally of course, but his arrival in the cluster those several years ago forever changed it in the way it was looked at by the galaxy as a whole and its extragalactic invaders. They'd been doing just fine until he came along. Their countless years of peace and joy stolen from them at the drop of a hat. He knew he shouldn't blame himself and that Antonella would tell him the same (he and she were the best things that ever happened to one another; they both said so, each were a silver-lining to the other in this war). And yet, he did anyway and probably perpetually would until he heard Antonella actually tell him and say it wasn't his fault.

On the military side of things, Baynetta expressed her condolences to the tragedy by sending a moderate sized task force of Imperial troops led by Allana and Ben to counter any further attacks made against the Hapan refugees in hiding in the Outer Rim and informed them of such. In the meantime of their arrival, though, vital Imperial Intelligence on the Vong was released to the Hapans. So while waiting for Imperial backup to arrive at Borosk, the Hapan forces worked to repair their strength, and Guada made sure the officers beneath her learned everything they could on Vong tactics and weaknesses from provided information.

The Vong commander of the Hapan invasion, B'shith Vorrik, was quite well informed of the friendship between the Empire and Hapans, so made sure his forces were well prepared. However, he was not aware (how could he be?) of the repairs made to what was left of the Hapan fleet, so launched an attack on Borosk at the learning of Hapan presence therein. As such, the Vong were unprepared at the massive coordination and effectiveness of the Hapans this go-round.

Guada, still aboard _Ni'Korish_, successfully captured a Yuuzhan Vong slaveship by using an automated dreadnaught _Braxant Bonecrusher_, set in reserve at Yaga Minor, as bait, rescuing a large number of Hapan prisoners that the Vong had decided to take after all as a means of making their Queen Mother surrender. Then, using an Imperial-donated Yammosk jammer, the 15-ship Hapan Armada threw Vorrik's fleet into disarray, and the Yuuzhan Vong Commander ordered a retreat.

By that time Allana and Ben's task force had arrived in-system, accompanied by several dozen Hapan Battle Dragons, and pursued Vorrik's withdrawal alongside the HBHA to Yaga Minor, where Allana and Ben sensed the Yuuzhan Vong Commander's intent was to destroy the major Imperial shipyard in system as means to both cripple them and get revenge for the defeat that came with Borosk's battle at the hands of what he thought was a crippled enemy.

The local sector fleet at Yaga Minor held off Vorrik's forces until, at the approach of Imperial/Hapan reinforcements from Borosk, Vorrik decided against a second battle. He fled back towards the main Vong concentration near the Galactic Core, pulling the last Vong forces from the Bastion-Borosk-Yaga Minor territory of the Outer Rim.

The Home Base Hapana Armada and the thousands of refugees it contained were then escorted back to their new home among the Empire in the six Colonies/Core worlds in controlled, as Labore was recently liberated during the Imperial/Hapan-Yuuzhan Vong battles in the Outer Rim. The liberation of Labore was more or less the same as the others, with battle yet eventual conquest by Drake. To meet the surviving Hapans of the consortium, and their Imperial escort, outside Cilpar was the rest of the Imperial Navy. Though on-world, in addition to a distraught Queen Mother herself, were the Empress and Troy solely with a slew of stormtroopers, as Drake was still on Labore.

The Hapan Queen was still exceedingly grief stricken over the loss of her consortium and near-extinction of her people, blaming herself for what happened. But ample time in their company was soon changing this. She was still sad and battling depression to a certain extent, yet the thirty-eight year old monarch was also mobilizing herself again and not staying trapped in a room for hours on end, alone, and pushing everyone away. She accepted the comfort Troy and the others offered her, but most especially that of her zany, happy-go-lucky two-year-old and only remaining daughter and heiress, the obvious new Chume'Ta, Tempest. Like her father, the royal descendant of two separate monarchical families enjoyed being the center of attention, was Force sensitive, and beautiful with thick shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. Through Tempest, Antonella continued to see a reason to live, and absolutely refused to swivel up and die for her sake.

Inevitably, however, it was only until the conception of another child with Troy at the year's end, another son, that the Hapan Queen Mother began to recover fully and let everyone back in, as was her husband's intent. Troy was far from wanting anymore children born during a time of war, but if it would help his wife, as he knew it would and did, he was more than ready to do what was necessary.


	164. Emancipation

Author's Note: Sorry I didn't upload this sooner. I got busy...again.

G-Anakin 13: Thanks.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 42: Emancipation

45.0 Imperial Era

The start of a new year, including that of the war.

The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion was nearly four years in and counting with little hope of slowing it down. Yet that didn't stop the sapphire-aged Galactic Empire in their perpetual attempts to stop the extragalactic plunderers.

In an effort to cut off Corulag from the major systems of the Inner and Mid Rims, the Empire launched three major attacks within a month or so of time at the year's start – One at Duro, another at Fonder, and the last at Bilbringi.

The attacks were thought up and orchestrated by Troy interestingly enough, with the aide of Allana, Ben, Drake, and the Queen Mother led Hapan Armada. Baynetta, meanwhile, was to remain in the 6-world Imperial controlled sector, continuing the build up of strength until conquest was found. And it came in the form of Allana and Ben at Duro and Troy and the Hapans at Fonder. Though not so much with Drake at the Inner Rim world Bilbringi, site of the Bilbringi Shipyards, choked with asteroids of rich metals and other natural resources and debris, and laying close to several military shipment lanes that included Denon, Commenor, and also Byblos.

What exactly it was that went wrong occurred right before the first point of the operation could be carried out – enter the system of the same name, Bilbringi, and scout for any weakness in the enemy fleet; then, send the most tactically suitable entry points to the surrounding fleets just outside and charge in with massive force). The Yuuzhan Vong released their latest creation, the Mabugat kan, which brought down several HoloNet relay stations. Since the entire operation depended on the HoloNet, in the sense of communication, Drake wasn't able to call in the other fleets for help. Not even with the Force, as their minds wouldn't very much respond. His fleet, entitled Revenge, was trapped in a system full of hostiles.

This resulted in many of Revenge's ships being destroyed in the battle. The only bright side of the whole debacle actually was Drake managing to inflict heavy casualties to the Yuuzhan Vong forces as well, liquidating two of their Interdictors and at least three cruiser-type ships.

Revenge fleet narrowly escaped being completely obliterated by the Yuuzhan Vong. Only with his brilliant tactics and the timely intervention of a cloaked Golan Defense Platform, commandeered by an Imperial officer named Balin Delacour, allowed Drake to take the remainder of his fleet away from the system and back to Byblos and the other. Wherein a metal was pinned on Delacour and the discovery was made of whom this twenty-eight year old Captain really was.

Balin Delacour was the son of ex-Baynetta handmaiden during her reign as electoral and actual Naboo monarch, Rabe de Sliva. This interested the Empress a great deal, and also Troy as he'd actually met the young man before, nearly twenty years ago in the line of investigation with Gabriella concerning Amidala's possible survival during Baynetta's overthrowing of the Grievous Skywalker Royal House. He'd been a nine-year-old boy at the time, but remembered the meeting just as well as Troy.

The saving of the Imperial Navy's Supreme Commander's life and fleet elevated Delacour from Captain to Major General drastically, Allana's prior position before taking on Lieutenant General once more at Kyleia's death. The newly named officer took his rank with honor and deity, proud to serve the Imperial government at a much higher rank.

* * *

The victory/defeat of the three Battles of Duro, Fonder, and Bilbringi was soon being followed by a betrayal of sorts between the Mandalorians of the Outer Rim world of the same name as their culture and the Yuuzhan Vong when Mandalore of the Mandalorians, Ailyn Vel, daughter of the late bounty hunters Boba Fett and Sintas Vel, and a defense of Mandalorian Protectors responded to a Yuuzhan Vong invasion force of their world and sector in battle and eventual conquest. 

Though the Mandalorians initially allied with the Yuuzhan Vong in exchange for being sparred invasion, Vel realized that the Vong would break their word. However, the Mandalorians' superior fighting skills won them the battle; the extragalactic alien's entire force being killed to the last.

But the Mandalorians' campaign against the Vong didn't end on their own homeworld or sector. It continued, out of the Outer Rim and into the Mid and Expansion Region with the liberations of Ord Mantell, Gyndine, and Tholatin among others. Each battle was the same: they all ended in the Yuuzhan Vong being slaughtered to the last.

These anti-Vong acts and the freeing of worlds on the Mandalorians' part, unasked and independently of their own choice, greatly interested Empress Baynetta in achieving an agreement with the Old Republic era culture. And to this she got, only under the oath that they, the Mandalorians, be allowed to deal with the Vong in their own way, outside of Imperial order and be left alone following the war's end, with no part whatsoever in the Galactic Empire. Baynetta agreed, and the deal was done. Another powerful ally won in addition to the Hapans.

* * *

Three months in, 45.3, it was finally deemed time by Baynetta for the Empire to strike back against the Yuuzhan Vong fully with their massive vastness of forces, manufactured and achieved from Byblos and Balmorra. What came next was dubbed by the Empress as "The Emancipation of the Colonies 15." 

15 Colonies worlds.

5 military strike units assigned to 3.

Troy, Drake, Allana, Ben, and Antonella Head Commanding each.

Baynetta had no doubt this campaign would succeed.

Castell, Herzob, and Batorine.

The first, urban/industrial and enslaved to produce military goods for the Imperial Navy. The second, an agriworld of fields and, priorly to the war, exported grains to several planets in the Galactic Core and Mid Rim. The third, forests, original homeworld of the Blood Carver species but since filled with humans.

These were the three worlds Troy was assigned to liberate.

Bassandro, Ord Mirit, and Teyr.

The first, a mining world with glassic rags on its volcanoes. The second, an urban spot and only world of the Mirit system. The third, mountains/mesas and a tourist attraction, sole planet of the Surric system but with a space station, Teyr Station, that inhabitants also lived on.

Hence were Drake's liberating trio.

Jagga II, Noquivzor, and Ord Lithone.

The first, in the Vengagga system alongside a gas giant (Jagga VII) and produced missiles for the navy. The second, a reasonably pretty orange grassland and a great place to house refugees. The third, industrial.

Thus were Allana's emancipating threesome.

Lao-mon, Koba, and Kelada.

The first, jungle/rainforest, original homeplanet of shape shifting Shi'dos and still so to large predators; also resided by humans. The second, a desert world of only one sun and moon. The third, industrial wastelands.

These were the worlds Ben was tasked to.

Wakeelmui, Denon, and Commenor.

The first, its forest terrain resembled that of the forest moon Endor in the Outer Rim, plus it housed a major manufacturing center. The second and third, both ecumenopolises and counted as the region's most successful and prosperous.

This group of three was assigned to Antonella and her Hapan Armada.

Five worlds were taken at a time.

All at once.

Subsequently causing chaos amongst the invaders as they jumped from planet to planet, trying to fight down the attacks. And so this continued the second go round and the third, until finally the operation had reached success.

Enraged by these acts, notwithstanding that the Yuuzhan Vong were rapidly losing territory to the Galactic Empire and the World Brain on Yuuzhan'tar was imperfect in its terraforming attempts; despite having lost nearly half of the entire Warrior caste during the course of the invasion and that his forces were stretched too thin, Supreme Overlord Shimrra ordered a massive assault on Byblos, what he knew as the provisional capital of the Galactic Empire. But the Imperial government took advantage of this by dividing its force and sending half into the Core, while the rest would defend Byblos.

However, Byblos wasn't the only world Shimrra ordered an attack to. The Drake-liberated Teyr was identified by Warmaster Nas Choka as an entry point to the Foless Crossroads, an intersection of hyperspace routes near Teyr and along the same vector from there as Atzerri and Darepp, both in the Inner Rim and vulnerable. It was also speculated by Imperial Intelligence that the sole system world along with Commenor and Denon were possible fall back points for an attack on Byblos. The planet had a meager defense force, mostly on or around its orbital space station. And with the HoloNet down, Teyr's survival depended on Teyr Station.

A ychna led the attack on the station, carrying warriors who boarded it. However, the Yuuzhan Vong and Galactic Empire hadn't been the only who recognized Teyr's importance: Mandalore Ailyn Vel had sent a team to review it, and brought in a small force of Mandalorian Protectors. Upon seeing the Mandalorians fighting abilities, the Yuuzhan Vong were whipped into a frenzy as they attempted to capture the Mandalorians for an upcoming sacrifice on Yuuzhan'tar, to the point that some fought among themselves for the opportunity to engage the Mandalorians in combat. However, Vel and her team were able to buy enough time for most of Teyr Station's force to head planet side or escape into hyperspace. Teyr Station exploded shortly after the last forces escaped.

With Teyr Orbital destroyed, the planet's Governor sent a message to the Yuuzhan Vong suing for peace. In it, the Governor requested that the inhabitants not be implanted with surge-coal, and be allowed to live in peace with the Yuuzhan Vong. She also made one additional request: To allow a scientific team to observe the Nature of the wing-stars, which was occurring that year. In efforts of rapid yammosk implantation, Supreme Commander Malik Carr agreed to the request initially, though stating that the final decision on the petition lay with High Priest Drathul.

The Galactic Empire, however, covertly intended to use the team to eliminate the yammosk based on the planet – as well as secretly monitor the effects of the recently released Alpha Red bioweapon. Both of which were soon succeeding profoundly, yet this leads our return to Byblos' battle. In it, Allana, with thousands of pilots, crewmen, and gunners which included Nightsister and Dathomir Squadrons and the Death II Avengers, fought in the space battle surrounding Byblos. To disrupt their staging efforts, the Empress sent a team composing Hapan Commander Guada and several of her subordinates to kill the yammosk on nearby Teyr, to which they did and Yuuzhan Vong forces scattered, only for Alpha Red to be launched by present Imperial operatives soon after. This resulted in the destruction of much of Teyr's biosphere. Two years prior, Kyleia, for reasons all her own, had sabotaged and destroyed Alpha Red though certain elements of Imperial Intelligence had restarted the project and unleashed it on Teyr. Though Alpha Red destroyed all Yuuzhan Vong lifeforms in its path, it wasn't as efficient as planned and could also contaminate non-Yuuzhan Vong lifeforms. Worse, a Yuuzhan Vong vessel infected with the disease had escaped Teyr and was on the way to Yuuzhan'tar.

But the Yuuzhan Vong kept pressing their attack, even with the loss of the yammosk at Teyr. They had actually never intended to use Teyr, Commenor, or Denon as drawback areas. Troy was about to order a retreat, when the Yuuzhan Vong armada received word that Zenoma Sekot, the living world of the Outer Rim, had entered the Yuuzhan'tar system. Realizing that Yuuzhan'tar came first, Warmaster Nas Choka ordered the fleet to withdraw. However, they were immensely pursued by the Imperials at Byblos and Teyr.


	165. Victory

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 43: Victory

The half of the Imperial navy sent into the Core, under Drake and Ben, immediately began liberating worlds after entrance in a march to Yuuzhan'tar.

Ator (an ecumenopolis); Balosar (a polluted, poverty-stricken world of grimy factories and downtrodden people, a place where tourism is discouraged and inhabitants, because of the environment, were often found to choose a life of crime); Grizmallt (city-world, urban/industrial); Iphigin (bluish-red planet, most important Imperial trade world, serving its own and two neighboring sectors); Eeropha (major refueling station); Wukkar (heavily populated, situated along the still-existent Corellian Run); Skako (an ecumenopolis, but heavy in atmosphere pressure).

One after the other, continually, until finally the armada came upon Belasco, a beautiful and wealthy, monarchy-ruled world. Its importance being as it was right outside Corulag's area of space.

Unlike many other Imperial worlds of the Core, which fought against the Yuuzhan Vong, Belasco's leaders surrendered in hopes of avoiding the collateral damage that their neighbor worlds had suffered. Despite this, the majority of the world's ten billion citizens opposed the puppet government set up by the Yuuzhan Vong. Following news of the emancipations of the seven prior, resistance groups on-planet contacted the Empire for support in an upcoming rebellion against the Yuuzhan Vong occupation. It was approved by Drake personally.

When the Second Fleet arrived in-system, the situation on the ground had already begun. Resistance groups and citizens alike had turned on their conquerors and began revenge attacks on Yuuzhan Vong soldiers. Fighting raged across the surface of Belasco, while parts of the planet experienced orbital bombardment from Yuuzhan Vong warships. The elite fighter units Blackmoon Squadron and Shocker Squadron, both recently developed at Balmorra, attacked the world's primary moon, escorting Scimitar assault bombers in runs to destroy a Yuuzhan Vong base.

In space, Imperial capital ships traded fire with Mataloks and other Yuuzhan Vong warships. Several of the Malaloks succumbed to fire from Drake's own flagship, _Hater_, determined to protect the lone Yammosk carrier. However, when Ben's flagship, _Dragon Flame_, added its own fire to the attack, the yammosk vessel was destroyed.

As the battle drew to a close, a squadron of H-wing starfighters commanded by the Peace Brigade attempted to flee the battle, only to be vaporized by TIE Interceptors. As the Yuuzhan Vong fleet in orbit was extirpated in detail, the Royal House of Belasco, the Forridels, announced the complete victory of the Imperial forces.

Atrocities were reported across Belasco, as frustrated citizens took out their rage on Yuuzhan Vong and collaborators. The Forridels, secret supporters of the Yuuzhan Vong despite being human, were hanged in a city square in the capital Ellay. Despite this, the strategic world had been secured for the Galactic Empire, who now had a key stop on the Perlemian Trade Route. The victory celebration was short-lived, as the Second Fleet immediately was dispatched to Corulag to aid in the Imperial capital's liberation.

* * *

The living planet Zonama Sekot had been captured by the Yuuzhan Vong previously at the start of the year, though a battle had ensured between the "alive" world and extragalactic aliens. Through this, Yuuzhan Vong operatives were able to steal one of Zonama Sekot's organic starships, having the Shaper Nen Yim to discover that Sekotan technology was extremely similar to Yuuzhan Vong technology and that her people have gone terribly astray. Nom Anor, disguised as Yu'Shaa, along with Nen Yim and the priest Harrar, arrived on Zonama Sekot soon after its capture, where they discovered that many of the species from their galaxy could be found on the planet. But a plot of Nom Anor to destroy the living world was fortunately foiled, however. 

It was for this reason that the arrive of Zonama Sekot at Yuuzhan'tar caused mass panic and awe amongst the Yuuzhan Vong. The prophet Yu'Shaa (Nom Anor) had been preaching to the Shamed Ones that Zonama Sekot's arrival would signal the fall of the Elite's oppression of the Shamed Ones. And the Shamed Ones, seeing their hour at hand, went into open revolt, dividing the forces of the warrior caste. Zonama Sekot also dispersed a Rainbow Bridge of asteroids, causing the planet's Dovin Basals to focus on keeping asteroids from falling to the planet. In addition to Warmaster Nas Choka's recall of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet at Byblos, forces from many other planets in the Yuuzhan Vong Empire were also demanded to their capital. Nevertheless, some Domains refused to acknowledge the order, for they would have to attack Zonama Sekot. Regardless, Choka was able to amass a huge force, ready to attack the planetary intruder. When it was assembled, Shimrra ordered them to hold position.

He, Shimrra, was utterly terrified of Zonama Sekot. His ascension to the Supreme Overlord throne had come about by overthrowing the predecessor Quoreal, who had balked at invading over the presence of Zonama Sekot within the known galaxy. However, he reasoned that since its technology was similar to Yuuzhan Vong Shaping Protocols, it thus could fall to things designed to attack the Yuuzhan Vong. Consequently, Shimrra ordered the slayer ship infected with the Alpha Red virus to crash into Zonama Sekot.

But things just got worse for Shimrra. Sekot had furnished its living inhabitants of Ferroans and Langhesi (humanoid species of red and pale blue skin) with Zonama Sekotan Fighters, which were living vessels, just like the Yuuzhan Vong's ships. Saying the gods had provided Sekot with the vessels in punishment of allowing the Forcee heresy to continue, Shimrra ordered all Shamed Ones executed at once, placing Nom Anor in charge of killing squads. However, apparently believing he was going to lose, Shimrra commanded the World Brain to begin a series of fire and earthquakes that would ultimately render the planet uninhabitable. Anor, believing Shimrra psychotic, defected over the Shamed Ones.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Galactic Empire Defense Fleet rocketed into the open space of the Corulus system and opened fire with all weapons on the screening of Dovin basals. Others, however, were assigned to focus on different strengths on different planets near and around Corulag, like Caamas and Kuat. A team of Imperial soldiers accompanied by Troy, Ben, and Allana infiltrated the planet surface and fought the Yuuzhan Vong alongside Hapan Commandos.

In an assay to prevent the World Brain from rendering Corulag uninhabitable, Antonella, with help from Commander Guada and other militias aboard, drove _Star Home_, the official Hapan Queen flagship, into an opening at the Well of the World Brain, but were attacked by High Priest Jakan, Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad, and High Prefect Drathul. The Elite prepared to sacrifice the intruders to the World Brain, but Shamed Ones and renegade warriors broke in and took down Drathul's forces, who himself was strangled by Nom Anor. Others, meanwhile, were taken down by the Queen Mother's own black bladed lightsaber. Then, with help from Allana's link to it, the World Brain's actions ceased.

Troy, Ben, and Allana, on the other hand, fought their way to Shimrra's Citadel (built sometime in the near three years the Vong held Corulag, and where the Imperial Palace II once laid), backed up by a unit of commandos, whom, despite their best efforts, were unable to keep up with the trio as they leaped from rooftop to rooftop, balcony to balcony.

On one part of the battlefield, Allana faced Tu-Scart and Sgauru, the infamous 'Biter' and 'Beater' pair. However, she used the Force to persuade the World Brain which controlled them to turn on its Yuuzhan Vong masters. Since the World Brain controlled all the Yuuzhan Vong war beasts present at the battle including the pair, it used Sgauru to transport Allana to the citadel, where the Yuuzhan Vong command was located.

Unfortunately, this action angered the surrounding Chazrach slaves whom began pelting both warbeasts and the trio with razor and thud bugs, and firejelly grenades. Luckily for the 'Beater and Biter', help arrived when the artillery beasts turned on the Chazrach. This chaos allowed the Imperial forces to recapture the Glitannai Esplanade canyon.

Having reached Shimrra's Citadel, the threesome attacked the Supreme Overlord's personal bodyguards, the Slayers, before being able to get to him personally. Onimi, Shimrra's familiar, fled with Allana in hot pursuit. Shimrra and Troy engaged in a vicious battle, wherein Shimrra pinned the Force Master to the ground with his Scepter of Power. Shimrra then revealed that he had Kol Skywalker Grievous' lightsaber, and moved to strike Troy. Troy allowed the scepter to bite him, grabbed the lightsaber, and decapitated the Dread Lord. He then told Ben to go find his sister.

Allana, however, discovered that Onimi was the real Supreme Overlord, and that he still had a connection to the Force. Onimi incapacitated Allana, and then took Shimrra's private escape pod into space. Ben engaged Onimi in a battle of strength in the Force. There, Ben achieved a higher level of power, and dissolved Onimi, with Antonella, Guada, and Nom Anor arriving just in time to witness.

The vessel began to die, and Nom Anor led the Hapan group and Ben to the coffer's yorik-trema. Anor attempted to send them into the garbage disposal system, but Ben realized his intentions. Anor used his plaeryinbol, directing a shot at Antonella, but Ben took it, and managed to convert it to water. This caused the Queen Mother to then slice off the intendants' hand, but in the end offered to let him leave with them. Anor renounced both the Galactic Empire and the Yuuzhan Vong, remaining aboard the coffer. Ben, Antonella, and the others managed to get off in time. Then, the vessel exploded. Also, Zonama Sekot released a swarm of insectile craft which dragged the infected coralskipper into deep space.

Believing Shimrra dead and that the gods had abandoned them, a horrified Nas Choka ordered the Yuuzhan Vong stand down, and join him in surrender, or join Shimrra in death. Most of his command staff opted to put themselves to the coufee, while hundreds – if not thousands – of coralskippers and pickets converted themselves to the living missiles.

The Liberation of Corulag, the Imperial capital of the Galaxy, was a success. And the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered, ending the enduring war two months shy of four years (41.5 - 45.3 IE). Unfortunately, what the Galactic Empire had recovered was a planet so heavily Vongformed that it was unrecognizable. This led to Baynetta's decision to destroy Corulag entirely and base the Imperial capital elsewhere in the Core: Ator for the time being.

* * *

_Author's Note: The Yuuzhan Vong War is over, but the story isn't. Only three chapters, plus an epilogue remain. Look forward to a shocking twist next chapter: Someone whose thought to be dead returns. And just because there's not much left, don't rule out anything. I challenge anyone to assume they know how the story's going to end. It's impossible to figure out. Or will someone prove me wrong?_


	166. Falsehood

Twisterblake: Thanks.

G-Anakin 13: The Yuuzhan Vong War is now over and we're in the aftermath. Skim through the last few chapters if you're still confused.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 44: Falsehood

Immediately after Corulag's liberation and the war's end, Zonama Sekot then revealed itself to be the seed of the long-dead original Yuuzhan Vong homeworld, the original Yuuzhan'tar in the Yuuzhan Vong's own galaxy. In light of this, the primary terms of surrender the Galactic Empire placed before the Yuuzhan Vong were that they make the living planet their new home and leave the known galaxy on it, never to return under pain of death.

This led to the remaining Yuuzhan Vong outside the Core being recalled from across the galaxy to Zonama. Then, Zonama, with its Yuuzhan Vong, disappeared into the Unknown Regions, so that the Vong could live in peace and renew their relationship with Sekot. They planned to abolish their caste system and eliminate the posts of Warmaster and Supreme Overlord, although Choka seemed to remain their de facto leader.

There were some, a lot actually, in the Imperial populace who found this to be too soft a punishment for the blood spilling invaders, and demanded better from their Empress. This she gave to them, but secretly and only because it was her intent to do so all along.

Little known to anyone, save herself, the Planet Killers that had been produced six years ago on the since extinct Byss during the GA-Empire War hadn't all been destroyed and used as it was led to be believed. Two remained in reserve at a secret location, and only were to be used at the most necessary of circumstances. Concerning the Vong-infested Corulag and Zonama Sekot, Baynetta saw this as such and quietly tasked a unit of suicide bombers, of whom the Vong thought would only see them to the Unknown Regions and then leave them in peace as part of their cease-fire agreement, to deliver a Planet Killer on-world and set it to go off at their Empress' signal. This came once the Yuuzhan Vong and Zonama Sekot were away just inside where Chiss space once resided. The planetary bomb was set inside the living world's hyperdrive tower and detonated with the Imperial unit, Yuuzhan Vong, and native Zonama Sekotans all therein.

Only at this and the liquidation of Corulag via the second Planet Killer was a final end brought to the Yuuzhan Vong menace, much to the Imperial populace's and the Empress' delight and relief. Especially since the HoloNet was brought back up on Kuat and a secret cruiser – _Knight Crawler_, piloted by Troy, Allana, Ben, and Antonella (Tempest also came) – had trailed the living world to assure its destruction and that of its inhabitants. Though also to air a live video feed of the devastation on galactic-wide Holovision.

The satisfaction that came with this act, Corulag too though mainly Zonama Sekot, was uproariously joyous with, to, and for the Galaxy. Most especially after counts were recorded of estimated deaths in the war/invasion: Near 365 trillion, or roughly 61,000 planets with a population of approximately 6 billion each.

Following this, Imperial, Hapan, and Mandalorian forces swarmed themselves across the known galaxy in an effort to rebuild and mend the fallen worlds that were victimized or Vongformed by the alien invaders. This would take time, of course, but no one had any doubts that what was being aimed for couldn't be accomplished.

* * *

Unknown Regions, Open Space: _Knight Crawler_

45.4 Imperial Era

It was finally over. The Yuuzhan Vong were no more.

Troy didn't realize how good it was to go over those ten simple words until he did so a total of three times. The promise he'd made to Antonella and himself concerning its end had come true. It was over by the time he was 40 and Tempest 5. Actually, he was only a few months into being 39, and Tempest five months from turning 3. Nonetheless, it had all worked out the way he felt it was supposed to. Now, he could actually be somewhat anticipate of his son's arrival five months from the present, and truly smile at Antonella in utter bliss that they had one another forever. The same was true with Allana.

Goodness, had she grown so much over the course of its duration! The sole Dathomir heir was 22 now and had since become the younger sibling/best friend Gabriella and Anneliese had once been to Troy.

And then...there was Ben.

Since Kol and Kyleia's deaths, and also Syal and Myri's, that left behind Ben to pair up with half-sister Allana, in addition to Troy and Drake, on missions. The last two being more occasionally.

Troy was truly happy to see the war's happenings bring together Ben and Allana once again to sharing that special bond previously held during infancy and toddlerhood. It allowed Ben to let go of the animosity priorly held at Allana and Troy for their part in his father Luke's death (murder?) nine years ago. And not just that. He actually spoke to Troy now without wanting to kill him or firing out threats; and Troy, likewise the same.

The near-40 something had long gotten over Jaina and their unborn son's demise through Allana, and later Antonella and Tempest. He too could face Ben now without forced civility, and over the years at war alongside one another, came to admire the recently turned nineteen-year-old in skill, eventually as a person, and finally as a family member again upon his growing closeness to Allana and she in return.

And then Ben had saved Antonella from Nom Anor on Corulag during its liberation, though he didn't necessarily have to. That in itself began having Troy look at his second cousin/half-nephew in a different light. So much that now that the Yuuzhan Vong War was over and the endgame battle with Baynetta would be commencing shortly, probably when _Knight Crawler_ touched down onto Ator, Troy wanted Ben on the right side. Not so much for the added help against Baynetta and Drake, but because he was apart of the Grievous Skywalker clan above anything else and deserved to be treated as such by its surviving members.

_All_ of its surviving members. That included Troy as well.

On their mission in assuring Zonama Sekot was successfully destroyed with the Planet Killer on-world and showing its obliteration to the galaxy via a HoloNet frequency, the five present aboard _Knight Crawler_ mostly stayed in two separate groups – Allana and Ben in the back, Troy and Antonella in the cockpit – with only one of them going from group to group in an effort to bring the two together. And that was Tempest.

The toddler's cute little face and resident chipper personality, despite the massive death and warfare which was felt through the Force since her conception, was hard to resist by anyone. Troy was often reminded of Allana as a child when he gazed upon tiny Tempest. This was a belief shared by Antonella, who knew Allana briefly as a 1, 2, and 3-year-old and was actually the only Grievous Skywalker she was liked by when Troy and she dated as teens, and Allana herself.

Allana positively adored Tempest and treated her like one would a little sister. The great surprise she'd held, following her rescue from capture on Yuuzhan'tar over a year ago by Ben, over Troy's marriage to Regina Galas, of whom was actually the Hapan Queen Mother of the Unknown Region's consortium, and fact that they also had a daughter was, naturally, no longer existent, but lasted sometime afterwards. She'd been a little hurt at learning the marriage had occurred before her capture at Myrkr yet he never said anything, but eventually understood the reason behind it and applauded Troy for his choice in wife.

"We'll never see eye to eye on Jaina obviously," she'd said to him soon after, "but I'm glad you've moved on and found love and happiness again. I think Antonella is a better suit for you."

Back to Tempest, her ability at being hard to resist was due in part to her determination to never give up on someone. She was quite intelligent for her age, being tutored in math and literature since she could talk on Hapes and now on the move with her parents. And if a person were to push her away, she wanted to know why in a full-detailed explanation. The sight of such coming from a toddler's mouth, accompanied by arms across the chest and a defiant stare was sure to bring a smile to even the most sadistic of beings. So it was no wonder Ben had also taken something of a liking to his cousin. She was irresistible. Though he usually didn't say much to her when Troy was around. Troy guessed out of unease.

It was time to put the past behind them, Troy decided. They were currently on their way back to known space and would arrive in the Core and Ator a month from the present. He wanted them ready far before then.

Rising from _Knight Crawler's_ pilot seat, Troy wasn't surprised to see Antonella, donned in black robes and sporting a longer length of auburn hair due to her four month pregnancy, glance over at him from the copilot's. Only before she could say anything, he reached over to share a kiss and tell her his intent.

"I do hope things can be patched up between you two," she said after his finish. "He really is a nice boy Troy."

"I know. I hope so too."

* * *

It turned out that Troy wasn't the only one who wanted closure between he and Ben. Ben wanted it too. The younger man had taken to admiring Troy over the years of war, despite the pain that still arose at the thought of his father's death. 

Yet he'd forgiven Allana for her part in the doing. That was easier, he tried at convincing himself. She didn't actually do the deed, merely approved of it. That was just as bad. But he'd forgave her for that at the thought of her death on Myrkr. The same admiring he had for Troy was shared with Allana as well. He'd looked up to her since her saving of him at Fonder, and the thought of losing her had been a lot more devastating than expected. Things had been set right between them following his return of the rescue favor at Yuuzhan'tar, and they were now almost inseparable.

Had these events not happened, however, Ben would still be hating her and also Troy for that matter. He found that he didn't hate Troy anymore, he just...he didn't know. Though the alliance between the Grievous Skywalkers and Palpatines, of which both clans he belonged to, hadn't been something he approved of at first, slowly but surely with Kol and Kyleia and after, he found himself being drawn to the family he was born into and officially thought to be apart of, hence his last name.

The prospect of their annihilation at the war's end, due to the alliance coming to a head and then simply going back to being a puppet boy for his grandmother, Baynetta, wasn't anything to look forward to, so wouldn't. He wanted things to be made right with his real family, not only for survival, but the prospect of living the rest of his life under Baynetta and Drake, a duo who simply used him for their own means, wasn't appealing. So this is why had Troy not sought Ben out first, he would've done the same instead. So once they were excused by a delighted Allana but bemused Tempest, the two got down to business, hashing out their differences while taking as much of a walk around the ship as _Knight Crawler_ would allow.

Troy told him everything, which was more or less a blow by blow of the past nineteen years of Ben's life and then some. In a sentence it could be described as the Imperial History, uncorrupted and in full detail, of the Galactic Empire, as told by the Grievous Skywalkers. This included things Baynetta may not know of like Troy's half-decade exile on Iego from 26-31 IE; his mother's discovering of him therein and telling what she'd been up to during the same 5-year period; meeting Lumiya for the first time on Jen'jein; his 5-year Force tutelage; the Prophecy of the Sith; just everything. Yes, including Luke's murder, and later Lumiya's.

"I realize now that all Lumiya had used me and mom for was to get what she wanted: a fallout to occur within the Grievous Skywalkers."

Troy and Ben were walking along a corridor, black walled and metal floored, that ultimately led throughout the entire ship in circles and forks; the way they were going now led from a rear cabin to the ship's engine room. Their pace was slow and in no hurry.

"That way," he continued to explain, "while we would be so busy killing each other off for the most ludicrous of reasons, she could take the Empire and galaxy as her own. I really do regret killing Luke, Ben. He was one of my best friends; my oldest brother. Yet I was too brainwashed by Lumiya's lies to see the truth. Me and mom both were. I don't except that as an excuse, and neither should you. All I can hope is that you'll take it as a start."

Ben went over his words a moment before nodding. "I can do that. And I'm also sorry for killing Jaina and you two's son. I guess I thought in doing that I'd get some type of satisfaction at the loss. And while I did have that for a small period, it didn't last and I was right back where I started from. I, too, know that's no excuse, but..."

"Let us say no more of it," Troy dismissed. "Truce?"

He stopped and offered his nephew/cousin an embrace.

"Truce." Ben accepted the embrace.

In light of the reconciliation, the two joined the females in the cockpit (each of whom expressed their joy that they, all five of them, were collectively a family again), where discussions were made of their endgame strategy against Baynetta. There would be no more running for one thing, even if the thought popped into each of their minds being this far out in space. They could easily turn the ship around and venture off into space, disappearing entirely and forever, never to be seen or heard from again. And yet a no was given to this by each of them. Hiding and exile was something the Grievous Skywalkers had more than had enough of. They would return and face Baynetta, and then reacquire the Imperial throne that was theirs once more.

Little did the Grievous Skywalkers know, however, that something far from ordinary and quite shocking was presently occurring on the temporary Imperial capital Ator.

Baynetta – Empress of the Galactic Empire a month shy of nineteen years, one-time Queen and Senator, formerly Padme Amidala and daughter of legendary Sith Lord, Darth Sidious – was dead. At age 73, one might think the cause was natural, yet it wasn't. Far from it. It was murder. But by whom? That was the kicker.

The late Empress' half-brother and only remaining sibling: Drake Palpatine, 41, alongside the long thought dead Jaina Solo. In actuality, Jaina Solo-Palpatine; Drake's partner of seventeen years, and their four shadow heir children: Nyx, 17, Night and Jayashri, 15, and Azalia, 5.

A surprise much? Immensely! And easily used to bring about Baynetta's downfall and their conquest.

The twosome heading the group of six didn't bother explaining to Baynetta how exactly it was they'd come into existence and the other confusing details which made their near-decades long insurrection against her a success. They were beyond the point of explanation and merely killed the Empress outright:

Drake, impaling his crimson blade into Baynetta's back as she walked away from him and through her heart; Jaina then following suit through the chest and just below the heart; and finally, Nyx, Night, Jayashri, and Azalia each slicing off one limb, leg or arm, resulting in the Empress' fall to the ground in defeat. Though by that point she wasn't dead yet, but would be soon after.

"Did you honestly expect to continue ruling the galaxy ongoing and forever?" Drake snarled down at the mixed dark brown and gray haired Baynetta. Age was finally beginning to catch up with her in that sense. However, she was still quite active and fit for an over seventy-year-old. Well, until she was cut down that is.

The six and one were in Ator's Imperial Base and a makeshift throne room that had since been added over the past month. As could be expected, the "Empress" was glaring up at Drake and his Order of Descendants in rage, yet the shock still remained and there was also fear, the last of which they fed upon.

"You're old Baynetta." Jaina continued the endgame taunt to the limbless elderly woman, circling her helpless form at the end of her lightsaber. "Hence the students have become the masters. I'd say it's about time some new blood sits atop the Imperial throne, don't you? But of course! You intended to live forever, didn't you?" Jaina shook her head. "Too bad. Without the arrogance and underestimation of your students perhaps you might just have."

"This is the end, _your highness_," Drake mocked. "Any last words?"

"Go to hell!" But secretly, Baynetta was able to call out to Ben under the uproar emitting from her mouth. _'Ben! Jaina is alive and she, Drake, and their children are on the verge of killing me. Stay where you are whatever you-ah!'_

"Perfidious bitch!" Drake roared, impaling his blade up into the Dark Lady's stomach via her privates. She screamed, withering at the massive pain, but fell silent a moment after at the impaling of Jaina's own blade within her skull and brain.

Darth Lady Baynetta – Padme Amidala – was dead, yet Drake and Jaina were furious with rage that their element-of-surprise shroud over the Grievous-Skywalkers was gone. Ben knew, if the others didn't, of the act which was just performed. This would make things much more difficult and prolonging.

On _Knight Crawler_, in the Unknown Regions, and at the verge of entering the wormhole beneath Hills which would return them to the known galaxy is when Ben felt it.

The call. The pain. The death.

The shock he held for this was so great, in fact, he toppled out of the copilot's seat beside Troy and in front of Antonella, Allana, and Tempest, and rolled over onto his stomach at the great emptiness that was now the Force without one of its most powerful and dreaded members.

His fellow shipmates, naturally, were concerned for his well being, and he was currently being lifted to a stand by Antonella and Allana while Troy brought _Knight Crawler_ to a halt.

"What's wrong Ben?" is what they continued to ask over and over, but the shock had startled his speech. The images that were presently and perpetually playing through his mind of the death and those involved. He was gasping, breathing heavily, yet also felt as though he was going to faint.

Then, Troy was there kneeling in front of his seated form in the copilot's seat again and was intently looking into his eyes. What Troy saw made him also gasp sharply.

It was impossible!

She was...alive...and Baynetta was...Drake...the other four...the resemblance they shared to...

He-Was-Played!

The very first person he'd fallen in love with and impregnated with his child had played him!

An uncontrollable rage unlike any other Troy had ever felt before in his life rose within him at that, causing loose objects to fly around the cockpit and crash with a bang.

"Troy, stop it!" Allana cried while Antonella looked on in fear and Tempest shrieked in fright. The Dathomir heir was able to lift Troy to a stand and seat him down in the pilot's station for eye to eye contact. "You care to share with the rest of us what it is that has you hopping mad?"

Troy had forced himself to calm down somewhat at the sound of Tempest's shriek, but still didn't trust himself to talk so merely kept an intent gaze into Allana's eyes and showed her what he saw in Ben's own eyes. She also became frozen in shock and horror, but also rage that the slayer of her Dathomir race was still at large. Her eyes began to flash and pupils dilated into slits.

That seemed to be it for Antonella. She rose and addressed the three of them in a superior Hapan tone that was usually reserved for the rare instances she was acting as Queen Mother. But now was just as much a time to use it as ever. The rage that was radiating off the trio in the Force was scaring Tempest, and she'd began to cry in agony, taking none of the comfort her mother offered her. Plus, Antonella also began to feel an upset in her womb and within she and Troy's as yet to be born son. This was effecting him also. Enough was enough, and she said so.

"Enough!" Antonella bellowed sharply. "I demand to know what exactly it is that is wrong with you three. You're scaring the kids!"

"I think we all were just hit with something scary Antonella." Ben spoke in a low, emotionless tone. "With Baynetta dead and Drake and Jaina as the new Imperial-High rulers, alongside their four heirs, it's likely we'll be facing yet another major crisis that could be prolonged into an additional carnage-filled war..."

* * *

_Author's Note: Shocked much? I can imagine you all are? So how exactly did Jaina pull off her faked death and she and Drake pull off their secret rebellion against Baynetta without her being the wiser? Stay tuned for the next chapter!_


	167. Secrecy

Twisterblake: Thanks.

Jedi Master Sabbath: The return of Jaina and death of Baynetta is indeed something I thought a lot of people would be pleased with.

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 45: Secrecy

Following 26.5 Imperial Era's eradication and exile of the Galactic Empire's ruling Grievous Skywalker House by the assumed dead Baynetta after twenty-one years of absence and her own father's dethroning, the newly-crowned Empress again, who decided to go by her Sith title rather than that of her given name from then on, named the two surviving members of her original order of six servants at the crisis's start Executor and Hand beneath her in the Imperial government. Basically all that meant was that the two were still her servants to do _her_ bidding, but with fancy titles. Nothing more, nothing less. The names of these two were Drake Palpatine and Jaina Solo.

One was the Empress' own flesh and blood in the sense of being a half-sibling and formerly served as Hand for the preceding Empress of the Grievous Skywalker House; the other was an ex-Jedi turned bounty hunter whom was also one of the last surviving descendants to the since abolished Corellian Kingship throne.

Both were powerful in the Force. Very powerful. And because of this, their similar abilities made them rivals for their master's approval and praise. They were known to hate each other, not being able to stand in one another's presence without challenging the other to a duel. And this also made the Empress more pleased. It reminded her own self of she and Maul, Asajj Ventress and Arica Grievous, and Leila Skywalker and Alexander Grievous. Inevitably, save the last example, one of the two would be bested. And arising from the ashes would spout a new, more powerful servant, holding the power of two in one. But like most masters of this sort of level-rivalries, she preferred keeping both to not only make the duo endure the annoyance that came with the consistency of being in one another's presence, but also for the growing power between the two in a struggle of wills that only made the other stronger through jealousy. Drake and Jaina were the perfect match when it came to this. Yet, little did she know all these years, that's not the only thing they were the perfect match for. In addition, the twosome were the perfect match for building an empire of their own beneath the Empress' very nose and later overthrowing her when the time was deemed right.

At the start of 28 IE, nearly two years after Baynetta's reappointment as Empress, the Executor-Hand duo were forced upon an assignment together in the Outer Rim to take out several other of Troy Grievous Skywalker's old girlfriends, whom had recently arisen in the holomedia after sometime in hiding.

The mission they accepted without question, even the part which included them working together to accomplish their goal. Unlike some, this pair was professional through and through (and not spoiled), performing whatsoever task their master ordered them without question or compliant. They weren't ones to let something petty like disdain or scorn come in the way of duty. And that was the most favorable trait Baynetta enjoyed from the two. Something that they both knew would come back to bite her in the butt years later.

The two came to an agreement in the duration of the several month mission – Alaina Jex (of Jex Hair Gel) and Sabrina Tachi (as in a family member of the late Jedi Knight of the NRE Siri Tachi, though not Force sensitive and merely a holozine cover girl) had been particularly hard to track, as they moved from place to place in an effort to shake them. Neither wanted to be under Baynetta for the rest of their lives, as was the Empress' intent. To serve as lapdogs and errand boys in a cause that wasn't their own. It was Drake and Jaina's wish to rise above this from apprentice to master, therefore eliminating Baynetta in the process. Yet it couldn't be done outright and at the present. Not to ensue successfully. What they needed to do was build an empire of their own beneath Baynetta and themselves, so without a shadow of a doubt, when the time came to strike, failure wouldn't even be a prospect. So at ages 23 and 24, Drake being the elder, secretly and on the mission still, a son, Nyx, was conceived and his growth in the womb quickened by a combination of both his parents' dark side powers to be born three months later: 28.4 IE.

During this period (28.1-4) and under the cover of the multiple superweapons Baynetta was having built at the time, Drake formulated a secret operation within the Navy to build a space/battle station of his own to house he and Jaina's heirs on; a Death Star III of sorts, but slightly different and larger. It was to be kept and constructed in the Unknown Regions' asteroid belt, however violent it was, and act as cover in the event any Imperial ship came through the 10-day field.

As to whom would raise Nyx and later twins Night and Jayashri when they were conceived and born the same way over a period of three months the following year (29.5-8) on yet another mission to kill a love interest of the Grievous Skywalker family – though this time one of Hilton's on the Outer Rim world Serenno – that task was assigned to a former Handmaiden of Queen Amidala during her reign as electoral monarch on Naboo from 13-5 NRE, however, was dismissed from royal service in 8 NRE at the arrival of the Grievous twins, Antellica and Arica, and for her often clumsy and sloppy personae, Sache Bryne.

In a startling move, following her dismissal from Theed Royal Palace, Sache returned home to the overpopulated-urban Mid Rim world Druckenwell, where she acquired an intern position at the planet's BlasTech Corporation – one of the Galaxy's top three arms manufacturers, the other two being Merr-Sonn and Soro Subb. From there she just moved on up for the next decade until finally, in 2 IE and age 26, she was Head Engineer of an entire division. However, soon after, she was being offered a better position at Merr-Sonn in their Outer Rim branch and left BlasTach for the higher paying job. Of which she held for the next fifteen years until being replaced at age 41 and in 17 IE by that of a younger operative. Despite this, Sache was far from being in need of another job and took which was offered to her at Soro Subb in the Expansion Regions Headquarters on Gyndine. This job, as Senior Engineer, she held for the next ten years before retiring at age 51 and in 27 IE.

Sache relocated to the Mid Rim world Kalarba, where it was her intent to live out the rest of her life on the pleasant, largely undeveloped planet of luxury. And to this she did for a year until Drake and Jaina, on detour of their first mission while Jaina was still pregnant with Nyx, and sought the ex-Handmaiden out with their required task. The middle aged woman didn't have an option; the duo didn't give her one. Since establishing herself, it was Drake's opinion that as Sache hadn't served his sister to the utmost of satisfaction, this was a chance to redeem herself by being sequestered in the Unknown Regions to raise their Imperial heirs as a Handmaiden/Nanny while they remained in Baynetta's empire, playing the part of her puppets. Though not entirely thrilled to have her retirement snatched away, Sache complied with the demand and dedicated the rest of her life to Drake and Jaina's cause by caring for their heirs and even aiding in the production on Death Star III. It was complete in 30 IE, to which had Sache and the Solo-Palpatine kids moving off a production ship in orbit of the space station to actually aboard it soon after.

Drake and Jaina's insurgent attempt, their heirs, and Death Star III was known by no one over the years, save Sache, the moderate sized production team which worked on the battle station and later remained aboard it to assure its continued functioning, and Drake and Jaina themselves, and kept secret under the cover of the Executor and Hand's staged hatred for the other. Because while in a sense, Drake and Jaina were merely using one another for their own personal gain in extirpating Baynetta, they did develop and share a fondness for the other. Yet what that didn't mean was that they were in love. Far from it! But at the same time, one could say they were some form of friends. As much as Sith could be anyway.

Obviously, this meant that their relationships – rather it be paramour or romantic type – with Lacovia and Troy in 36 and 39 Imperial Eras were faked to help move along their plans, and worked since both Grievous Skywalkers had always held a soft or attractive spot for the two since their meeting as teens or children. In addition, originally because of their closeness to formerly Natchios and Narcissa, but also Ben, Drake and Jaina had wanted to add the three in on their plans. However, the GA-Empire War changed this for the twins, just as the Yuuzhan Vong War changed this for Ben. Their falling in with the Grievous Skywalkers wouldn't do to aide them in annihilating Baynetta and taking her empire as their own, so would kill them also along with their family when the time called for it.

What all this also meant, of course, is that Jaina did not die on Ruusan, but placed herself in a Dark Side Force trance that made it appear she was dead, even to the most highly trained Force user. Yet Drake knew better, naturally, because it was a Jaina Force illusion of his projection that crashed to the ground off Ruusan Royal Tower while the real Jaina cloaked herself long enough to land safely on the ground and then take the place of the Force illusion once Drake, Ben, and Baynetta were gone, and Troy and Arica running to it.

Jaina was mourned over and buried this way by the Grievous Skywalker duo, yet did not come out of the Force trance till Drake's arrival on-world following the Battle of Mustafar nearly two months later – 39.4 IE – to free her of it himself and restore her to full health, healing her body in the process and returning the Force to her. (Since the Dark Side trance was so powerful, one could only place themselves in it, not bring themselves out of it.) After which, another heir was conceived and Jaina went to the Unknown Regions to join Sache and the kids on Death Star III (her arrival being about 39.6), where she and Drake's fourth heir and second daughter, Azalia, was born naturally nine months later: 40.0 IE. There, mother, children, and handmaiden would remain until the time was right. That came at its scheduled time in 45 IE, but at the Yuuzhan Vong War's end – something that didn't bother Death Star III and its inhabitants in the Unknown Regions' asteroid belt.

With Baynetta's death, Drake and Jaina were crowned the new Emperor and Empress while their children that of First, Second, Third and Fourth Imperial Heirs of the Solo-Palpatine House, based on the new galactic capital: Deep Core desert world Kalist VI.

As there was no longer any need of Sache, she was allowed to go back to Kalarba since she'd redeemed herself in Drake's eyes. Death Star III, on the other hand, was used on Belasco to remind the Imperial populace that even though the Yuuzhan Vong War was over, the dictatorship of the Empire would continue. Drake had begun to think citizens were getting a tad too chumming with the crown, and the reaction to Belasco's destruction only proved this.

Subordinates were, for the most part, not to like those above them in power; so was the way of things and the way they would continue for as long as the Solo-Palpatine House ruled.

* * *

_Author's Note: So...what'd you think? Don't hesitate to review and tell me your thoughts. Only one chapter remains plus an epilogue._


	168. Endgame

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Chapter 46: Endgame

The discovery that Baynetta was dead – killed by what was most likely now the Solo-Palpatine Imperial House, had set in with the Grievous Skywalkers. They were no longer enraged, shocked, and horrified, but thinking over their options.

The most obvious one was continuing back to known space as though nothing had changed and merely facing what was thrown at them. Yet to Troy that didn't sound right.

Not presently.

Drake and Jaina knew they knew of what had happened and would be expecting them in who knew what fashion. The five of them – one of which was a Force sensitive toddler with no training and another a simple royal monarch/ex-Holostar of none Force sensitivity, little lightsaber training, and also pregnant – were no match against the new rulers of the Galactic Empire. He and they both knew it.

What they, the Grievous Skywalkers, needed was time to prepare themselves. A year or two to train, with their mind on that common goal. This would require the needed Force sensitivity of Antonella.

Or not.

Troy's own mother had been quite the force to be reckoned with before acquiring sensitivity. Could Troy do the same with his wife? There was no harm in trying, he supposed. And if it didn't work, the Force could always be influenced later. Only the thing was, she was pregnant. That could interfere big time in what Troy wanted to accomplish. And also when the baby was born and the care that their son needed.

It would just have to be juggled the best way possible, he supposed, because no matter what it took, the Solo-Palpatines would be defeated once and for all.

* * *

47.3 Imperial Era: Two Years After The Yuuzhan Vong's Defeat and Baynetta's Death

It'd taken some time, but they were finally ready.

All six of them. Notwithstanding the nineteen-month-old Anakin, born 45.7 on the ethmane ice jungle moon Kr in the Unknown Regions system of 55 moons and a ringed gas giant (Qoribu) which the Grievous Skywalkers took to settling in two years ago, Gyuel.

Anakin – full name Anakin Luke Ozterik 'Dan Grievous Skywalker and named after his paternal grandfather, half-uncle, and maternal second cousin – had been given Force training nonetheless by his cousin Ben, now 21. But all the same, an as yet to turn 2-year-old had no place fighting in a battle to the death amongst enemies.

The only shred of light that came with this was that he had some training. Enough to hopefully alert his parents should anyone try to take him from _Knight Crawler_. But the way he would be cloaked in the Force aboard the ship, hopefully no one would pick up on him being there at all. However, they weren't going to take any chances, which was probably why he'd end up coming along in the battle with them in a carry along pouch over Allana's front. The now 24-year-old had been the one whom suggested this after all. And while Antonella, now 40 and still as lovely as ever, insisted that if it was done – it sounded a little too dangerous for her tastes despite the assurance of safety – she should be the one who carries him as she's his mother, Allana pointed out that though the Queen Mother had been influenced with the Force and become quite the adept student of her husband's, now 41, she, Allana, had been practicing the Force practically her entire life and was a proud Force Master to the accomplished 4.6 year old Tempest, unlike Antonella, whom was only considered a little above an apprentice by Troy's standards. If anyone should do it, it should be her, Ben, or Troy. And it was quite obvious out of the three whom would probably end up doing it: Allana most likely. But then again, the boys could surprise her and do it instead. No matter the case, it certainly wouldn't be Antonella. A point the Queen Mother took with a nod and an understanding, yet disappointed smile. Obviously, the idea of someone half her age being able to protect her son better than she was more than a little humbling.

Interestingly enough, during the time the Grievous Skywalkers spent in the Unknown Regions and on Kr following Baynetta's death, no one from the Empire had come after them or were sensed being in the region at all. This could only mean one thing: Drake and Jaina knew what the Grievous Skywalkers were up to during this duration and had chosen to simply wait for them to strike.

This they did in their resurfacing from the Unknown Regions, leaving behind Kr and its large system in the Hills wormhole and traveling through the official entirety of the Unknown Regions past its nine worlds, through the asteroid field and Core sun, into the Deep Core where they figured the Galactic Empire capital would now reside. In the mountainous desert world of Kalist VI.

Kalist VI was the sixth body in the Kalist system with the primary of the same name and five gas giants. It was the only habitable world in the system and near where Byss once laid with a hot climate and no natural surface water. It did have its similarities to Korriban, but also differences too. Urban sprawls had since been built amongst the desert landscapes at being named Imperial and Galactic capital, and continued to be done so even two years after. Oasis' had been made at multiple intervals around the planet, and despite its everyday searing heat, the world hosted a population in the near-billions.

The entirety's military presence was strong. Much stronger than anything Palpatine, Baynetta, or the Grievous Skywalkers themselves had ever had surrounding their capitals or royal residences on-world. It was so strong, in fact, any possible means at sneaking in, even through stealth, was impossible. Because of this, Troy didn't bother activating _Knight Crawler's_ cloaking system at their arrival outside Kalist VI. The only way they were getting on-world was upon capture.

On cue, _Knight Crawler's_ holo-communications system beeped with an incoming message soon after and six TIE Avengers encircled themselves around the famously recognized vessel as Troy accepted the call from the Imperial Security Star Destroyers blockaded around their capital. The leading Admiral aboard the Command ship of the hundred-some bunch, Gilad Pellaeon funny enough, only needed to take one look at _Knight Crawler's _inhabitants before saying, "Grievous Skywalkers, you are hereby being placed under arrest by order of the Solo-Palpatine Royal House. Your ship will be confiscated and boarded, and you will personally be handed over to the First Imperial Family. I pray you exercise cooperation in making this a smooth occurrence."

This the six-group Grievous Skywalkers did, with the 2-year-old Anakin being strapped securely over Allana's front as planned, as _Knight Crawler_ was caught in a tractor beam and captured on board the Command ship, _The Rescuer_, where it was boarded and they were cuffed, but not unarmed, and placed in a flagship shuttle for taking down onto Kalist VI, yet not before Admiral Pellaeon could personally inform and show the Emperor Drake Palpatine of their capturing. The exiled family was ordered to the Solo-Palpatines, but additionally to the location of the Imperial Castle of Kalist VI's throne room.

(It should be noted at this point of no longer being 47.3, but 47.8 IE as the Grievous Skywalker's journey from the Unknown Regions took five months.)

* * *

The Premier Imperial Castle of Kalist VI was, naturally, the royal residence of the Solo-Palpatines. Yet what made it unique and so different from any other royal castle the Grievous Skywalkers had ever seen before was that it was built intertwined with a mountain. 

Literally.

Standing at about 2 1/2 kilometers in height, it was the tallest structure/natural monument on-world. In the front and about halfway up laid a landing bay, that was partly outside, but mostly in the mountain. This was surrounded by multiple towers on the same level and higher up, and it appeared that the castle was also something of an Imperial base with industrial machines, towers, and loading areas just a little higher of the landing bay. Entrance within, anywhere, was impossible unless with an Imperial escort of TIEs and two security codes that changed by the day and were never used twice. At least a dozen TIEs perpetually circled the castle at all hours and ion cannons remained ready in some of the higher towers towards the crown should an attack come to it.

Troy had to admire the show of strength, but was easily able to see how most of it was recently added since Baynetta's fall. The ex-Empress of nineteen years hadn't been that obsessed with security as maybe she should've, believing her Force powers far superior than any type of man-made object of power, of which led to her undoing more than once. He could see that Drake wasn't as obsessed to the point of paranoia concerning security like his father had been, but merely cautious. Especially since the Yuuzhan Vong, whom had left Kalist VI relatively untouched, you could never be so sure.

The flagship shuttle encasing the Grievous Skywalkers settled nicely within the castle landing bay, where the group of six were then transferred to their required destination – the throne room – via thirty man escort and a turbolift to the crown. They knew the Solo-Palpatines were waiting for them therein. Upon arrival inside the immensity that was the Imperial Castle Throne Room, it didn't come as much surprise to the Grievous Skywalkers that they were released of their cuffs and abandoned by their escort at the room's dais. This was between the two families alone, and would not end until either was eradicated from existence.

From where the Grievous Skywalkers stood in the black, red, and gold interior throne room – mountain high piles of golden coins could be observed at numerous intervals around the circular black walled, red pillared, and golden marble floored room, along with bejeweled exotic plants the height of trees and shorter ones situated in pots and caged Hssisses (dark side dragons), native to Korriban and Ambria and probably to be used today to cheat on the Solo-Palpatines' part – each could see the six Solo-Palpatines at the chamber's head: Drake, still jet-black haired, green eyed and in his early 40s, seated atop the room's only throne; Jaina, to her Emperor's left, situated on one of two of the throne's surrounding plush-red seats with one of two sons, the oldest Nyx, by her side; the other three heirs, meanwhile, sat comfortable on the seat to the throne's right. The children – Nyx, 19; Night and Jayashri, 18; and Azalia, 7 – of Drake and Jaina were practically clones of their parents in appearance, and most likely would be in attitude as well. Nonetheless, as the Grievous Skywalkers took a steady walk nearer still to their opponents in a single wide line past the luxury of gold, beauty of plants, and fierceness of the Hssisses, they gave the Ruling Imperial Family nothing but a void of emotion as they prepared themselves for the ultimate endgame showdown, stopping just three meters shy of the sneering Sith royalty.

"Grievous Skywalkers," Drake greeted with scorn, yet pleasure. "Welcome! We've been-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Expecting us," Allana snapped despite her better judgment. "Who cares?! Let's just get this over with." She activated her rainbow lightsaber and held it before her, in front of a safely secured Anakin. Only Tempest followed with the lightsaber activation, one of silver, and a look of determination.

Something the six Solo Palpatines shared at the moment was slight surprise, but also a smirk down at little Tempest. Jaina asked, "Don't you want to know how we accomplished all this, and more importantly," her eyes flashed to Troy and Ben, "how I survived Ruusan?"

"Not really," Troy answered crisply.

"I'm more interested in seeing you all dead," Ben added.

"Very well. If that's the way you want it."

And so it began. Ben took to engaging Nyx and Jayashri, Antonella flung herself at Night, Tempest jumped at Azalia, and Allana, Jaina; Troy, Drake.

Because of both sides establishment as warriors, some more than others obviously, for a while the fights were mostly level yet aggressive. However, no one fell.

Three hours later it was the same.

Three hours after that, again the same. But the time was starting to take its toll on the duelists, and it was only a matter of time before the number of death began to make the odds of the match-up more clear.

Jayashri, oddly enough, was the first to fall to Ben's crimson blade due to exhaustion she could no longer control. Yet that still left Ben battling Nyx.

A Grievous Skywalker casualty came next with Antonella being cut down by Night's blade in retaliation and the pain that came with his twin's death. He then joined Nyx in his duel with Ben, and with that came a second Grievous Skywalker casualty at Ben's fall.

The grief, yet also rage, that came with Antonella and Ben's deaths caused Troy and Allana to briefly disengage from their fights with Drake and Jaina to engage Nyx and Night, and ultimately take them out, which they did successfully before rejoining their duels with the Emperor and Empress.

Solo-Palpatines: 3; Grievous Skywalkers: 2

Tempest, though a month shy of being two years younger than her opponent, was not intimidated by the older girl and made sure that was shown as she fought her. Azalia was far from pleased at her older siblings' deaths and quite shocked by it. Nonetheless, she would not be joining them. Of that she had assured herself. Even if she had to cheat with the family pet Hssisses, she was not going to die. She wouldn't allow herself. And then the Grievous Skywalker girl pulled a stunt she wasn't expecting. Although Azalia was successful at disarming the Hapan Chume'Ta, this was merely a ploy in a larger plot for Tempest, as she swiftly called a heavily rhinestone necklace from a nearby plant to her hands and coiled it around Azalia's neck, choking her with the necklace in addition to a Force choke until death.

But then, another unexpected twist happened. It turned out that Azalia had an older twin brother, Link, whom was the official shadow heir of the family, and at her death, he came up behind Tempest in an assay to impale her with his lightsaber. Only Tempest was too smart for that and swiftly turned around at his felt presence to reverse the sword and impale it into his own self and through his heart. He appeared startled and somewhat shocked by the defeat, but Tempest only gave him a sardonic smirk as she gazed into his eyes as he died.

* * *

Finally, vengeance, _no, justice_ will be found on the deceased line of Dathomiri Witches. 

This is what fueled Allana onward throughout the duration of hours she dueled a forty-two year old, but still cunning and beautiful, Jaina Solo. The youthful face of the ex-Empress' Hand once had eight years ago at her "death" and before during the GA-Empire War was still there, but the age was apparent through her dark, slightly graying hair. Allana held a certain percentage of satisfaction that the five Solo Palpatine heirs had been eliminated, but also sadness that it'd cost Ben and Antonella's lives. Yet with only Drake and Jaina left to deal with by means of she and Troy (Tempest was enjoying the brief rest she could after Azalia and Link), this would hopefully be over soon with the only more casualties coming from the Solo Palpatine side.

If only fate had saw it that way.

Another Grievous Skywalker loss did occur, but not of the still resting Tempest with another shadow child (Link was the only one), or Troy or Allana, but of the toddler Anakin. Jaina took up an opening Allana had accidentally allowed and pierced her blade along the base of Anakin's throat and neck.

There was nothing that could be done. Little Anakin joined his mother and Force master/cousin in death soon after, his body falling limp in the carrying pouch around Allana's front.

She had failed.

Allana had thought so much that she could protect her little cousin, but the realization that she hadn't and obviously couldn't stroke as much sorrow within her as it did rage. She was coming at Jaina with new found vigor, and though the older woman was able to keep up, soon this was changing. She was being overwhelmed. But rather than fall to Allana's blade as she knew she might, Jaina disengaged from the fight to attack the now alert Tempest.

Allana would not let Jaina kill both of Troy's children and ran after the evil woman to intercept the assault. She made it halfway there in time and managed to take a hack at Jaina's back. Only Jaina managed to cut through the bars of the nearest Hssiss cage and order it after the running Tempest as she then turned to see Allana's lightsaber coming down into her face and chest in death.

The other six Hssisses the throne room contained, besides the one that was chasing Tempest, were getting off on the carnage and death the Solo Palpatine-Grievous Skywalker Battle was presenting, causing them to grow restless in their cages and wanting to join in on the excitement. Allana chose to take the dragons out of their misery by unleashing them all, only to then cut the beasts down. Including the seventh that came close to taking a bite out of Tempest, and probably would have had Allana not gotten there in time.

The Hssisses were dead, and so were the Solo Palpatines, save one. But Troy would soon see to it that the one Solo Palpatine left became none.

Out of all the other duels that had taken place in the battle, Troy and Drake's had to be the most level, and because of this ferocious. Neither would allow themselves fall to the other; both felt themselves superior to the other. But in the end it became clear that the wielding of the Force as a whole, without a dark or light side, was much greater and effective compared to the one sidedness of the Sith and the Dark Side. Troy reigned victorious over Drake that day, and so came an end to the Solo-Palpatine lines once and for all. Even if it occurred in a way the Grievous Skywalkers hadn't intended, what with Ben dying. Yet there would be time for tears later. As of now, celebration was in order.

Immediately after the Solo Palpatine-Grievous Skywalker Battled ended in the latter's favor, the thirty man escort that had showed them here came charging into the throne room, muskets raised. Though after one look around at the scene of the aftermath, and most especially the dead Solo Palpatines and surviving Grievous Skywalkers, the troops lowered their weapons and let cheers admit from their mouths as they hailed the Solo Palpatines' defeat and came forward to congratulate the Grievous Skywalkers on their victory. Indeed, it had been a long day coming, but had finally come at last.

* * *

_Author's Note: To the end we've finally come. However, there is still the epilogue left, and in it some more action but much change. I want to take now to thank all my readers, whether or not you've reviewed or only read so much as one chapter, who've been with me from the beginning (Miss Naye), middle (Twisted Words and G-Anakin 13), or end for all your support. I love you all so much and will truly miss doing this. Though there is a part of me that is vastly relieved._


	169. Epilogue: Peace

Author's Note: The end is no longer near, it's here! Sorry for the long wait. The past few days have been hectic. I hope you all enjoy it. And again, thanks to all for making this story such a huge success.

MissNaye: Thanks. I was wondering where you'd gone. Went on vacation, huh? I wish I was able to go away this summer, but was just so busy.

G-Anakin 13: Here ya go! Sorry for the wait. I forgot I had to edit it first.

Alfonso Aeros: Wow, thank you! I wasn't able to understand everything you said (as the only language I'm frequent in is English), but thanks for what I was able to understand.

Twisterblake: Thanks. Here ya go!

* * *

_Episode X: Labyrinth of Evil_

Epilogue: Peace

What with the Solo-Palpatines dead, and the Galactic Empire without a leader, this naturally made Troy the new Emperor, Allana Empress, and Tempest a First Imperial Princess. And that's the way it would've been had the Galactic Empire not been abolished by Troy's order after forty-seven years and replaced with a new galaxy-ruling government called the Galactic Consortium.

"The reason for this change is because I've seen how the Empire's run," Troy expressed in a live HoloNet address to the galaxy some days following the Solo-Palpatines defeat, "and I'm not entirely sure it's something I want to continue and have my own daughter inherit. Yet all the same, the Old Republic fell to the Sith Empire. But it fell nonetheless, and the New Republic followed suit. So did the Galactic Alliance. It's my belief that we need some other form of galaxy-ruling government that is in favor of the people more, yet also has an orderly monarchical control. Thus the Galactic Consortium, based loosely in part on the Hapes Consortium. It will be fifty percent constitutional, fifty percent monarchical of equal patriarchal and matriarchal power. If you'll have me, I will serve as your King Lord; my second cousin Allana Djo as your Queen Lady; and my daughter Tempest as an heir aka Chume'Ta (Chume'da being the title of a male heir).

"I must implore you all who wish to join and be apart of this new era we're entering to come to Kalist VI and the Consortium Castle and help me and my family in what we're trying yo accomplish. Naturally, maybe some of you will not consider us – the three remaining Grievous-Skywalkers – to be trustworthy because of our family's past, and that's okay. I only hope that in time you can come to see past our faults and begin this endless time of galactic peace with us."

The Galactic Consortium and its few Grievous-Skywalker leaders was widely accepted and given immense support by the galactic populace. You could actually both sense and see the relief radiating off of them that the Galactic Empire was no more.

In the months to follow, the new ruling government of the Galactic Consortium was established and built up, with its temporary capital being Kalist VI until a more temperate world suitable enough in either the Deep or Galactic Core could be found. As nice as the desert planet was with its metropolis/oasis landscapes, this was no place to base a new government. The Senate was restored as a Noblement; Death Star III was destroyed live via the HoloNet by being sent into a black hole of space in the Outer Rim known as the Maw; the surviving Hapans of the dead Unknown Regions consortium, which had been enslaved during the Solo-Palpatines rule, were freed and given Cilpar as a New Hapes of sorts; the Mandalorians, also made Imperial slaves following the Yuuzhan Vong War's end, were allowed to return to their homeworld and invited to join the Galactic Consortium if they wished it. Not surprisingly, this offer was declined. But Troy reminded Ailyn Vel should she ever change her mind, the door was always open. Also, Sache Bryne came forward to Troy and Allana to confess her crimes against the government in aid of the Solo-Palpatines, leading the two to finally learn of how Drake and Jaina built their empire beneath Baynetta and all its details. Because of the ex-Handmaiden's role in them by force, Sache was excused of everything and would not be imprisoned as she assumed. Troy and Allana thanked her for coming to them and she was allowed on her way.

Five months after the Skywalker-Palpatine conflict's end, at the dawn of what would've been 48 IE, now called Galactic Consortium Era (GCE), the Galactic Consortium officially launched as the new ruling government of the known galaxy, with its capital on Kuat and the Grievous-Skywalkers serving as First Family.

Something interesting to note concerning Allana's appointment as Queen Lady alongside Troy as King Lord was her actual confusion as to why she was serving as second-in-command to Troy when she was his cousin. And second at that. Why wasn't Tempest being made the future Queen Lady-in-waiting and she merely a Lady in the court, like she was as a toddler in the Galactic Empire?

"With all we've been through Allana, it's only fitting you serve as my Queen," Troy said.

The duo were in the newly built Consortium Executive Building and Troy's olive-black interior office.

Then, allowing a smirk, added, "Besides, I think if you weren't my cousin, I'd really give some thought to whether or not I would marry you."

Allana's response? A smirk of her own and "Shut up Troy, and get back to work. Neither of us have time for romance anymore. We have a government to run. Plus, I'm beginning to think we're cursed when it comes to love."

Troy nodded. "Heard that. But except for each other. And I was joking, you know?"

"I know." Allana smiled. "And thanks. This means a lot to me. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't Allana." He returned the smile. "You never have. If ever there's anyone I need for anything, I know you'll always be there. I don't need a wife for that. I have you."

"And I don't need a husband because there's no one else out there like you."

Troy gave a lopsided grin. "But of course. Plus, we're cursed, remember? Even if we did find someone, I doubt they'd last more than a few years before catastrophe happened."

"Naturally," Allana agreed. "Three times the charm. There's no escaping it. We're cursed. But the funny thing is, I'm okay with that."

"Me too. But come now Allana. We really should be getting back to work. Our cursed love lives can be discussed anytime."

Jaina, Jagged, and Antonella.

Each had been the three times of non-success in Troy and Allana's love lives. Yet rather than cry or lament or it, they made light of the situation because they had each and little Tempest. Neither were really interested in becoming romantically involved again; Troy had an heir through Tempest so didn't need to be and Allana eventually intended to take on a consort sometime in her mid-30s or later, but that was just for the sake of children and not now. Their priority as of the present, mostly, was the Galactic Consortium and raising Tempest. So they accepted being romantically cursed and took it as a blessing.

But were they really cursed?

Of course not. And this would be seen some years down the road by both of them...

In 53 GCE, five years after the new government's start, Troy, now age 47, for a reason only the Force knew, was drawn back to the Unknown Regions and the ruins of Chiss space.

Alone.

While Allana, now 30, wasn't entirely sure this was such a good idea, she eventually agreed to his leave, but made him swear he'd return to she and the almost eleven-year-old Tempest.

"Don't run off and get married like you did last time," she presented, half serious, half wittily.

He laughed. "I assure you Allana, nothing of that nature will occur."

In the Chiss space remains, Troy found nothing at first, yet the Force was drawing him to a familiar presence he hadn't sensed since the Yuuzhan Vong War's start during the Fall of the Chiss Ascendancy. It was on a remote hinterland planet Troy hadn't even known existed in Chiss space – Yashuvhu – and hosted a Force sensitive Human population. However, it was none of the Force sensitives that were familiar to Troy, but the only non-Force sensitive in their midst: the long thought dead Cherith Fel.

It turns out she hadn't died in the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of Csilla after all, but was captured to be the first experiment in Human Vong Shaping. Fortunately, she escaped before anything serious could be done to her by help of a few rogue Yashuvhuians, whom felt her in distress and wished to save her despite being told by their elders to stay out of extragalactic affairs. Sixteen-years-old at the time, she was successfully rescued and had been residing within Yashuvhu ever since, for twelve years. She was currently 28.

Yet Troy's reunion with the last Fel was rudely interrupted at the arrival of Lomi Plo (the Nightsister met on the Mission to Myrkr who later betrayed the team which included Allana), her apprentice Welk, and an army of other native Force sensitives on-world whom she trained with the intent of ultimately overthrowing the nonexistent Galactic Empire with, but first the clan authority on Yashuvhu.

A battle followed, one in which Troy was forced to abandon with Cherith to assure Lomi and her subordinates couldn't escape off-planet with _Knight Crawler_, being as the ship Lomi and Welk stole from Myrkr had crashed on Yashuvhu with no way of repairing it. Nevertheless, Troy kept the ship in orbit the next few days, in which time he filled Cherith in on everything that had happened galaxy wise following the Fall of the Chiss Ascendancy. She was, naturally, heartbroken that all her family was now dead, yet bittersweetly happy that the war was long over and peace shrouded over the galaxy. Save Yashuvhu anyway.

The duo returned to the surface after a week to find the battle long over and the planet devastated of all life. After a few circles, Troy landed _Knight Crawler_ to assure everyone had been lost, since something just didn't feel quite right about it. He urged Cherith to stay aboard, though she objected, voicing they were "safest sticking together." Seeing her point however hesitant he still was, though not wanting to abandon _Knight Crawler _should someone from the bad side still be about, they didn't walk off too far from it, just a few dozen meters. Yet that was enough. Lomi Plo, hiding nearby and waiting for their arrival, and also the only one to survive the Battle of Yashuvhu, managed to hijack _Knight Crawler_ and take it off-planet, leaving behind Troy and Cherith with no means of transportation to follow.

Though angry with himself for not seeing something of the sort occur beforehand, Troy called out to Allana in the Force to tell her the situation. As expected, she was furious Lomi Plo was still alive and immediately left the capital with Tempest aboard her new Kuat Drive Yards star cruiser, _Djo Shadow_, to both intercept the Nightsister from entering known space, thus averting chaos, and rescuing Troy and Cherith from Yashuvhu.

In the time Troy and Cherith waited, the pair entertained themselves with conversation, talking walks throughout the planet's vastness of landscapes, eating what little food could be found amongst the raided villages, and ultimately falling for one another in love. Or was it lust from Troy's point-of-view?

Cherith looked a lot like her holodrama mother had at her age in 18 IE, with a beautiful face, lovely long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a heartwarming smile. Troy had always found Syal very much attractive when he knew her as a fellow holostar, and often joked for her to hurry up and get married so she could have some daughters for him to lavish. He hadn't seriously meant it of course, but the more time he spent constantly around Cherith, the more he began to reconsider.

Troy was practically half her age, turning 48 later that year, yet Cherith retained the crush she'd had on him since meeting when she was 15 and he 35. More than once she told him of things she'd done back then to get him to notice her, and how delighted it made her feel that he always made her day. After a third time of this sharing, Troy decided to make both their days by officially proclaiming them a couple through a passionate lip-locking kiss that led to bouts of lovemaking. Only then did Troy realize he'd fallen hard for this girl; in love, not lust, and didn't hesitate to tell her so. Cherith was over the moon with felicity as she felt the same way also and told him so.

In the meantime with Allana and Tempest, _Djo Shadow_ was able to intercept the Lomi Plo-piloted _Knight Crawler_ just at the Known Space-Unknown Regions border by firing it back into the region from whence it came. From there, once discovering whom one of the attackers were, the Nightsister chose to lead _Djo Shadow_ on, past Barren and Hills, and into the planet Darkness where the three dueled to the death, in one of the worlds two clearings and in between in the deadness of the leafless black trees, with Allana and Tempest coming out the victors after a long, grueling fight.

To follow, the female duo then went to retrieve Troy and Cherith in Chiss space and on Yashuvhu, but with Allana piloting _Djo Shadow _and Tempest, _Knight Crawler_. After which, the foursome – with Troy on _Knight Crawler_ with Tempest and Cherith on _Djo Shadow_ with Allana – returned to known space and Kuat.

The romance which had blossomed between Troy and Cherith on Yashuvhu resulted in marriage two years later (55 GCE); a son, Tassos Kyle, the following (56); another, Thanos Auburn, the year after that (57); and a daughter, Lysa Ambrosia, three years after that (60). The last of who's first name being an anagram of Syal and namesake of Cherith's mother and maternal first cousin.

Allana, on the other hand, found love again nearer to home the year of Lysa's birth and in Balin Delacour.

The two had been friends since near the war's end and he had even asked her out a few times in their time knowing each other to be met with point blank nos, though later on polite declines. What got Allana interested in love again was by seeing what Troy and Cherith had. They were truly happy together, and what with the perpetual peace the galaxy was enduring, it seemed safe enough to try again. So she did, despite her self-proclaimed "curse", and found herself not being so cursed after all.

Allana and Balin married a year later and welcomed to the family twin girls some months after: Fury Anica and Ayala Augwynne. A son, Kaden Cade, followed in 66 GCE.

Tempest meanwhile, 24 at this point, had relinquished the rank of Consortium Chume'Ta, and consequently, the taking over of the Galactic Consortium someday in light of her young half-siblings and in favor of the perpetuation of the family holostar legacy. Though headstrong and proving to be more like her paternal grandmother Arica Grievous as the years went by, Tempest was far from interested in politics. They bored her, and her over-the-top personality simply wouldn't allow it. However, she was something of a leader to her Hapan fellows, whom looked up to her, causing her to visit Cilpar often and even having a home there.

Tassos, years later in 77 GCE and at age 21, was the second of Troy's children to abandon the heir title in favor of starting a Force Knights Academy on the Expansion Regions world Mimban and with the philosophy that "there is no light or dark side to the Force; only the way you use it reflects this."

He was joined by Thanos, Fury, and Anica in its founding, leaving behind Lysa and Kaden as the eventual successors to the Galactic Consortium throne, which they took up eleven years later in 88 GCE and ages 28 and 22, when Troy, now 82, and Allana. 64, stepped down after forty years of serving the government. The remaining years of their lives they wished to dedicate to exploring the Unknown Regions to its fullest extent with their spouses. And this they did, having many adventures; far too many to write down in a book or even a thousand, discovering multiple other galaxies.

And so, once more, the Grievous-Skywalkers ruled the galaxy, but under the populace friendly Galactic Consortium, one generation after the other. Until finally, in 1,098 GCE, under Kentavious Fel Grievous Skywalker and Czarina Delacour Djo the consortium government became fully constitutional with the ranks of monarchy dismissing themselves. Yet only because it was found the system worked better that way.

Nonetheless, the Grievous Skywalkers went on to be the most famous and respected galactic family for millenniums to come. Rather for their holostar, Force Knight, or political occupations. They were never truly forgotten. Unlike that of the Palpatines, Darth Sidious, Baynetta, and Jaina Solo.

The End


End file.
